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2020 NC Soccer Hall of Fame Inductees

The 23rd Annual North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet will take place on Saturday, January 25, 2020, at the Hickory, NC, Hickory Metro Convention Center.  A reception will begin at 6:00 pm and the banquet, at 7:00 pm.

Robbie Church, Kim Oberle and Eddie Radwanski will be inducted as the 67, 68th and 69th members of the NC Soccer Hall of Fame.

The 1993 and 1994 Greensboro Dynamo teams will be inducted as the 7th member of the NC Soccer Hall of Fame’s National Champions Hall of Honor.

Robbie Church has served as head coach of Duke University Women’s Soccer since 2001.  During his 18 years at the helm he has led the Blue Devils to three NCAA College Cup appearances and to two ACC championships and was selected as ACC Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2017.  In addition, Robbie served as head soccer coach at East Carolina, Belmont Abbey, UNC Charlotte, Vanderbilt and Lynn, coached with the North Carolina Women’s State Select Program between 2001 and 2013 and served for a period as head coach of the USYS Region III Women’s ODP team.

Kim Oberle became a referee because of a challenge from her mother. Driving home from a match with a disgruntled Kim, who was frustrated by the officiating, her mom said, “If it’s so easy, you do it.” So she did…and moved from there to serving the high school game, was the first woman to have the whistle in the NCHSSA 4A Men’s Championship in 1999, refereed in the men’s and women’s professional leagues for many years and was appointed to the FIFA Panel of Assistant Referees in 2005, serving through 2007.  She went on to officiate in 26 international matches in both domestic and international competitions.

Eddie Radwanski served as the Head Coach of Women’s Soccer at UNCG from 2001 to 2010. During his tenure the Spartans won 11 Southern Conference championships, 7 regular-season and 4 tournament titles. Since 2011 he has served as the Head Coach of Women’s Soccer at Clemson. His 2016 team was the ACC champion and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Eddie’s playing success has been recognized by his induction into four athletic Halls of Fame: UNC Greensboro Charter Class 2000, Neptune HS (NJ) 2012, Guilford County 2018 and the Carolina Dynamo. He was the MVP in the 1984 Collegiate Senior Bowl and has been the recipient of six Coach of the Year recognitions: 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the Southern Conference, 2016 in the ACC, and 2010, 2015 as the Southeast Region Division I Coach of the Year.

The Greensboro Dynamo was started in 1993 by English businessman Neil Macpherson. Macpherson moved to Greensboro in 1976 but felt that two things were missing, “a professional soccer team and one hour of English soccer on TV per week.” Collaborating with fellow Englishman Buckley Andrews, also of Greensboro, by 1993 he had one of his wishes – The Greensboro Dynamo Soccer Club. They became members of the Atlantic Division of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League (USISL), roughly equivalent, as one newspaper put it, to “baseball Double A.” The team was led by the very successful coach Michael Parker, also from England.
In 1993, the Dynamo (14-2 regular season) defeated East Los Angeles 4-0, Atlanta 9-0, and Orlando in the final 2-1. This was the Sizzlin’ Six in Daytona Beach. Then, in the memorable 1994 season, the Dynamo (18-2) would host the Final Four coming out of the Sizzlin’ Nine. On the UNC-G field they would defeat Long Island 2-1 (OT) on August 13. Two days later, in front of 5,000 excited spectators on a hot night preceded by a day of thunderstorms, Mike Gailey would score after 10 minutes and Brian Japp would convert the winning PK in a penalty kick shootout. The Dynamo repeated as ISL champs 2-1. The players involved in the two seasons include: Maher Atta, Del Deanus, Greg Fallon, Thomas Finlay, Carl Fleming, Mark Fulk, Michael Gailey, Carlos Garcia, Gabe Garcia, Kenny Gasser, Jimmy Glenn, Michael Gosselin, Steve Harrison, Jason Haupt, Aidan Heaney, Allen Higgins, Thomas Ingram, Brian Japp, Mike McGinty, Tom Misuraca, Aidan Murphy, Eddie Radwanski, Jim Rinker, Michael Rock, Steve Springthorpe, John Stark, Michael Thorn, David Torris, David Ulmsten, Joey Valenti, Mick Wakeman and Kelly Weadock. Assistant coach was Eric Vaughter. Rusty Scarborough served as a volunteer assistant coach.

The North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame was established in 1996 to recognize and honor those persons, either player, coach, referee or administrator, that have made significant contributions to the game of soccer in the State of North Carolina. To be eligible, inductees would have spent several years in North Carolina directly involved in and promoting the game.  Those with primarily regional or national accomplishments may also be considered when those accomplishments draw attention to furthering the game in the State by virtue of their prior relationship in North Carolina.

In 2012 the NCHSOF Board of Directors added the National Champions Hall of Honor category to honor North Carolina teams and programs that have won national championships at the highest levels of competition in youth, amateur adult, college or professional soccer.