|
 Inducted
to the Hall in 1997,
Duts
Danilo played for the Morgan Soccer Club of Western Pennsylvania’s
Keystone League.
He scored the winning goal in the U.S. Amateur Cup final in 1940 when Morgan
faced Fall River Firestone. Danilo also played for the Pittsburgh Indians in
the North American Professional Soccer League in 1946 and 1947, helping the
Indians to the championship in 1947. After retirement, he served as manager
for the Morgan Soccer Club, and then was secretary and later president for
the West Penn Soccer Association. Are you still
involved with soccer in any way today?
No, I’m 85 years old. I can’t be
involved anymore. I was involved in administrative work for a
time being. After I quit playing, I ran a team, the Morgan club,
for four years, and then I quit that and I went into
administration. I was nominated for recording secretary and
after that, I was the president for a while. I was also the
commissioner for the U.S. Open and the Amateur Cup.
What were
some of the best moments from your playing days?
I played for the Pittsburgh
Indians and the Morgan Club. With the Morgan Club, we won the
U.S. Amateur championship. We won the National Open Cup in Fall
River and I scored the winning goal. We won the game 1-0, and
after the game, they gave the ball to the referee and he came up
to me and gave it to me. I still have it, my wife had it bronzed
for my birthday. My shoes are with it, on a plaque. One day I’ll
give it to the Hall of Fame. I still want it for a while, to
display in my home, but one of these days I’ll run up and give
it them, because they want it.
Have your
family members been involved in soccer?
I have two brothers, one who
played for Kent State and was in the Hall of Fame there, at the
college. My other brother ran the junior team up in Morgan. My
father-in-law is in the National Soccer Hall of Fame as well, he
was inducted in ‘63. His name is Dan Zampini. He went in for
administration. He was the president for the West Bend Soccer
Association here for five years. Right now, my grandson plays in
college, at a college called Goucher in Towson, Maryland.
Can you
describe your induction day into the Hall?
When I got the letter, I was very
excited. I never thought this would happen to me. I always hoped
in my mind that, some day, I would be in the Hall. I was very
excited. I was more excited than ever when I got the letter.
Thirteen family members attended the banquet. We had a ball.
Then, when we came home, they had a big party for me here. At
the banquet, I met Steve Sampson, and I thought he was great. It
was a lot of excitement for us. People came from all over, came
up to you, introduced themselves and talked to us. They could
sure put on a nice banquet. Then I had a banquet here at home
with 250 people. Our senator wrote letters, and the state
senators all came to the banquet, even came to our house. It was
really an experience.
What major
changes have you seen in the game of soccer since your playing
days?
Well, I tell you, today the
soccer is played differently than we played. We had one hell of
a team, all 13 ballplayers. One guy acted as our trainer and
doctor and everything else, in one. I played the outside right
position, which is now called the wing. We had two fullbacks and
three halfbacks. Today they don’t call them that, they call them
defenders, midfielders. Soccer names were more like football.
Soccer is where the American football position names came from.
When they started playing American football, they used the same
terms. So now they call them strikers, wings, and defenders to
differentiate.
Anything else
you’d like to mention?
One of the biggest
thrills was going up to Oneonta the first time to meet everyone.
On the way home, there was a girl watching us in the airport.
She said, You seem to have a soccer family. I told her, yes. She
said, I’ll bet your boys would like to see this. She pulled out
a gold medal from her bag. It was Mary Harvey, former
goalkeeper, and she had her Olympic gold medal! She actually
flew back to Pittsburgh with us. Small world, really.
- September 2004 -
Where
Are They Now
Jill Beauchesne of the the U.S.
National Soccer Team Player Association and the on-line journal
Round Not Oval reports her conversation with Hall of Famers in
our newest feature.
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