When Keith Van Eron is introduced at halftime tonight, many fans may not remember him as a player. But most will recognize Van Eron as the soccer camp counselor who has taught the game to kids the past two decades.
Van Eron, 52, and the late Domenic Mobilio will be inducted into the Blast Hall of Fame during the team?s game at 7:35 against New Jersey (10-9) at 1st Mariner Arena.
Van Eron was the winning goalkeeper in the clinching game of the 1984 Major Indoor Soccer League championship ? the pinnacle of his six seasons in Baltimore.
“Its just unbelievable,” Van Eron said. “And in Baltimore at the time ? Baltimore was the team. The Colts were soon to be on the Mayflower truck, but we were as big as the Orioles. And the Orioles won the championship in ?83.”
Van Eron went 92-51, recording a 4.06 goals against average with 2,187 saves in 164 games. He played in Baltimore from 1981 to 1984 before spending the 1984-85 season with the Las Vegas Americans. He returned to Baltimore after the season and concluded his career with the Blast in 1988.
“To win championships, you have to have good goalkeeping,” Kevin Healey, the team?s president, said. “He was part of several good goalkeepers that came through the area. He brought a lot of emotion to the game.”
Van Eron also has brought the game of soccer to the grassroots level in the Baltimore area with his dozens of camps geared to teaching the game to toddlers as well as players in high school.
“I used to go to his camps when I was younger,” second-year Blast defender and Fallston native Mike Lookingland said. “I?ve done some stuff recently with his camps. He?s a great guy and he?s still doing a whole lot for the youth soccer community with his camps and everything.”
The native of Brooklyn, N.Y. lives in Timonium with his wife, Kristin, and their five children. Mobilio played in 182 games for the Blast from 1988-1992, as the two-time All-Star finished his Blast career with 171 goals and 90 assists before dying of a heart attack in 2004. He was 35.
Van Eron turned down opportunities to coach at the high school, college and professional levels because he prefers working with younger players, creating the “KinderKicks” program to introduce the game to toddlers.
Van Eron?s camps are focused around fun, “off the wall” activities. He?s a realist, too, understanding that most of those kids don?t know him as a professional player.
“I think playing for the Baltimore Blast was a dream come true. Being a professional soccer player was a dream come true,” Van Eron said. “I?m still making my living with soccer right now. I feel like I?m the luckiest guy in the world.”
