By Joey Johnston
Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Gayle Sierens, a beloved hometown journalist who covered the area’s soccer infancy during her sportscasting debut with Tampa’s WFLA-TV in the 1970s, will serve as master of ceremonies for the Tampa Bay Soccer Hall of Fame’s inaugural induction ceremony and dinner on Thursday, Aug. 14.
“Honoring great achievements and celebrating history is important, so I’m especially excited about the formation of the Tampa Bay Soccer Hall of Fame and thrilled to be part of it,’’ Sierens said. “It’s an incredible lineup of inductees. It’s a walk down memory lane for all of us. It absolutely shows you how important soccer has been in the big picture of Tampa Bay area sports history.’’
Sierens, a Tampa Catholic High School and Florida State University graduate who retired in 2015 after 38 years at WFLA, will be best remembered as the news anchor who brought a familiar hometown presence. Nationally, her most notable moment occurred in 1987, when she became the first woman to do play-by-play at a National Football League game for the Seattle Seahawks at the Kansas City Chiefs for NBC.
“Honestly, life has been wonderful, not only because I got to work my whole career in my hometown, which almost never happens in television, but also because retirement has been very rewarding and we are surrounded by family,’’ Sierens said. “I have the greatest of memories, and when my career began, that was all about covering sports. Being around the Rowdies and all forms of soccer was a new experience, but I grew to love it and all the characters associated with the game. It will be great to reminisce and honor many of the people who helped to build our area’s soccer history.’’
The TBSHOF’s inaugural 11-person induction class includes six household-name pioneers from the Tampa Bay Rowdies’ glorious era in the North American Soccer League, three legendary head coaches, a longtime referee, and a journalist who helped to promote the game at an unprecedented level.
Rowdies icons Mike Connell, Derek Smethurst, and Steve Wegerle will be inducted, along with Coach Eddie Firmani, team executive Francisco Marcos, and team owner George Strawbridge.
Other inductees include Coach Jay Miller, who spearheaded the University of Tampa’s 1981 NCAA Division II national-championship team; Coach Jim DiNobile, who guided two national-championship youth teams and Eckerd College’s program; Coach Vicky King, a state champion and four-decade active leader of the Land O’Lakes High School girls program; Mike Mekelburg, a U.S. Soccer National Assignor and former referee; and Jim Henderson, a longtime journalist who began a versatile career in soccer by covering the colorful exploits of the early Rowdies as the Tampa Tribune’s beat writer.
The ceremony and dinner will be held at Higgins Hall, 5225 N. Himes Ave., on the campus of Tampa’s St. Lawrence Catholic Church on Thursday, Aug. 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The event is open to the public. Individual tickets are $90. Tables of eight are available for $1,000 and include prime location, table signage, and program/video recognition. Additionally, there’s a chance to join the organization’s ground floor through a membership in the Founders Club for $250 annually for six years, or a flat $1,500 fee for a lifetime membership. For more information, call (813) 467-6916 or log onto TampaBaySoccerHallOfFame.org.
