Soccer king Tutt ready to share himself with Atlanta again

True to his word he never left, settling in Marietta and acting as a soccer pied piper in leading the city's youth to his game.

Adults who grew up playing soccer in Atlanta probably attended one of Tutt's camps during the 1980s and '90s. He taught thousands of kids the game before retiring from instruction, running an indoor arena and coaching in order to spend more time with his family.

He owed it all to a kick in the head.

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To understand what Tutt still wants to do, it's necessary to know what he once did.

Tutt grew up in Southeast London in the Millwall area and signed his first professional soccer contract with Charlton Athletic in 1973. He made his debut in England's third division six months, at just 17.  He made 78 first-team appearances in the next three seasons, helping Charlton get promoted to the second division.

At 6-foot-4 with with good range, he was noticed by scouts. He was on the verge of playing for England's Under-20 national team. A scout from Newcastle in England's first division (Premier League) was close to signing him.

"I felt like I was on the ledge of big things to come," Tutt said.

Tutt had a a game at Sunderland, matching fifth-place Charlton against a team in first. It was the last professional game he ever played in the country.

Seven minutes in, Tutt came out of the goal and dove at a striker's feet for a loose ball. Instead of jumping over Tutt, the player came in for the tackle. Tutt was kicked in the head. He had his eye socket practically caved it in, split his eyelid and broke his nose.

The game was nationally televised and Tutt's injury shocked England, similar to Joe Theismann's gruesome broken leg suffered in a Monday Night Football game.

Tutt has a photo of him carried off on a stretcher, the right side of his face swollen and bloodied and fans in the background pointingwith hands over their mouths.

Tutt spent three weeks in a Sunderland hospital, in the northeast England. A doctor told him he might lose the eye. Tutt got another opinion. He was informed the eye could be saved, but there wasn't much that could be done for his double vision, which he still has.

It's hard to be a goalie if there's more than one ball flying at you.

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Needing a vacation, Tutt visited his brother in South Africa. After listening to a radio broadcast of a Pretoria game, Tutt became emotional. Double vision or not, he was going to play again.

Listening to the game, he recognized the name of an assistant coach who was a former Charlton player. The next day he called him up and asked for a tryout. The first three months were miserable: He was overweight, slow and couldn't see always see the ball.

The team goalkeeper coach began working with Tutt. He lost 20 pounds.He trained himself to turn his head more to track the ball. His double vision was minimized.

"The coach worked me to death at every practice for six months and then more during the offseason," he said.

Nine months later, Tutt was named South Africa's best goalkeeper by the country's press. He was selected for an all-star team to play against a similar traveling team from the North American Soccer League.

Tutt was impressive. He was signed by the Columbus Magic, who a season later sent him to the Atlanta Chiefs to play indoor and outdoor soccer.

Tutt learned he was too tall to stand in the smaller goals used in the indoor game. However, he was very good in the larger goals used in the outdoor game. He helped the Chiefs win their division in 1981. Owner Ted Turner folded the team after the season to focus on the development of CNN, setting the stage for Tutt's next career.

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Since soccer was a relatively new sport for Atlanta, Chiefs players and coaches spent their free time teaching kids and adults how to play the game.

Tutt converted an ambulance into a traveling soccer camp, filled with collapsible goals, cones, nets and balls. There weren't many soccer fields back then, so he used baseball fields. He visited more than 200 schools.

Along the way, he met his wife, Liz, while running a soccer camp at Auburn University.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1988, Tutt ate a turkey drumstick while he painted a goalpost at his newly developed 26-acre soccer complex, Canterbury Park, in Kennesaw, later renamed NASA.

He eventually cut back on his summer soccer camps and became vice president of the Atlanta Attack, a Professional Indoor Soccer franchise that played out of The Omni for two years. When the Attack was sold to Kansas, Tutt spent the next 10 years as soccer coach at Life University in Marietta while raising his family.

Now that he has teenage sons, Tutt has thrown himself back into soccer in a more concentrated manner. He's working with a local TV network to spotlight local soccer complexes and players throughout the Atlanta area.

It took a horrid soccer moment to bring him to Atlanta. Since the day he stood atop Stone Mountain, there have been no regrets.

"Bang, it was just like that," Tutt said of his injury. "Life changed dramatically. Sometimes I think a kick in the face was the best thing that happened to me."