Monday morning on the BW morning show, we had the opportunity to visit with Hutch CC soccer coach Sammy Lane. Lane has been the head coach at Hutch CC since 2005 and is a native of Ireland coming here in 1986 on a soccer scholarship to Sterling College.
1986 I had just graduated high school in Ireland and got an opportunity to come over to Sterling college on a soccer scholarship, jumped on an airplane like Manny Irish did way back then. And, you know, I've been here ever since.
So what does he remember most about coming to the US ? The humidity.
“And got the shock of a lifetime when I, when I got off the plane in Kansas City, and I just, you know, I still do it now, obviously, with the girls that I recruit to get off, they're like, they'll take that first deep breath of air, and they're like, Oh my God, my lungs are burning.” said Lane. “And I'm like, Yep, I was one of you to the humidity and the heat is obviously something, you know, we never experienced in our life.”
Glenn talked with him about St Patrick's Day in Ireland. Here's what he remembers about the day there.
🎧 BW Morning Show Interview: Sammy Lane, HutchCC soccer coach on St. Patrick's Day.
“For us, it's still a religious holiday, you know, because St Patrick is credited with converting Ireland to Christianity, and so, so the biggest, you know, the biggest thing corresponds to religious holiday in Ireland. And so a typical St Patrick's Day would would be, you get dressed up for mass.”
Lane continued, “And I still remember this. It's funny, you mentioned that. I remember there's a child like, we there, you get Shamrock, like, real Shamrock. And so then you'd put it with a safety pin on your lapel. So everybody wore a little bit of shamrock on that and went away to mass.
“And then afterwards, if there was a parade in your town, you went to the parade, but, but after that, then there would be a big family dinner, a bit like the way there's Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. So, it was a big, you know, a bit of that. And then some of the older folks would head to the pub. Drinking pints of Guinness, and that tradition is kind of carried on everywhere.” said Lane
We asked him about getting pinched if you don't wear green, as Elaine said he didn't know where that came from, but here's what he said about the wearing of the green.
“Apparently, if you wore green in St Patrick's Day, and then the leprechauns couldn't see it. So that was another one of the reasons why you wore green, because we didn't want the leprechauns trying to take your soul or whatever it was they were after. So apparently, leprechauns can't see green, so wear green if you're up to any shenanigans today.” said Lane.
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on the day that St. Patrick died.