“God Save the Wings” played to a packed house

Don’t you just love when your life hits a lick? If you’re not sure what that means, rest assured it’s a good thing. Maybe it means someone or something happens that surprises you. But more frequently it’s when something you experience brought you even more pleasure than you expected.

My life hit a lick recently when I got to emcee the world premiere of the documentary “God Save the Wings” by directors Adam Knapp and Kenny Linn and producers Tori Deatherage, Tim O’Bryhim and Mike Romalis.

The film is about the founding of the Wichita Wings indoor soccer team that started in 1979. To say the Wings popularity grew rapidly would be a huge understatement. The new sport was like a tornado hitting town with coach Roy Turner and general manager Bill Kentling making it spin.

It was a full house at the Orpheum Feb. 22 for the premiere and that included a packed balcony. The event also served as a reunion for several of the players who are featured in the film.

Watching the players interact with each other while they watched the documentary was a show in itself. Those attending were: Andy Chapman of Detroit, Kim Roentved of Kansas City, Kevin Kewley of Pratt, Terry Nicholl of Cincinnati. Chico Borja of Naples Fla., Victor Moreland, of Tulsa, Ian Fairbrother of Detroit, Norman Piper of Winchester, Calif., Mike Dowler of Caldicot, Wales, Keith Gehling of St. Louis, Turner of Wichita and Kentling of Topeka.

The documentary, which was three years in the making, was inspired by Tim O’Bryhim’s book, also named “God Save the Wings.” The film crew first had to locate players, then track down the players, schedule an interview and travel to wherever they were in the United States or Europe.

The one hour and 40 minute film, got a standing ovation the second it was over. And needless to say audience members were on their feet when current Wings announcer Jared Cerullo introduced the players who started in 1979 or soon thereafter.

Several people asked when it will be shown again. Tori Deatherage’s answer: “It’s likely we’ll have another local showing at some point while we work on submitting it to film festivals. Ideally it will end up on a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon Prime. After that there may be a possibility for a DVD.”

Turner described the documentary and the entire evening as “extraordinary.” There are many funny parts in the documentary but I must say I liked the segment where cheerleading supervisor Virginia Creamer explained one of the early rules: The cheerleaders called Angels were not to date the players. Wait, now what?

As I told the audience, “Gee, here are athletic, cute guys with muscular legs and foreign accents wearing short shorts running up and down the field in front of beautiful, flexible girls with great legs doing high kicks. What could wrong with that rule? No dating? That would be like telling President Trump not to tweet.”

According to Bill, Creamer and Tom Shine, who was covering the Wings games for The Wichita Eagle at the time, the rule was kicked right on out of the Coliseum in no time.

With lots of ah-has, reminiscing and laughter, it was an evening to remember.

I hope your life hits a lick this week and you make a fun memory.