Starting from scratch again, Wilt enjoying the challenge
It's 8 a.m. on the first Saturday in March, and Peter Wilt is making his pitch to a group of U-8 and U-9 girls soccer coaches meeting in Schaumburg.
Just five minutes is all the president and CEO of Chicago's future Women's Professional Soccer team needs. The team - it is holding a contest to choose its nickname and doesn't have a coach or players yet - won't hit the Toyota Park turf until 2009, but Wilt is starting a day of talking with coaches and letting them know their players' professional role models are coming soon. He'll meet with Illinois Women's Soccer League youth coaches until 3:30 p.m.
"It was a long day," he says, looking back on the day.
Seem familiar? It does to Wilt, the former president and general manager of the men's Chicago Fire.
"It's just like 1997 all over again," Wilt says.
It's easy to recall that sunny October 1997 day at Navy Pier, when a beaming Wilt unveiled the nickname for Chicago's new Major League Soccer entry. A little more than a year later, Wilt and the Fire were on top of the American soccer scene, winning MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup titles in the team's expansion season, as well as setting league attendance, ticket sales and sponsorship records.
There was even talk that Wilt was a future MLS commissioner.
That was then.
In 2005, the team's ownership group decided it needed someone more corporate than the fan-friendly Wilt and replaced him with John Guppy.
"I was shocked and disappointed," Wilt admits. "It was difficult because I lived for that team. I'm a Chicagoan, and that's my team."
It also hurt that he got the ball rolling on Toyota Park only to be replaced before seeing the team play its first game in the new stadium.
Wilt moved on, leading Milwaukee's failed expansion hopes for a while before jumping aboard with WPS. Now this guy who lives for challenges has found another big one.
"My career is one of startups and taking on new challenges every few years," he says. "I'm not one who can stagnate and stay in a position for a long time."
So Wilt is beating the bushes again, meeting with various members of the soccer community to drum up support, whether it's sponsorships or ticket sales or getting the word out to the media.
"We're trying to create the feeling that this team is a community team, it's Chicago's team," Wilt says, and you get the feeling he is truly enjoying this challenge.
The team naming contest runs through May 16, and the McHenry native hopes to announce the winning nickname the first week in June, maybe at Navy Pier, maybe somewhere else.
Just don't be surprised in a little more than a year if Wilt is on top of the American soccer scene again. He might yet get his chance to bask in championship glory at Toyota Park.
Dribbling:Ã…'Fire rookie goalkeeper Dominic Cervi is impressing with the U-23 national team in Olympic qualifying … According to MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, the league will continue to "look south" to Central and South America for international talent … Just 10 days until the Fire opens the season at Real Salt Lake.
oschwarz@dailyherald.com