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

