Completing the Ring of Fire
Posted by: Tom Dunmore in Untagged on Jun 02, 2008
When Andell Holdings, led by Chairman and CEO Andrew Hauptman, purchased the right to operate the Chicago Fire in 2007, they were not buying a blank slate. They were buying a team with a distinct tradition. It is an organization that honors this with its Ring of Fire, whose inductees represent those who have contributed significantly to the passion that defines the Fire community.
In the Ring of Fire are former President and GM Peter Wilt, former manager Bob Bradley, and former star players Lubos Kubik, Frank Klopas and Piotr Nowak. Fittingly, it has always been up to the inductees to select new members of the Ring of Fire, giving the club a red thread running through it that links it from its origin to the present. This is unique in American soccer.
This year, they chose to put in the Ring of Fire two supporters who tragically died within the past eighteen months, Dan Parry and Brandon Kitchens. Both represented everything that the Chicago Fire has stood for over the past decade, and in their own ways, each contributed much to that tradition.
It should be remembered that a club is not merely made up of players, coaching staff and executives, as is currently represented in the Ring of Fire. Also key to its identity -- and much of the reason why it's something worth buying in the first place -- are the supporters. The decision of the Ring of Fire members to induct two of its strongest supporters lost at a tragically young age recognized this fact.
Unfortunately, the current ownership, once it learned of this decision, decided it would not be appropriate to induct Parry and Kitchens, and is instead planning a different memorial. In a wrenching turn of events, the families of both had been told of their impending inclusion in the Ring of Fire only to then hear the decision had been rescinded shortly before it was about to be made public. In the future, the Ring of Fire inductees will only be part of a larger group that will select new members.
Ben Burton, Chairman of Section 8 Chicago, said that "I have a lot of emotions regarding the issue, but most of all I'm incredibly disappointed and sad. I am distraught over the decision, and I'm most horrified at the thought that the families were already notified about the induction of their departed family members and the organization still reversed the decision. That was simply callous and wrong.
"Regardless, I promised the organization I would do anything and everything to help with whatever memorial they choose to do. I hope we can help them do something fitting. Short of putting them in the Ring of Fire though, I will be disappointed."
That disappointment is shared even by those who were not close to Dan or Brandon. As a relatively recent member of Section 8 myself, I did not know either well. Every week, I hear a story about them from their friends in Section 8 that makes me sorry for that -- yet proud to follow in their footsteps as a Fire supporter. This is exactly what the Ring of Fire should honor, and the handling of this decision -- however well-intentioned it may be -- is a disturbing usurpation of that tradition.
It seems that as a result, no-one will enter the Ring of Fire this year. This is a terrible shame. I hope that instead, the Chicago Fire organization recognizes the role its supporters have played in its history by inducting "Section 8, in honor of Dan Parry and Brandon Kitchens" into the Ring of Fire.
Please also see Peter Wilt's views on the decision here , and join the discussion at the Section 8 forum.
TrackBack URI for this entry
8 Comments 
