ABOUT THE BOOK
from the original website, scheduled to go off-line August 15 2014 per the author
Soccer Made in St. Louis is the first comprehensive history of the game in St. Louis. Starting with the first reported game in 1875, Soccer Made in St. Louis covers the history, playing styles, and evolution of the world’s most popular sport in the city that produced generations of native-born players who won 89 national championships, stocked professional and U.S. national teams, and sent 38 of their number into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.
Author and longtime St. Louis soccer writer Dave Lange tells the stories of those who took the game from the sandlots of St. Louis to soccer’s biggest stage, the World Cup. From Harry Ratican, the first St. Louisan to gain nationwide soccer fame; to the six St. Louisans who led the United States to the biggest upset in World Cup history; to Lori Chalupny, who helped the U.S. Women’s National Team to Olympic gold; the book covers the rich heritage of soccer in St. Louis and shows how the sport is woven into the fabric of the city’s makeup.
Soccer Made in St. Louis was published by Reedy Press in August 2011.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Lange has been writing about soccer in St. Louis since the early 1970s. His pieces on soccer have appeared in publications such as The Sporting News, Soccer America magazine, World Class Coaching magazine, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He also served as a head coach at Busch Soccer Club for 11 years. He is co-author with Denny Vaninger of “Practice Makes Perfect,” a guide to coaching youth players ages 6-10 published in 2012 by Reedy Press. Lange holds a U.S. Soccer Federation D national coaching license and a coaching certificate from the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). A graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (BA-mass communications) and Webster University (MA-business and communications), Lange was a member of the sports staff at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1976-84 and worked in corporate communications at three Fortune 500 companies. He retired from Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., in 2008 and is an adjunct instructor in the School of Communications at Webster University. He and his wife, Janet, live in the St. Louis area. Their son, Will, is a women’s assistant soccer coach at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind.
