During the summer of 1971, local Chapel Hill High School students spent the summer scrimmaging with UNC Soccer players on Fetzer Field (now Dorrance Field). Two of the UNC players were Anson Dorrance and Kip Ward. Among the High School players were Michael Brown and Tim Peck. With the combination of the scrimmages and the International Soccer Camp, these High School players helped create the first Chapel Hill High School soccer team in the fall of 1971, which was coached by volunteer Charlie Dorr. After the huge success of the High School team, Kip was trying to figure out how to feed quality soccer players into the High School team and came up with the idea of a recreational league. In 1972 and 1974, the Chapel Hill High School team won the state soccer championship.
Kip and Vicky were married on December 27, 1971, and some of their wedding gifts provided a bit of seed money to start Rainbow Soccer. The name Rainbow Soccer came from the many colors of t-shirts to form the teams. Michael Brown’s original artwork for posters, logos, t-shirts, and so much more, provided inspiration to the Rainbow community over the years. The first clinic was in January 1972, with the first spring season the same year.
Anson Dorrance coached 3 different teams with 3 different age groups. Leagues had whimsical names like “Teenily” (Elementary), “Youngily” (Jr. High), “Highly” High School), and “Wisely” (Adults). Because there were so few coaches (mostly UNC players and parents of players), the age groups were happily bunched together. Girls and boys played on the same teams. Rainbow also welcomed and encouraged players who were not natural athletes. All were welcome. The primary goal of Rainbow Soccer was to teach the play of the game and the love of the then foreign sport, rather than competition. The atmosphere of Rainbow was playing for fun, making new friends, learning a sport and important skills, and being a good teammate. There would be no standings, scores would not be kept, no statistics, no leading scorers, just boys and girls, men and women playing the game, learning the game they love so much.
Anson left to begin his unmatched coaching career in soccer history, and Kip and Vicky became the heart and soul, and sustaining presence of the program. Kip, talented in promotions, was the soul of Rainbow with unmatched flair on and off the field. On a given day, you might see him out in the field with a group of youngsters as they watched him execute a perfect rainbow move followed by a half-volley into the corner of the net, all while in street shoes, a seersucker suit, and a fedora. Vicky provided the heart. She organized the teams, recruited the coaches, and periodically called out, “This is Rainbow,” when a player or coach broke
bad.
There was Rainbow Soccer Camp, the precursor of the UNC men’s and women’s camp, that was staffed by current and former college and professional players and coaches from around the world who wanted to experience the Rainbow effect. Among the camp’s coaching staff was Susan Ellis (Hall of Famer from the class of 2019), who also coached and played in Rainbow. Future NC Soccer Hall of Famer Paul Dinkenor, class of 2021, was convinced by Kip to spend his summers away from his teaching job in England and spend a month coaching at the Rainbow Soccer Camp. He would come year after year until finally he decided to move to North Carolina and begin his championship-laden coaching career.
With Kip and Vicky in charge, Rainbow never lost the prioritizing of recreational play. And even though — in fact, mostly because the program discouraged competition — Rainbow produced numerous college soccer players, more than a few professional players and a powerhouse soccer program at Chapel Hill High School. Rainbow produced recreational and scholastic soccer coaches across the nation and, most importantly, created lifelong lovers of the game and thousands and thousands of happy memories. To this day, there are couples, parents - and now grandparents - watching their children play their beloved sport, many of them who will utter the phrase “We met playing Rainbow.”
All of this love and interest in our great sport was the real product of Rainbow Soccer, and it is all because of the years and years of dedication and commitment to an idea and a dream conceived and executed by Kip and Vicky. True Hall Of Famers.