'THIS LIFE IS AMAZING'
Soccer built on a mission
Eagles' Swinehart finds world humbling
DAVID SCOTT
Dustin Swinehart plays for the unbeaten Eagles (4-0) in the United Soccer Leagues Division II. He's the franchise's career scoring leader, has scored in each of the Eagles' games this season. His team will face the Harrisburg (Pa.) City Islanders at 8 p.m. today at Charlotte Christian. In Dustin Swinehart's 11 years as a high-scoring striker for the Charlotte Eagles, he has journeyed to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Haiti on offseason missionary trips.
"We go to some of the hardest places in the world," Swinehart said. "It's truly humbling. Whatever we can do to help, we do. Sometimes, we play against a team that has no shoes. I'll think, `Hey, after the game, I'm going to give them my shoes.'
"And if we play on a field that's mostly dirt and rocks, well, I know we can play on anything here and it won't bother us."
That perspective has helped Swinehart and the Eagles on the field, where -- thanks to the seven goals he's already scored -- they are off to a 4-0 start in the United Soccer Leagues' Division II.
Despite having one of the league's lowest payrolls and no stadium to call their own (although they hope a proposed soccer complex in Matthews will include one), the Eagles are perennial USL-2 contenders.
"Some people like to go through life with the wind at their backs," said Swinehart, whose Eagles face the Harrisburg (Pa.) City Islanders tonight at 8 at Charlotte Christian. "I'd rather play going against the wind."
Swinehart, the franchise's career scoring leader (111 goals), has scored in each of the Eagles' games, including a four-goal outburst in a 6-0 victory against Bermuda.
Does he remember ever scoring goals at such a rapid-fire rate?
"Not since U-8s (youth soccer)," Swinehart, 33, said with a laugh.
The Eagles are not a typical pro sports franchise (players must be committed to the team's Christian mission) and Swinehart is not an average pro athlete.
He lives with his wife Betty in a sizeable house in south Charlotte, their hands more than full with four small kids -- Tyler, 5; Bryce, 4; Dylan, 2; and Ava, 10 months. Their expansive, wooded front yard is marked by a rope swing hanging from a huge tree and an Ohio State flag at the front door (more on that later).
The equally large backyard has everything necessary for the children -- mini-soccer goals, a wooden swing set, a plastic slide, toy trucks and balls of all kinds.
Swinehart is every bit the suburban husband and dad, feeding baby Ava blueberries while talking about accompanying Dylan to "Gopher Buddies," a youth program at a nearby Calvary Church.
"This life is amazing," Swinehart said. "It's all I could have ever dreamed of, plus."
With blue eyes and shaggy hair so blond it's nearly white, Swinehart would look at home on a surfboard in southern California. Actually, he grew up in Columbus, Ohio, dreaming of playing defensive back for Ohio State.
The closest he came to that was selling soft drinks at Buckeyes football and basketball games in high school. But he was a natural athlete, playing five sports -- soccer, basketball, baseball, golf and soccer -- as a kid.
"I wanted to be a pro athlete," Swinehart said. "I just didn't know what that looked like."
He earned a scholarship to Miami (Ohio), where he was the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and a three-time all-league performer. A broken leg shortened his senior season in 1996, ending his chances of playing Major League Soccer.
Swinehart eventually ended up with the Eagles, and he's bounced around different levels of soccer's minor leagues with them ever since.
So think of Swinehart, who said he turned down an offer from MLS' Colorado Rapids in 2002, as soccer's Crash Davis, the catcher in "Bull Durham," whose career was spent playing -- and excelling -- in baseball's minors.
"He's crafty," said Eagles defender Brady Bryant, a former opponent when he played for the Wilmington Hammerheads. "If you leave him alone for one second, he'll put it away.
"He's going to find a way to score."
David Scott: 704-358-5889
Dustin Swinehart
TEAM: Charlotte Eagles
POSITION: Striker
AGE: 33
COLLEGE: Miami (Ohio)
NICKNAME: "Whitey," because of his extremely blond hair.
STATS: Seven goals and two assists in four games this season; 111 goals in 10-plus seasons with the Eagles. ... He played on championship teams in 2000 and '05.
Hidden talent: Swinehart has a flair for music. He plays his guitar at church and for his teammates. He once wrote a song about a pair of quarreling teammates called "Two Grumpy Old Men."
Dylan......well Dylan started out as my sweet, easy going, laid back 3rd child! Now.....I don't think there are enough words to describe him! He is such a delightful child MOST of the time, but there are days where Dust and I just look at each other with utter despair! Here he is filling up the pool on Memorial Day.....that and threatening to spray anyone or anything that gets in his way! Then we see Dylan in Ava's dress! He is so OCD about his clothes. He has to pick them out or else the world will fall apart! He has his favorite.....Power Ranger PJs, Buzz Light Year PJs, Team Kenya kit, and now Ava's little blue dress! Are you kidding me! He is a riot!
Daddy and Chip Cash are building the boys a tree house!! Not just a simple little tree house, but a mansion tree house! Seriously it is big time! Perfect for the boys to camp out in some day, complete with a zip line! They have the floor down...next come the walls!!
