Yari Allnutt
In honor of Black History Monthly, here’s a brief excerpt of my writings on Yari Allnutt.
“I think I had a bit of a fire. For me, I persevered, and I made it to the highest level. When I write autographs to the kids, I always say, ‘Follow your dreams.’” – Yari Allnutt
Yari Allnutt was born in Baltimore, and immediately after birth began an extraordinary life path. “I was adopted by a white, Russian, Jewish, American hippie family, and we moved to Mexico, near Guadalajara.” Like other children in the neighborhood, Allnutt took to soccer at a young age, unaware of his destiny to play for his birth country. “We used to play in the bullring in huaraches, cheap Mexican sandals made out of tire on the bottom and leather on top. I was speaking Spanish and playing in the streets, but my mom used to speak English to me. I’d say, ‘Mom stop talking to me like that.’ I was an American citizen, but I wanted to play in Mexico.” When the family returned to the United States, Yari was "8 or 9," and his passion for soccer continued. “In San Diego, soccer really wasn't played at the elementary schools, and I was always playing with the Latinos. They thought ‘el moreno’, the brown one, was pretty good.”
A few years later, Allnutt’s soccer talent and difficult family situation were featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I still have the photo of the spindly big ‘fro kid. I wasn't the best player, but now in my 50s, I realize why they did it. The story was my dad died of a heroin overdose, and we lived on welfare - six kids, one mom.” Allnutt credits his mother for his decision to attend the University of Portland where he played for the legendary coach Clive Charles. “I grew up in an area where there were a lot of Mexicans, and where I played soccer was very affluent La Jolla, and then being raised in a white family, I remember thinking, ‘How do I act black?” Allnutt chose one particular “learning opportunity” to illustrate his relationship with Coach Charles, an interaction after he was red-carded for throwing a punch in response to a racial epitaph. “Charles came in the locker room at halftime and threw the big Gatorade container down and said, ‘You dumb, motherfucker, you let someone like that get to you. You lost it for the team.’ Then he went on to tell a story about growing up in England when they threw bananas on the field and made ape gestures. It was a big learning curve for me to be around someone like that.”
In 1992, Allnutt left college to train for the Barcelona Olympic Games, and months later he was a senior national team player earning his first regular paycheck after a childhood of poverty. “You signed a one-year contract with the National Team. They paid you, and they gave you a free hotel, as well. A lot of the guys went to Mission Viejo or San Diego, and they shared a townhome or got a house for their wife and their family. But for me, it was a free hotel right there, which meant free food, and my room overlooked the pool. Shit, I was so happy.”
If not for injuries, Allnutt may have had a very different pathway through professional soccer. “Prior to the World Cup, I tore both groins. It is something that still haunts me. I wish I would have been on the World Cup team. It would have been a huge difference in my career.” Despite the disappointing end to his international career in 1994, Allnutt has another barometer to judge his career - the newspaper article from childhood. “I said, ‘I want to be a professional soccer player, I want to play in the Olympics, and I want free soccer shoes.’ I played in the Olympics, and I played pro, and I still get free soccer shoes from Nike. I followed my dreams, and it came to fruition.”