Wheaton Park District honoring founder of soccer program

There was a time when signing your child up for soccer only cost $5.

It was the early 1970s, and the Wheaton Park District soccer program was off to an interesting start.

Soccer aficionado and Czechoslovakian transplant Jerry Fajkus wanted his two sons involved in a sport. He suggested the park district offer indoor soccer and officials there agreed - but only if he could get at least 60 kids to sign up.

"No one even really had a soccer ball in the community," said Fajkus' son, William.

But Fajkus was determined. He recruited 56 players, paid the remaining $20 to the park district and got started.

This Saturday, the 90-year-old will be honored for his work in bringing soccer to Wheaton during a 9 a.m. dedication ceremony at the Central Athletic Center, 500 S. Naperville Road, where a turf field will be named after him.

"It's an honor," Fajkus said. "I'm proud that I was able to do something for the kids."

Playing soccer in Czechoslovakia is a fond memory Fajkus has from his own childhood.

"When there was grass, they played soccer and when there was ice, they played hockey," William said. "It wasn't really structured or organized."

Fajkus worked for a few years as a newspaper reporter before escaping the communist country in 1947 and joining the U.S. Army in Germany. He came to the U.S. with his wife in 1956, settled in Cicero and got a job with Hawthorne Works of Western Electric.

Soccer remained a vital part of Fajkus' life. He joined a soccer team in Chicago called Sparta A&BA that was founded by Czechoslovakian immigrants and played until he was in his 40s.

When his company moved to West Chicago, he followed, purchasing a home in Wheaton.

As the park district soccer program grew, Jerry was coaching hundreds of kids for free. He found it easier to refer to them all as "champion" instead of remembering all their names, and he treated them as such.

"I was trying to raise my kids the proper way ... so they had company, had something to do," he said. "They went on the soccer field and it became home."

After setting up a successful soccer program in Wheaton, Fajkus was asked to do the same in Naperville, Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles and eventually co-founded the first women's soccer team in the area, the Wheaton Rebels.

Fajkus also arranged some of the first international soccer matches in DuPage County, which involved players from all three Wheaton high schools going up against clubs from Brazil, Germany, Scotland, Canada and other countries.

"He was definitely a pioneer as far as bringing the sport here," William said. "The sport would have gotten here eventually, but he gave it a huge start."

Several of his players, including his eldest son Charlie, went on to compete with the U.S. National Soccer Team. William works as a soccer coach at College of DuPage and many others who went through the park district program also went on to coach or play soccer professionally.

Fajkus continued volunteering for park district soccer programs through the 1990s, when he was in his 70s. Now he regularly attends the soccer games William coaches and enjoys watching his favorite team, London's Chelsea F.C., on TV.

Officials estimate the park district now serves about 2,500 soccer players a year - an accomplishment that is, according to a memo sent to the park district board of commissioners, "a direct and obvious result of Jerry's influence."

"I think it's a great way to honor him," William said of Saturday's ceremony. "So many people have known him, and he instilled their enjoyment of the sport."