There's a pretty touching tribute to Dubliner Mike Ryan, who passed away recently in the Seattle Times. You might have never heard of Ryan, but anytime you see youtube clips from Seattle Sounders matches or photos of guys cutting down trees at football matches in Portland, you can sit back and think that a randomer from Dublin played some small part in developing the hunger for the sport in the Pacific Northwest.
According to a 2007 story on Ryan, the Dubliner was a triallist with Blackpool before giving up on his dreams of becoming a professional footballer and moving to the US. There he enlisted in the army, travelled the world and resettled in Seattle with his family. From there, Ryan became intensely involved in grassroots football in the area, coaching college and high school teams and even leading the US women's team out in their first senior match against Italy in 1985.
According to the Seattle Times, his loss will be keenly felt in the area.
Seattle Pacific coach Cliff McCrath called Ryan perhaps the "principal pioneer for the soccer in the area."
"If Washington state is the Autobahn of soccer, without Mike Ryan it would still be a dusty, country road," McCrath added.
It's just another touching story about another Irishman who drifted the world only to find his purpose far afield. For Ryan, it was in the development of youth football in Washington state.
