USYS Hall of Famer Laraba's hard work doesn't go unnoticed

Jan. 22—If Dave Laraba were playing soccer, he would be a defensive midfielder. They do the dirty work that doesn't get a lot of focus, but is necessary for a team's success.

Really, Laraba's contributions to soccer in West Virginia go even deeper. Without the likes of Laraba and folks like him, the game might not get played at all.

It truly is all things behind the scenes, all the administrative things big and small that must occur to make sure tournaments and the teams that play in them run like clockwork.

Unnoticed by most, but not completely.

Laraba, the executive director of the West Virginia Soccer Association for 30 years, was inducted into the US Youth Soccer Hall of Fame last week in Anaheim, Calif. He became the 46th inductee into the hall, which was created in 2008.

"I was surprised. I really was surprised. I didn't think that I was going to get in," Laraba said. "It's something that you know is out there, but ...

"My work with U.S. Youth Soccer, even though it's gone on 30 years, has been behind the scenes. It's been in appeals and discipline and hearings and risk management. It's not the stuff that gets headlines or attention. It's not like coaching national championship teams, that kind of thing. Playing at a high level. I just didn't think it was something that was going to come my way."

Laraba's selection to the USYS Hall of Fame shows that the hard work doesn't always go without appreciation.

"I think it's recognition of people that work behind the scenes, that give time to work on the committees, that are not, 'Oh, wow! That's a lot of fun,'" he said. "National championship training. President's Cup training. You articulate the coaching education, the referees. Those are all the things that people do and it's tied in with events and it's tied in with the kids having a good time. Or being on the board of directors, that kind of thing. Just being behind the scenes. So, yeah, it's good to get recognized."

And it's not the first time. Laraba was also inducted into the U.S. Adult Soccer Association in 2015.

"If you get recognized at a national level for anything, for your job or for something you volunteer, if people recognize you for that, then that's a big deal. So I appreciate that," Laraba said. "The one thing I would say with the Adult Association and the Youth Association, there's a lot more people involved on the youth side than on the adult side. So the line's a little longer to get recognized on the youth side because there's 3 1/2 million kids playing, so you figure how many coaches and administrators and behind the scenes people are there? There's thousands.

"Whenever you get in a Hall of Fame, it means a lot."

Laraba has told the story many times that he got his start in soccer when his sons Steve and Spike took up the sport at early ages. He and Dave Harrah took up coaching with no intention of an extended stay, but the requests to continue coaching at various levels — the resumé includes three Region I Championships with the West Virginia Rapids and three Raleigh County Championships in five seasons at Park Junior High — became nearly relentless, and soon it expanded to the administrative side.

Laraba's wife Jane was also involved through both coaching and administration, until she decided to give it up "to be a Grammy."

"At that point, soccer had become my job," Laraba said, "so I just couldn't give it up because it was what was paying the bills.

"It's been an interesting run, but no, there's no way in 1982, 1983 that I thought I'd still be doing this in 2024."

Also inducted into the Hall of Fame were Joy Fawcett and Dr. Lauren Gregg. Fawcett was a three-time All-American at UC Berkeley who went on to win two Olympic gold medals and two World Cups. Gregg was a member of the 1982 UNC team that won the first-ever NCAA Championship. As a coach, she won another national title at UNC as an assistant, coached the University of Virginia to its first Final Four appearance and was part of two World Cup winners and an Olympic gold medal team.

Laraba was not alone among Mountain State award recipients in California. Princeton's John Allen was named the National Young Male Referee of the Year; Lloyd McIntyre with the Shawnee Soccer Recreation Academy was named the National Girls Recreation Coach of the Year; and Nate Testman with South Hills Soccer was named National Boys Recreation Coach of the Year.

"We had three national winners, which was really amazing," Laraba said. "That doesn't happen, especially in a small state like ours."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5