The du Nord Question & Answer Session With .... Peter Wilt
du Nord, June 20, 2009
Interview conducted & edited by Paul Demko.Over the last two decades, Peter Wilt has been involved in practically every soccer league in the United States. Starting with the Milwaukee Wave indoor team, he's gone on to management posts with the Chicago Power, the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Minnesota Thunder and the Chicago Fire. He's currently CEO of the Chicago Red Stars in the Woman's Professional Soccer league. I sat down with Wilt on a recent Saturday morning at the Saint Paul Hotel to talk futbol, fan culture and his purported status as the "Patron Saint" of the The Highbury bar in Milwaukee. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation. du Nord: You were the general manager of the Minnesota Thunder in the mid-90s. What moment sticks out in your mind from that era?Peter Wilt: The 1995 USISL championship game at Mitchell Park in Long Island against the Long Island Rough Riders. It was the last top-level soccer game in the United States before Major League Soccer started the followin