By By STEVE MORRISON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – At first sight, he looks as imposing as an NFL defensive lineman or a bodyguard. But a quick, smiling "hello" and a warm firm handshake disarms one's premonitions about big John Willis.
A lifelong resident of Niles, the 6-feet-4 gentleman giant has a story to tell every time you meet him, whether it be as the head usher of Wesley United Methodist Church here in Niles or in the business world.
A semi-retired executive from Whirlpool (14 years) and Kawneer Corporation of Niles (for 12 years prior to the stint at Whirlpool), Willis still employs his vast computer knowledge as a part-time computer analyst for Tom Majerek at Michiana Delivery Service.
Willis has another side, the generous one. In addition to serving as Financial Chairman of Wesley, Willis remains as Treasurer of the Optimist Soccer League (since 1992), he is one of only two remaining original founders of the league in the 1970s; he has a wealth of memories.
Now 'for the rest of the story'… "We (Niles Optimist Soccer) actually started, more than 31 years ago as a member of the Michiana Soccer Association," Willis began. "Michiana Soccer Association was the soccer league over in the South Bend, Granger, Mishawaka area. We started off, just joining their association, putting teams into it. We had seven teams; about a hundred kids signed up. Within a couple of years, we felt that we had grown enough that we thought we could (create) our own league.
"I was a coach the first year, Phil VanDenberg (a Niles dentist and Optimist Club member) twisted my arm and I took it on, not knowing anything about soccer," chuckled Willis. "It showed; we really didn't do that well the first year. One of the problems was, we were Niles teams and all of the games were over in the South Bend /Mishawaka area. I think we were only with the MSA for two years. We felt that we had enough kids that we could do something locally.
Our first fields were at Ballard School and Plym Park. We were at Oak Manor School, also."
"The founders, the guys who brought the idea to the Optimist Club, were Greg Preston, a local insurance man here in town; and Reverend Bob Livingston (at that time, the Pastor of St. John's Church of Niles). These two brought the whole idea, and got the thing started. I was on the Board of Directors for the noon Optimist Club at the time," Willis recalled.
"VanDenberg, Preston and Livingston, as well as Rudy Kape, got us off to a great start." Kape, of Buchanan, is still the only other man active in the program.
The league began serving the communities of Niles and Buchanan. Over the years the league has held a presence of participants from Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Galien and Berrien Springs. Since that time, Edwardsburg and Berrien Springs grew large enough that they started their own league programs, while Galien has incorporated their players into the Buchanan teams.
To explain the age divisions Willis said, "we started off by grade (in school) to simplify things. Originally we were first grade through 12th grade. Since then, we have added kindergarten and we have dropped ninth through 12th."
The reason for that second change is the emergence of high school soccer in
Southwest Michigan, as well as the mushrooming explosion across Michigan and the nation, as soccer has evolved into a major high school sport.
Before the program, there were no high school soccer teams in the area. As well, traveling team organizations in many local communities have diminished the need for the program to be offered for participation at the upper age levels.
Still the Optimist Soccer Program of Niles has flourished like the spread of a beautiful wildflower. It is so pleasant, in these troublesome economic times, to observe a local success that has blossomed from a seed planted by five men and 100 kids and grew to a population of over 1,100 athletes and 77 teams that presently thrive in the organization.
Each team plays eight contests during the season, which begins a week before or after spring break and concludes just before Memorial Day weekend.
This year, the program has added a new laurel to its field. Through the beneficence of the First Missionary Church of Niles, Harvest Field began its first year as a new soccer facility. Located near the northwest corner of the intersection of US-12 and West River Road, the facility was baptized on Saturday, April 12 by a group of freezing, but enthusiastic youngsters, as the 2008 Optimist Soccer season began.
Willis explained, "just this week, volunteers from First Missionary and the league have brought in slag to help improve the parking situation. First Missionary is also going to provide "No Parking" signs on West River Road to alleviate the traffic congestion and to improve safety. He noted that several volunteers gave up their time, on Saturday, to serve as parking ushers to help control the situation."
Willis was full of praise about the contribution of First Missionary.
"They really don't want any money; they just want to contribute for the good of the community," he commented.
Pastor Mark Slabaugh has been a huge proponent in helping the Harvest Field facility to come to fruition.
Willis recalled that five or six years ago the church had begun plans to build a sanctuary on the property and one of the things that they wanted to do was to include an athletic field for the benefit of the community. One of the long time coaches, Dan Perry, who also was a member of the church, brought up the idea. Things took off from there and just seem to be getting better and better for the program.
A modest Willis wanted to that add in his travels throughout Michigan, as the Lieutenant Governor of the Michigan Optimist Association, he often receives expressions of amazement about the large rate of participation in Niles Optimist Soccer.
Fellow Optimists in larger towns like Flint, Detroit and Grand Rapids often marvel at the size of the program, which often dwarves the size of their own leagues.
Finally, Willis makes it very clear that without the charitable contributions of many local businesses and individuals this excellent opportunity for area youth would be impossible to maintain. He is pleased that very little controversy exists. Many former players of the first generation in the league have come back to volunteer to coach or work as referees for little pay. That just shows that many local people have as big a heart as the big man himself.