Former UNC men's head soccer coach Elmar Bolowich and Charlotte's Bill Finneyfrock will be inducted into the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame on Jan. 21, 2012, along with Tony Suarez, who will be inducted posthumously.
The Class of 2012 brings the N.C. Soccer Hall of Famemembership to 43.
Elmar Bolowich
Bolowich, a native of Edenkoben, Germany, coached the Tar Heels from 1988-2010 He is the winningest coach in UNC men's soccer history, posting a 280-144-40 record in 22 seasons. His 2001 Tar Heels won the NCAA D-I national championship, and he took UNC to the College Cup Final Four the last three years he coached at UNC.
Bolowich also had a longtime involvement with the North Carolina Olympic Development Program, and coached championship teams with the Triangle United Soccer Association.
He is currently in his first season as the men's head coach at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and had the Blue Jays ranked #2 nationally going into the NCAA postseason play.
Creighton, as the #2 seed in the NCAA tournament, advanced to the College Cup semifinals in Hoover, Ala., where the Bluejays were eliminated in a penalty kick shootout (4-1) by UNC-Charlotte of the Atlantic 10 Conference, after playing the 49ers to a 0-0 draw through overtime. Creighton ended the year 21-2-1 overall.
Bill Finneyfrock
Finneyfrock, who grew up in New Jersey, moved South for college, first at Erskine College where he was an NAIA All-America goalkeeper,and then for two years at Clemson University where he helped the Tigers win the ACC championship and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Final Four.
As a professional he was on two national championship teams in the American Soccer League, including the 1981 Carolina Lightnin'. He also played professionally with the Pennsylvania Stoners in the ASL.
Finneyfrock is the men's varsity coach at Providence Day School in Charlotte, where his teams have won six state high school championships.
Prior to coming to PDS, he was the boys soccer coach at Charlotte Catholic High School where his teams won two NCHSAA state championship. He is also the founder and Executive Director of the Charlotte United Futbol Club.
Tony Suarez
Suarez was born in Havana, Cuba, the fourth of 12 children. His family moved to Honduras from Cuba to escape communism, and in his three years there Suarez learned to play soccer in the streets. The family moved to the U.S. in 1972 and settled in Charlotte when Suarez was 16 years old.
He played high school soccer at Myers Park HS for three years, was team captain for two seasons and was the Mustangs' MVP his senior year. He went on to play college soccer at Appalachian State, and finished his college career at Belmont Abbey College.
Suarez triedout for the Lightnin' in 1981, but did not make the team.
He stayed on as the bus driver and doer of whatever else needed to be done.
Injuries and suspensions opened a roster spot for him. Once he got on the field it was magic. He scored nine goals in his first 12 games, earned a spot in the ASL All-Star Game where he was named the MVP.
He finished the season with 15 goals in 22 games, and was named the MVP of the championship game as the Lightnin' beat New York United 2-1 in overtime before a crowd of 20,183 at Charlotte's Memorial Stadium.
He played an indoor season for the MISL Cleveland Force, but tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee eight games into the season. While playing for the Charlotte Gold in 1984, another injury to his right knee ended his professional career.
Suarez passed away in 2007 at the age of 51.
