Hall of Fame inductee Roy Pfeil, ENYYSA President Richard Christiano, Hall of Fame inductee Jim Vogt
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 9, 2019-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that James Vogt was inducted into the Eastern New York Hall of Fame on December 7 at the ENYYSA Holiday Party at Marina del Rey in the Bronx.
Jim grew up in Ridgewood, Queens, and played youth soccer for the GH Metros from 1974 to 1980. At just 22 years old in 1984, he started coaching their teams and did that on both the youth and senior level until 1997.
Jim served on the GH Metros’ Board of Directors from 1986 through 1997. He started on the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) Board of Directors in 1986 and had two tours of duty as CJSL President, from 1994 to ’98 and 2000 to 2002.
He worked Operations for the Brooklyn Knights PDL and youth teams from 1999 to 2012, served as Ambassador to Soccer in the Streets from 1999 to 2004, the USA Cup from 1995 to 2005 and the Iber Cup from 2017 to the present.
Arguably, Jim’s greatest impact on local youth soccer has been with the Metropolitan Oval. He founded the Met Oval Foundation in 1996 and saved America’s most historic soccer field in 2001, rebuilding it from a dirt field with crumbling bleachers and feeble lights to a centerpiece for New York City youth soccer. Jim then created a partnership between the Met Oval Academy and Juventus.
The Lynbrook resident has organized the following events: 1994 McSoccerfest, 2001 Joga Bonito Nike, 2003 Nike 3v3, Nike Shoe Trails throughout New York from 2001 to ’11, 2004 Manchester United, 2007 US Women's National Team, 2007 Russia Women's National Team, 2009 Bulgaria Men's National Team and 2012 Chile Men's National Team.
Jim was inducted into the CJSL Hall of Fame in 2013.
He said, "I've travelled the world and things open up through soccer."
With approximately 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 11 leagues throughout the association, which covers the entire state of New York east of Route 81. ENYYSA exists to promote and enhance the game of soccer for children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, and to encourage the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Children With Special Needs. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.