AUGUST 11 • 2022 | 45
SPORTS
M
ike Getman had a brief stay
in the Detroit area in the early
1980s, but it certainly had an
impact on him — and he made an impact
on Detroit sports history.
Getman was a member of the 1982
Detroit Express soccer team that won the
American Soccer League championship.
The defender from Bloomington, Ind.,
played all 90 minutes of the Express’
championship-clinching 4-1 win over the
Oklahoma City Slickers in front of more
than 30,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome.
By winning the best-of-three league
championship series 2-1, the Express
became Detroit’s first championship team
since the 1968 Detroit Tigers won the
World Series.
“Everyone on our team loved Detroit,
especially the energy of the city and the
passion of our fans,
” Getman said. “We did
soccer camps for kids and got to meet a lot
of people, and it was great being in the same
facility as the Detroit Lions.
”
Getman was named the Express’ Rookie
of the Year for the 1982 season, but the foll-
lowing season wasn’t a good one for him or
the Express.
Getman was a starter early in the 1983
season, but he was released halfway through
the year because the team was having finan-
cial issues. The Express folded after the
season.
“We weren’t paid much back then, but
it was enough to pay for rent and to eat,
”
Getman said. “
As an American soccer play-
er, you were just happy to be playing the
sport you love as a professional.
”
Now 62 and in his 30th year living in
Birmingham, Ala., Getman has moved on
from a successful career coaching college
soccer teams to being involved in a youth
soccer program in Birmingham that pro-
vides top-notch training and competition
for elite players from the area.
Getman came back to the Detroit area
in late July for a 40-year reunion of the
Express league championship team.
Festivities included a golf outing at
Fieldstone Golf Club in Auburn Hills and a
private party at the Bloomfield Hills home
of Heather and Jean Chidiac.
Heather Chidiac is the daughter of Sonny
Van Arnem, who owned the Express fran-
chise in the ASL during its four years in the
league (1980-83).
“I still see a few of the guys who were on
the Express team, and I’m Facebook friends
with a couple others,
” Getman said.
“But it was amazing getting together as
a group for the first time in 40 years. It felt
Ex-Detroit Express defender returns to celebrate
the team’s 1982 league championship.
Soccer Royalty
continued on page 47
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
TOP: Mike Getman, at left in the front row,
was at the golf outing that was part of the
40-year reunion of the 1982 Detroit Express
league championship soccer team.
JIM MILLER/NEAR PERFECT MEDIA