Four years ago, I left my dorm room in Marguerite Hall to start my new adventures in sports media: a women’s soccer game on August 19 where I would begin my career in the Billiken sportscape. I walked into a stadium unaware of the magnitude this humble location held for the history and future of soccer in the U.S. I ascended the rows of metallic blue bleachers to reach a long red brick structure with big blue letters on the top that spelled “Robert R. Hermann Stadium.”

On April 5, 2020, Robert Hermann, the namesake of SLU’s soccer stadium, passed away at his home in Ladue at the age of 97. Hermann was an influential figure in bringing the international sport of soccer to the U.S. and, as a St. Louis native, was a strong advocate for the city and sport.

When I got a text following Hermann’s death, I realized how much I have benefited from the work he did in his life, but also how little I actually knew about the man called “Mr. St. Louis.” As a successful businessman, Hermann found great pride in business and philanthropic ventures. His charitable work for organizations like the St. Louis Zoo, the Muny and the Missouri Botanical Garden made him a glowing role model for what it means to be a St. Louisan. 

I wanted to know more about the man who virtually created soccer in St. Louis—the National and St. Louis Soccer Hall of Famer who created a league in the late ’60s that would lay the groundwork for MLS today. I talked to 1970 SLU soccer alum Bill McDermott about the NASL, a league that Hermann helped set up that became the framework for soccer in the U.S. “Some league had to open the door to bring this sport to the United States. That entity was the NASL and Bob Hermann was tremendously active with the St. Louis Stars,” McDermott said. As chairman of the professional team, Hermann did what no other team was doing at the time. He bridged the gap between foreign and local, consistently fielding teams primarily composed of high quality American players.

His work for soccer nationally earned him a spot in the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001. When president of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame Jim Leeker took over in 2010, one of his goals was to connect the national hall of fame with the local. He championed Hermann’s entrance into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame and succeeded in 2012. Leeker gave him a call to congratulate him on his induction, and Hermann responded, “You mean to tell me I’m not in that hall of fame?” Leeker laughed, saying he could feel what he calls Hermann’s “infectious smile” even through the phone.

Hermann cared deeply about people, and you could see it in the little things. He kept a picture on his desk from a 2013 Manchester City vs. Chelsea game at Busch Stadium. There was a little ceremony for some hall of fame guys, Hermann included, and they took a photo together. Off to the side was Leeker cheering them on. It was that picture, not the portrait of Hermann and the others, that he kept on his desk.

For a time, Hermann lived next door to Stan Musial. Musial bought a new riding mower and wanted to take it for a spin, so he asked Hermann if he could cut his grass. Hermann told him he could whenever he wanted. Brazilian soccer star Pelé was in town, and Hermann invited him to his home. At that same time, Musial was cutting the grass, and when Pelé saw that, he said, “Excuse me, is that Stan Musial cutting your grass?” to which Hermann quipped back, “Oh yeah, he cuts my grass all the time.” A stunned Pelé turns to him and says, “You must be a very important person.”

Though he was a very important person, he never lost sight of how to care. In his numerous charitable acts or his monumental strides in U.S. soccer, Hermann found a way to foster relationships and build a better future for the people he impacted. McDermott summed up his legacy in a simple line: “People in St. Louis should be eternally grateful to him for what he did on a civic and charitable basis and … for really being the first to bring [soccer] to St. Louis.”

 St. Louis has been touted as a soccer hub for years—from the famed 1950 U.S. World Cup team comprised of five St. Louis natives to the new MLS franchise entering the St. Louis market. College soccer has always been a part of this culture, and St. Louis Soccer Hall of Famer and current Washington University St. Louis head coach Joe Clarke has been a strong proponent for advancing the game locally. 

   Clarke spent his college soccer career at SLU from 1972-1975, winning two NCAA championships in ’72 and ’73 and falling in the finals in ’74. After his final season, Clarke moved on to a professional career, where he played with the St. Louis Stars, California Surf, St. Louis Steamers and the semi-pro team St. Louis Kutis. In 1983, Clarke took over as head coach at SLU, where he took the Bills to 12 NCAA appearances in 14 seasons. From there, Clarke moved down the road to WashU, where he has had a 249-124-51 record in his 23 seasons with the Bears.

   The early days of St. Louis soccer were guarded, almost like a secret society where players needed to pass some kind of test to enter into the inner circle. Two guards for Clarke in high school were Harry Keough and Val Pelizzaro, the coaches at SLU. “Back at that time, growing up in St. Louis, you really just waited for St. Louis U to knock on the door, and if they did, it was highly likely you were gonna go to school there,” said Clarke. He found them knocking his junior season when the two were reffing one of his soccer games, a well known recruiting method in SLU’s early years.

   Clarke went on to play at SLU for four years at the tail end of SLU’s championship era, when they won 10 NCAA Championships in 15 years. Clarke learned a lot from his coaches there, which he would eventually model his own coaching prowess after. When he took over the head coaching job from Keough in 1983, he used Keough and Pelizzaro as role models. Clarke started out with the little coaching experience he had while in his professional career, though he was still a player at heart. He had certain assumptions about players that put him in a unique position to learn a lot about coaching. Clarke made assumptions about players’ motivation when he started. He took his own experience as a player and used that to form his coaching style. He learned that not every player will run laps after not starting a game, something Clarke himself would do. That kind of trait is not inherent in all players, and Clarke still spends time learning how to drive this motivation. This development in Clarke caught up to him when he moved over to WashU. 

   When Clarke took over at WashU in 1997, he had another set of challenges to learn from. The priorities of SLU players and WashU players were just different. Both athletes were driven on the field and in the classroom, but at WashU, players were not thinking about going pro; their end goal would be to have a good career. At SLU, players would look to play professionally and then have a good career when their playing days were done. “I remember one case specifically, [a student] announced that he was going to go to Virginia instead of Washington University. And I said, ‘you’re never going to be able to play soccer at VIrginia.’  And he said, ‘Yeah I know that.’ And that was when a lightbulb went off: Woah! I’m recruiting guys who would actually think about not playing.” 

   Clarke has a desire to grow the game and the people it touches. In 1983, he started the Joe Clarke Soccer Camp, a summer program for youth players to grow their skills. This has been a staple for players in St. Louis years after its inception, with many great local players taking a week or two out of their summer to learn from Clarke and his staff. 

By growing the college game and players at SLU and WashU, by growing youth players in St. Louis with camps and by joining in the experimental NASL league as a professional, Clarke cemented his mark on St. Louis soccer and earned himself a spot in the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007.

   It is clear that Clarke always has an eye to the future. When talking about the upcoming MLS team in St. Louis, he was ecstatic thinking about the possibilities it brings for St. Louis as a soccer city, especially what it might mean for SLU. “I think that the pro franchise coming to town is gonna give Kevin’s program a boost,” said Clarke. “Some visiting team that is coming in town is going to end up practicing at St. Louis U, and SLU is going to be more attached to what is happening professionally.”

   As the third head coach for the SLU men’s soccer team, Joe Clarke has had a tremendous impact on soccer locally, and it shows great promise for the future of college soccer and soccer in St. Louis that Clarke is still eager to continue learning about the game and looking to build the sport locally. When asked if he keeps in touch with people from SLU, he said of course and that he even just sent Coach Kalish an email the other day. They trade ideas and will occasionally watch other practices. All of this is local camaraderie that helps strengthen the vision for St. Louis as what it is and should be, a major soccer hub in the United States.

Anime. The guilty pleasure for many is a unique artform that many write off as childish cartoons, but, for those well acquainted, are much more than that. So, I’m writing this list of my top anime to try and force my editors to read it, and then consider watching anime, so my fellow weebs can skip straight to the list from here. But for the unacquainted, I will try and write for a broad audience, which means we have to talk about what anime is, and then I will get into the list.

Anime is a japanese television medium that is animated pictures, so, in layman’s terms, it is basically a cartoon. But anime is stylized in a way that makes it different from “Fairly Odd Parents” or “Scooby-doo.” Anime tends to stay away from episodic series with no overarching plot. This normally gives the shows thematic elements that connect the audience to the world and characters. When I look at an anime, those themes are one of the two things I am looking at that live action does worse than anime. The other thing is animation. This is literally how things move on screen, but animation combines with other things like art style and cinematography to create something unique. This is why anime is often referred to as an artform. Teams of people craft a compelling story and create a breath-taking world with beautiful characters to take the viewer on that journey. Now take this journey with me, and I hope to convince you that these five shows are worth watching. Here are my top five anime.

5. Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 7/10

The series follows two brothers, Ed and Alphonse Elric, on their journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone. The Philosopher’s Stone is a stone said to have incredible alchemical abilities, and in the Fullmetal universe, alchemy is practiced much like magic, giving the Philosopher’s Stone the ability to perform alchemy in a spectacular way—and potentially even breaking the laws of Alchemy. And that is what makes this show so great. Alchemy is a science and follows what is called “The Law of Equivalent Exchange.” This means that in order to transmute something—deconstruct and reconstruct the atomic structure of an item—the atomic structure must be known and the balance of materials being deconstructed must be the same as the materials being reconstructed. This simple principle sets the stage for the show’s thematic conflict. It looks at the value of life. The boys learn about life and death at an early age, and through the lens of equivalent exchange learn about truth, knowledge and the inherent value of human life.

4. My Hero Academia 7/10

Everyone wants to be a hero, and in the world of “My Hero Academia,” the title “hero” is given to people as a recognized profession. 80 percent of the population has a superpower called a “quirk” that can range from simple abilities like glowing skin, to Superman-esque powers, like flying through the air. The story follows Izuku Midoriya on his journey to become the number one professional hero. He attends a prestigious hero school called U.A. High, and is surrounded by classmates also wanting to become pro heroes. The show ranks so highly because of stellar animation, with high speed action shots and beautiful color clashes in fight scenes. But the real juice of the series is the overarching question: What does it mean to be a hero? The show has many different perspectives on this question. All Might is the number one pro hero and known as the “symbol of peace,” so the audience assumes that is what a hero looks like. But other characters are introduced to challenge this symbol and suggest that being a hero might not be as black and white as people assume. 

3. Naruto 8/10

If you have yet to hear of “Naruto,” you have probably been living under a rock. The show transcends anime culture and broke into mainstream pop culture years ago. Set in the Hidden Leaf Village, the titular character, Naruto Uzumaki, is on a journey to become the Hokage, which is like the ninja president. This show is here because of my personal attachment to it. “Naruto” ended its 15 year run in 2017 when part two of the series, “Naruto: Shippuden” ended. To put it into perspective, the show first released the English version on Toonami in 2005. That is a 12 year journey for 7 year old Sam, taking me through my early childhood. Playing with my grade school friends at recess, pretending we’re ninjas. Subtly making “Naruto” jokes in the middle of class in high school. Having deep conversations about peace, sacrifice and determination in college. The show literally matured with my generation. As the viewers got older, Naruto got older, too, and it is that story of growth that connects viewers to the characters and makes “Naruto” so great. 

2. Death Note 9/10

A notebook falls from the sky and high schooler Light Yagami picks it up. The notebook reads, “The human whose name is written in this note shall die.” The story follows Light and his use of the book to carry out judgement. The antagonist is a detective named “L,” who is attempting to solve the killings. The contrast of L and Light, both geniuses, is what pushes the thematic narrative of justice. Light kills criminals. Is that bad? He thinks not, but the police do. These two continually clash in a battle of wits and each player seems to be five steps ahead of the other at all times. Stunning visuals are added to exacerbate the contrast—a lot of scenes using red vs. blue or black vs. white to add a level of conflict. By the end of the series, the audience is still left perplexed on what justice is. There is no clear answer and you always have to think. It shows how moral decisions are often seen as right or wrong, but they are never that easy to decipher. I have watched this 37 episode series many times over, and each time it has taken less than five days, with my first viewing completed in under 48 hours. It is a thought-provoking show that is a great gateway into anime as a mature medium. 

1. Attack on Titan 10/10

“Attack on Titan” is set in a post apocalyptic world where humanity has been wiped out and the remaining population lives within the confines of three massive walls, built to protect them from titans which are human-like giants that eat people. What makes this show the best of any show ever is the story and the animation. Humanity has an army, and one branch of the army is designed to discover territory outside the walls where they are subject to fighting titans. This is the Survey Corps, and this idea of discovering more for humanity is what breathes life into the show. The continuous trek toward knowledge of the outside world keeps the viewer invested. This is spurred on by mystery and surprise. When the show starts, the audience has little to no knowledge of the outside world, and every time new information is found, another question arises. Animation and sound are used to create another layer of these mysteries and surprises that make it impossible for the audience to predict the future. Action is animated so fluidly that these fantasy encounters seem real. It is such a compelling series that the moment I finished the second season in 2017, I went online to read the manga because I had to know what happened next.

I hope you like my list. Feel free to check out other shows I have seen by clicking on my anime list. Share your top anime and why you like them in the comments.

Your throat gets dry and it’s hard to breath. You feel light headed and you start to sweat. Your body feels warm and you start to cough. Nope. You don’t have coronavirus, you just finished running 400 meters. 

Track and field. The ultimate test of humans’ physical capabilities and a competitive outlet for many student athletes. The pinnacle of human athletic competition has been stripped away from the population with the Olympics being postponed and college, high school and youth sports canceled.

Now, in a world with no sports and social distancing tactics in place to reduce spread of disease, it is difficult for one to make the argument that sports should even be considered to resume. But that is why I am going to make that argument

The Plan

While many contact sports are out of the question, I have come up with a perfect solution: to resume track and field activities in strict accordance with health and safety guidelines.

First, we must address the basics. Track and field is broken into two categories, track and potato. No, obviously it is track and field. Track events are running events that take place around a 400 meter track, while field events are jumping, throwing and vaulting events that take place in another area. 

So the question becomes what kind of guidelines do we need to look at to bring back track? 

   Let’s look at some CDC guidelines for large gatherings:

• The overall number of attendees.
• The number of people who are at greater risk.
• The density of attendees.
• The level of transmission in the community.

We can follow these guidelines to create a safe way to compete. By eliminating an audience and reducing the number of teams and the size of teams, we could check off some common social distancing techniques and stay in accordance with CDC guidelines. The average area of a track is around 1,480 square meters. If people practice proper social distancing and remain six feet apart, approximately two meters, then, with the help of some quick maths, we can calculate that around 1,800 people could fit within a standard track. With the width of a track being around four meters, we can keep competitors at a distance by using only the first, fourth and eighth lanes. 

1,800 people is a large gathering, so by toning it down, we can safely convene a meet consisting of fewer than 100 people. Here’s how we get that number:

• 5 teams per meet MAX
• 12 personnel per team MAX
• 10-20 officials at a meet 
• 5 trainers/medical personnel  

5 teams 12 people per team + 20 officials + 5 trainers = 85 people

This gives us some wiggle room pertaining to the size of the event and keeps us under 100 people. 

We also must look at the number of people at greater risk and the level of transmission in the community. Obviously, these meets must be held in places where there is smaller transmission. This reduces the risk of exposure. We also must consider how many people are at greater risk. The athletes will not be at greater risk due to their generally low age and heightened physical health. The only potentially vulnerable population would be found in coaching, officiating and medical staff, all of whom can remain at a proper social distance. 

But what about the actual competition?

To keep people healthy, we would need to minimize contact with people and objects others have touched. So, for relay races, each hand off should consist of a thorough cleaning of the baton between each leg. Once the baton is properly disinfected, it can be handed off to the next person. Actually, scratch that. We should probably just not do relays. Yeah, no relays.

Field events are another hurdle to jump over, but they are doable. We will break field events into three categories: virtually unchanged, disinfecting and replacement.

Virtually unchanged

This group has no changes to how the event is performed, but involves changes in how people prepare. These events are done with competitors taking turns, and normally people wait in the area. Waiting must be done six feet apart and equipment must be cleaned in between turns. These events include shot put, javelin, hammer throw and discus.

Disinfecting 

These events require disinfecting surfaces between each participant. Because pads are used, the surface will be wiped down to kill germs before the next participant. These include high jump and pole vault. 

Replacement 

This category is a little bit out there, but it is foolproof. The replacement method is used for long jump and triple jump. Because these two events result in participants landing in sand, we must reduce contact with potentially infected surfaces. To combat this, we will replace the sand in the sandpit much like one replaces the kitty litter for a cat. This gets rid of the virus and any other potential germs. 

In conclusion, these methods give a blueprint for institutions to follow to reinstate track into athletics in a healthy and safe way. Coronavirus may be fast, but Usain Bolt is faster.