If you’ve ever watched a D.C. United match on television, you know him as the “It’s in the net!” guy. He has been a presence for the Black and Red since the press conference announcing the Major League Soccer inaugural franchise, and a soccer fan since the days of Pelé in the North American Soccer League. Dave Johnson was gracious enough to sit down with us for a 40-minute conversation on the history of soccer in the United States and D.C. United.
Sports broadcasting was always a dream for Johnson, who used to cut team lineups out of the newspaper and call games in his bedroom in his youth. He started by setting the scene for his interest in soccer and the larger growth of the sport in the United States in the same time period. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that soccer had attained even a modicum of visibility; Johnson had never really dreamed of being a soccer broadcaster, instead seeing himself calling baseball games.
Still, the sport grew. He became a soccer fan in the heyday of the old North American Soccer League, when Pelé filled stadiums across the country alongside the New York Cosmos. It was a time when fans of the game were hopeful the sport was finally making inroads in the American psyche. Johnson became a fan of the Washington Diplomats in this era, seeing RFK Stadium packed on several occasions when Pelé’s star power had peaked. That dream was short-lived, with the end of Pelé’s career marking the beginning of a decline of the Cosmos, NASL, and the importance and prevalence of soccer in the United States.
Johnson remained a fan of the sport, even in the darker days when the World Cup wasn’t ubiquitous American knowledge and watch parties in Dupont Circle were unheard of. It was a time when the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup matches were pay-per-view and qualifying matches were nearly impossible to find anywhere. His testimony to the growth of the sport in the U.S. over the course of the last four decades is as inspiring as it is captivating. Even to Johnson, the degree of success that MLS has achieved in such a short span of time could not have been predicted; D.C. United has played a crucial role in that success and growth, especially when it comes to supporters’ groups and the stranglehold the club had over the league in the earliest years. Even on the national team side, the effects of MLS resound through his narrative on the sport.
His perspective on D.C. United today is immensely compelling and inspires optimism for this season and beyond. Our discussion on the Buzzard Point stadium project proposal was perhaps the greatest highlight of the conversation, a passionate argument for why the District really cannot afford to say no to a development project that does so much for the city at so little cost. Johnson put it best when he asserted that the proposal, as it stands, would be a done deal in any other city. He ultimately expects a soccer-specific stadium for D.C. United in the near future.
For the whole conversation, including Dave Johnson’s first thoughts upon hearing the name Chris Pontius, listen below.
Dave Johnson is the Sports Director and sports anchor for WTOP 103.5 FM, play-by-play radio voice for the Washington Wizards, and the television play-by-play voice for D.C. United.
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