Recalling how indoor soccer could ‘Make This Town Big’

“Make This Town Big” by Tim O’Bryhim and Michael Romalis (452 pages, $18.50)

This is an oral history that needs a sound track, narrated in an English accent, with sirens and the Rocky theme and fans screaming at Slobo Ilijevski.

Then the reader might understand why an indoor soccer team that played 13 seasons inspires a 453-page book. It’s a lot of pages, but the Wichita Wings require a lot of explanation.

“Make This Town Big” is written and compiled by Wichita Wings fans Tim O’Bryhim and Michael Romalis in an exhaustive bit of fan tribute.

“The Wings became the defining element of my 1980s childhood,” Romalis writes. “I ate and breathed the Wings.”

Their object of affection existed as a member of the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979-1992. The MISL tried hard to hit the big-time and succeeded in brief, spectacular, off-the-wall bursts before it folded. Indoor soccer continued, with the Wings at times, in lesser leagues with modest ambitions.

The MISL and the Wings, at their best, knew modesty didn’t sell tickets.

From the view of 2016, a lot of things don’t make sense about the Wings in their glory days.

Indoor soccer? A roster filled with Brits and Danes? Two-minute penalties? At the Kansas Coliseum?

And this was a big deal?

It’s all there, plus the back stories of front-office intrigue, leather pants, fist fights, active social lives on Rock Road, playoff frustration and the Orange Army.

Readers who loved Andy Chapman, hated the St. Louis Steamers and fondly remember the Kansas Coliseum packed with orange-wearing fans will read all 453 pages.

Interviews with some of those hated Steamers add a fun perspective. Interviews with Wichita State historians, MISL referees and other supporting characters add depth.

Readers who tired of “Save the Wings” fund drives or those who consider themselves soccer purists can pick and choose. It’s an oral history, organized by season, so it’s easy to read and easy to skip to the best parts. It’s a bummer there are no color photos inside – more looks at some of those orange jerseys, ’80s hair and big crowds in the Coliseum are missed.

Wings fans or not, readers can enjoy a book that serves as a time capsule for 1980s Wichita. Investors, many flush with Pizza Hut, Coleman and aviation money, took a chance on Wichita sharing a league with the big cities.

“We had that sort of Green Bay mentality,” Wings general manager Bill Kentling says. “If you look at the landscape of the NFL, how in the world can you explain that Green Bay, Wis., is in the NFL. We took on the same attitude and continued to sell more and more season tickets each year.”

The book’s strongest attribute is its reminders of how the Wings and the MISL continue to influence sports.

Wichita’s evolution as a soccer city received a push from the influx of Wings and the franchise’s eagerness to promote the game. Long-time coach Roy Turner continues to serve Wichita as tournament director of the Air Capital Classic golf tournament. Newman University soccer coach Cliff Brown played for the Wings. Most important, many soccer players and coaches got their start watching the Wings and attending the hundreds of camps and clinics.

The MISL showed more-established leagues how to have fun with player introductions, music and lighting. The NBA, sometimes out-drawn by MISL teams in markets such as Kansas City, took notice.

From 1979-1992, the Wings did indeed help Wichita look a little bigger. O’Bryhim and Romalis invested many hours in reminding us why a now-defunct team meant so much to so many.

Is it hard to explain at times? Yes, but somewhere in those 453 pages are the answers.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Recalling how indoor soccer could ‘Make This Town Big’."