During my journey around this gigantic country, I have heard people talk passionately about the beautiful game in various cities, mentioning things they love, things they hate, people who have been influential, etc. Through all this, there was one name that kept cropping up (particularly in the Midwest), a name spoken about in loving tones from Milwaukee to Chicago to Indianapolis. That name is Peter Wilt.
Peter Wilt was the first president and general manager of the Chicago Fire (one of the teams in MLS’ initial round of expansion, along with Miami, in 1998). During his time with the club, Peter endeared himself to the supporters. Ben Burton, former president of Section 8 (the Chicago Fire supporters club), called him “the first fan,” and said he learned “a lot” about the importance of relationships between the front office and the fans by watching how Peter would go the extra mile as GM to interact with the supporters in Chicago. Pattrick Stanton, current VP of Section 8, also had nothing but praise to speak of the man. He told the story of how, one year after Peter had been dismissed by the board in 2005, he was still standing in the front of Section 8 during the final of the US Open Cup, cheering the team on as loudly as he could. At the end of the game, after the Fire’s victory, the goalkeeper, Matt Pickens, came over and put his winner’s medal around Peter’s neck, reducing Peter to tears. Pattrick credits Peter with creating Section 8 and laying the seed for good relations between the front office and the supporters. To sum up his feelings up, Pattrick told me, “I don’t have enough breath in my life” to say all the good things about Peter Wilt.
Mr. Wilt was much-loved outside of Chicago, too. In Milwaukee, he is known as the Patron Saint of Highbury, one of the city’s best-known soccer bars, and as the creator of the “Schlabst,” Milwaukee’s “black-and-tan.” Wilt also spearheaded the (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to bring an MLS team to Milwaukee, trying to spread the sport ever further through the Midwest.
But where I heard most about Peter’s work was in the city of his most recent venture - Indianapolis. Peter Wilt played a critical role in getting Indianapolis‘ new NASL team, Indy Eleven, off the ground, and currently serves as its president/GM. As in other cities, the fans I spoke with in Indy had nothing but positives to say about the man. “Every time I’ve seen him, he’s in the crowd,” one said, noting how out of the normal this is for club presidents. Another noted how he always goes the extra mile to make himself available for the fans. Whether it’s thanking supporters for coming to every game (even after a loss), showing up at all the marketing events, or even just frequenting soccer pubs (like the Chatham Tap, where I watched the USA-Ghana game) to mingle with the supporters, Peter will do whatever it takes to reach out to the fans and get them into the game.
The Indy Eleven front office also spoke high praise of the club’s president. I had the privilege to speak with Tom Dunmore, the current VP of Marketing and Operations for Indy Eleven, who told me the story of what Peter did to help make the club so beloved in Indianapolis. In the age of social media, a lot of marketing campaigns have become increasingly digital, and the face-to-face contact that can build a real connection between club and community is sometimes lacking. Peter took ever effort to avoid this folly. Tom talked about how Peter would drive his own car around town, going to bars/restaurants to ask them to do promotions for the team, going to hundreds of meetings and fan events, even going out to the suburbs and shaking hands with the individual fans out there, all to give the people of the Indianapolis area a personal connection to the club that social media and conventional marketing could never achieve. He did so much to give the team a community feel that Tom said he was like a “one man show” in the beginning, all to make sure that the team would be embraced by the community they were about to play for. And the success shows. Despite being in the cellar of the NASL table for the entire Spring season, Indy Eleven had the league’s highest attendance by a margin of 4,000 fans per game, and every team that comes to play in Indianapolis comments on the fervor of their supporters.
The work of men like Peter Wilt can leave a lasting impression on a club, its community, and its supporters, ensuring a bond that will endure. One can only hope that he and many others continue to do such work in other communities across the years, to continue the spread of the beautiful game across our great country.
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