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Can The Rowdies Run Here, There And Back Into Our Hearts?

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2008

It was 1975. Gas was cheap, I was dating the Frau, the Bucs were on the horizon and soccer was coming to town. You just never know how your life is going to change, do you?

Soccer was the great unknown. This was Tampa, where the two big sports were University of Tampa football and Tuesday night wrestling at the Armory. How in the world could this odd international game catch on, especially in the cavernous new Tampa Stadium?

I suppose marketing had a lot to do with it. There was that song you couldn't get out of your head. The promotions were geared at families. There were the players, who were all over the community, running soccer clinics or tipping a few at Boneshakers after the game with their Fannies.

I was a sportswriter who discovered you didn't have to go through a public relations department and grovel at someone's feet for an interview, just meander over and shoot the breeze.

And the community was swept right in, with 20,000, 30,000 and - when the Cosmos came to town - close to 70,000 fans at games. It was great stuff as across the county junior soccer leagues blossomed.

Well, the Rowdies of old are long gone, but a surprisingly large number of players remain in town and have contributed a great deal toward making this a better place. A couple of years ago, former Rowdie Ed Austin even ran, albeit unsuccessfully, for county commission.

Last week, it was announced that a new version of the Rowdies would be returning, playing in a minor soccer league and possibly putting up a small stadium in northwestern Hillsborough County. They are going to have the same colors and I hope the same song.

What is less likely - although you can always hope - is that they might bring back a little of that magic that was around this town when the Rowdies demonstrated how much fun professional sport can be and more than just a kick in the grass.

Your Ottographs

There continues to be lots of mail asking about the young woman beaten and raped outside the Bloomingdale library. Once again: There is a trust fund for the family and you can call SunTrust Banks for information.

The fire that destroyed the Tampa Bay Hardware Store on Nebraska Avenue in Seminole Heights had a powerful effect on the neighborhood. Here are some of your letters.

•Joel Miller of Brooksville wrote, "We knew it as Sparks Hardware and it played a big part of many young lives. I passed it every Monday on the way to Scout meetings at the Methodist church. In 1961 I built what I was sure would be the winning car in the Tampa Bay Soap Box Derby. The race was on the Florida Ave. hill between Waters Ave. and the river. Every metal part, bracket, bolt, nut and screw came from Sparks. It was a long process and I quit a dozen times... Finally, after my father explained I had to finish what I had started I made the race, I was eliminated in the first round.

"Now I see where Bo's Ice Cream a North Tampa fixture for generations has added a 'drive-through' and with the loss of Sparks I figure the end must be near."

•Jim McAlister of Wesley Chapel wrote: "My father taught high school shop for nearly 40 years. He loved tools. He loved the potential they had for creation as well as the promise for a rewarding future they offered a young person.

"Because of this fascination, it became a very frequent ritual to visit 'Sparks and Jordan' often to purchase items to be used in the latest school project for one of his students.

"As a schoolteacher with six children, Daddy rarely had appreciable pocket money at his disposal for such purchases. So when an item was truly needed, while my brother and I would be off in the store admiring the huge knife display, my father would have a quiet, short discussion with the manager about the project. It was the ultimate display of trade and trust. No contracts, computer generated computer slips or purchase plans required. Simply an agreement and a handshake.

"Following my father's passing and faced with disposing of a lifetime collection of his treasured tools, I made one more trip to what was now Tampa Bay Hardware to offer some of the older and more unique ones to Mr. Tom Roberts for display in what seemed an ever-growing glass display case.

"Mr. Roberts was very gracious and grateful in accepting them, although I doubt he fully realized just how much it meant to our family that he allowed these items to be returned to his store.

"Tampa Bay Hardware has been a part of the fabric and fiber of Seminole Heights through generations. It has touched the lives of several generations in a way that extended beyond merely selling nuts and bolts. It has been a part of our neighborhood family and will be missed very much."

Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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