When Sting was king in Chicago

AP photo

By Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com

Some Chicago sports fans need a refresher course that the 1980s were not completely centered on Mike Ditka's 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears and the phenomenon of Michael Jordan.
The Chicago Sting was the toast of this city at the start of the decade, winning North American Soccer League crowns in 1981 and 1984.

It was 30 years ago when the Sting captured the Soccer Bowl over the famed New York Cosmos, winning in a shootout on Sept. 26, 1981, in front of nearly 37,000 at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium. That victory, highlighted by defender Rudy Glenn's game-winning score in the shootout, brought the first professional championship to Chicago since the Bears' 1963 NFL Championship over the New York Giants.

"When you think about it, 30 years later people still appreciate that championship game -- the '84 one, as well," Glenn said. "People still come up to you and tell you they're Sting fans. It carries a lot of weight, and I can't even imagine it being duplicated."

"We were the kings in town in 1981," former Sting forward Pato Margetic said. "The Chicago Sting was something that for some reason the whole city got behind. It was amazing, because everywhere you went, people would grab you and ask you for autographs and tell you how great the team was and wishing us luck. The whole year was like that. It was unbelievable."

Read more at ESPNChicago.com.