Lace ‘em up in the battle for Steve Lawlor

Soccer tourney fundraiser March 11

It doesn’t matter if you played collegiate soccer, used to play soccer but quit or have never played soccer, it’s time to lace ‘em up and hit the court for the second annual Stephen Gardner Memorial Indoor Soccer Classic. This year the tournament fundraiser is dubbed the Battle for Steve Lawlor and will be Sunday, March 11 starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Crested Butte Community School.

Back in the mid-90s Crested Butte had itself a pretty kick-ass adult coed soccer team. It was a potent mix of Division I talent, local iron lungs, local longtime soccer enthusiasts, partiers and high school soccer all stars. The team traveled every summer to compete in tournaments throughout the state.
One particular summer was especially successful as they won the season opening Grand Junction tournament, defended their home turf to take the Crested Butte Soccer tournament, won the Winter Park tournament and took second at the Telluride tournament.
And one particular player was a big part of that success: Steve Lawlor. Steve moved to Crested Butte in 1993 and was a testament to calm, cool and collected at the outside midfield position, providing the nexus for ball control from the defense through the midfield and on to offense.
Tendonitis and back issues sidelined Steve but he could be found on his bike or skis somewhere way the hell out in the woods and, whenever possible, would lace up his cleats and return to the field randomly throughout the years.
In the spring of 2011, Steve felt a large lump in his abdomen. In November, a trip to the CT scanner revealed that he has diffuse large b-cell lymphoma in a number of lymph nodes.
Steve is currently in Chicago undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy. As you can imagine, that don’t come cheap, thus the Battle for Steve Lawlor tournament fundraiser on Sunday, March 11.
Teams need at least four players, five if you want a sub, and the cost is $50 per team. Coed, all women, all men, it doesn’t matter. We do ask that players be at least 14 years old.
There will be awards and a raffle at the Brick Oven that evening starting at 5:30 p.m. The deadline for registration is Friday, March 9. Contact Mike Martin at (970 ) 349-7031 for more information or to register.
If you worked with, rode with, skied with or played soccer with Steve, pull a team together.
By the way, Steve contacted me to say he will sponsor any of his former teammates from the championship summer if they put a team together for the tournament. You know who you are.