Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993 TAG: 9307160059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
He appeared before millions worldwide in his standard U.S. Olympic-issue blue blazer, khaki pants and panama hat as part of the American entourage that participated in the opening ceremonies of the Barcelona Summer Olympics on July 25, 1992.
"Dream Team" basketball players Magic Johnson and Karl Malone were at his side.
"Those will be the images I carry with me most," Washington said. "Seeing the incredible fireworks, meeting the personalities and famous people . . . I'll always remember that.
"It's hard to believe it's been a year."
Fast-forward a year: Dante Washington, former U.S. Olympic soccer player and former Radford University standout, mulls over the injuries and failed tryouts that blemished his spring.
Washington was in Radford on Thursday to lecture at the university's soccer camp. It was his first soccer-related job in awhile.
"Basically, I've been sitting around the house doing nothing," he said.
That is, if one considers traveling to a couple of countries and booming footballs - American, not European - before the disbelieving eyes of an NFL scout as "doing nothing."
Of course, that's a hermit's existence compared with the past three years of Washington's life, when he traveled 10 countries as a member of the U.S. Under-23 and Olympic soccer squads.
However, Dante's soccer inferno has dimmed like a burned-out Olympic torch.
Since graduating from Radford in December - ending a career that included 14 school scoring records, national scoring titles in 1988 and 1990 and first-team all-America honors in 1991 - Washington has tried unsuccessfully to establish himself as a professional player.
Last spring, he tried out for pro clubs in Holland and Germany but didn't make either roster.
"Things didn't work out," Washington said. "[In Europe], players are structured toward learning soccer first, everything else second. There are guys there who play soccer from sunup until sundown every day. I've never done anything like that."
Washington's most intriguing football offer came not on the soccer field, but on the football field. A scout for the Phoenix Cardinals, whose daughter had been a college friend of Washington, called and asked if Washington would be interested in a mini-tryout.
Washington, who had never applied foot to pigskin, left his home in Columbia, Md., met the scout at the University of Maryland and promptly put on a show.
He nailed his first kick, a 35-yard field goal, through the narrow practice goal posts and over a fence. He moved back, connecting from 50 yards along the way, and teed up a 55-yarder. He drilled it.
"With room to spare," he said. "Against the wind."
Despite that gaudy performance, the Cardinals decided not to offer the inexperienced football kicker a full-fledged tryout.
"I just said, `Let it be,' after that," Washington said.
He might be saying the same thing about his soccer playing career, as well. Next week, he will interview for a job with World Cup USA. After that, he will wait for another chance to play competitively.
American soccer players, unlike their basketball-playing counterparts, have few opportunities to play professionally in Europe and fewer chances to play in the United States.
"Most players I talk to say things like, `We played the wrong sport in the wrong country,' " Washington said. "I kind of look at us as pioneers of the sport.
"Maybe 20 or 30 years down the line, there will be a lucrative [American] league, and maybe those players will say, `Man, I can't believe they played for free!' "
by CNB