CHICO \u2014 Chico State soccer alumna Chris Wondolowski was never the strongest player, he was never the fastest player, he wasn\u2019t the player who could dribble in and out of defenders and be remembered as that one guy, but his soccer IQ and his ability to finish with the ball at his feet led him to a legendary career.<\/p>\n
After graduating Chico State in 2004 Wondolowski spent one season with the Chico Rooks before continuing his professional career with the San Jose Earthquakes and Houston Dynamo as well as time with the United States soccer team.<\/p>\n
Wondolowski retired in 2021 from Major League Soccer and currently is No. 1 in all-time goals scored with 171. He is the only player in MLS history to have scored 10 goals in 10 consecutive seasons, and holds the record for most game-winning goals in MLS history.<\/p>\n
Five years post-retirement, Wondolowski has been elected as a first ballot inductee to the Chico Sports Hall of Fame, joining Kami Smith, Lindsay Meggs and Scott Johnson as part of the 51st class. The four will be inducted at the Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet on Monday, May 18 at Manzanita Place at the Chico Elks Lodge. Doors open at 6 p.m., and dinner and ceremonies begin at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a huge honor,\u201d Wondolowski said. \u201cChico played such an integral part of my development and my career and who I am, let alone meeting my wife at Chico State and having four kids. I love every bit of it \u2026 Chico State has been a family, the soccer community especially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wondolowski will be at the Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet, and wanted it to be known, \u201cPlease express my love for Chico.\u201d<\/p>\n
Falling in love with soccer<\/p>\n
A Danville native, Wondolowski grew up playing baseball, basketball, soccer and ran track as well. He simply loved competing. While he did well in other sports, his love of soccer came from his father, John who played soccer at University of California, Berkeley. Wondolowski has photos of himself barely able to walk with a soccer ball at his feet, and his love of constantly wanting to practice came from his father.<\/p>\n
Wondolowski remembers two instances where he chose soccer above other sports. His sophomore year of high school he was playing baseball on the junior varsity team and had to make a decision of playing one sport year round.<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose soccer which I was excited about but I kind of had a void, so I ended up running track my junior and senior year,\u201d Wondolowski said. \u201cI ended up being a lot better at track than I was at any other sport, but I didn\u2019t have that passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wondolowski was very successful in track, running a mile in 4 minutes and 15 seconds and even receiving Division I offers after making it to the CIF state meet.<\/p>\n
Choosing Chico<\/p>\n
The second instance Wondolowski had to choose soccer was when it came to playing at the college level. With D-I schools recruiting him for track, but his passion being soccer, he was waiting for someone to show they truly wanted him to play soccer at their school. Wondolowski came to Chico on a visit and met then head coach Mike O\u2019Malley, where he played all day before hanging out with the team at night.<\/p>\n
He had a friend on the team, and remembers going to Bear Hole, Bidwell Park and \u201calso just the vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just a feeling,\u201d Wondolowski said. \u201cI loved it and felt like I was a part of it and fit in. The soccer team took me in, I did well on the day and Mike said do you want to come here and I said yes I do. After that it was like, track what? I was able to play for four years and loved Chico and played with Chico Rooks as well, and fell in love with the town, the city and the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
When O\u2019Malley looks back at the start of Wondolowski\u2019s career and the recruiting process he remembers the recruiting process first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard he had a good work rate and I watched him run and he had a different running style. It\u2019s kind of a gliding style. Gliding and ready to pounce style,\u201d O\u2019Malley said.<\/p>\n
Wondolowski wanted to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps and play for Cal, but when O\u2019Malley offered him a partial scholarship it was the only one he received, and Wondolowki followed his heart after his visit.<\/p>\n
Growth in Chico<\/p>\n
When Wondolowski arrived in Chico he was like many other players, needing to grow his strength and physicality, but he had many skills that quickly caught O\u2019Malley\u2019s attention at a tournament in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came, I was very happy about it, and the thing I noticed right away was that he was really good in so many different areas of the game,\u201d O\u2019Malley said. \u201cHis touch, his fitness, his desire, but the thing that stood out the most was his ability to finish even against college players as a high school player.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a player at Chico State Wondolowski was a part of some successful teams as a Wildcat, including a team in 2003 that was runner up in the NCAA Division II Championship final. He was named Second-Team All American that season, and finished his college career with 39 goals and 23 assists. One of Wondolowski\u2019s favorite memories came from that 2023 season.<\/p>\n
There was a game against Wichita Falls in the Round of 8 that got the Wildcats to the Final 4. Being Native American, Wondolowski had a lot of family from Oklahoma. Chico had nearly its entire team in a room prior to the game against Wichita State, and they were playing cards and watching the local news. The Wichita State goalkeeper self-proclaimed that he\u2019s the buffalo after having a great game and a shutout. When the Wildcats played Wichita State, Wondolowski scored a goal, and pulled out a bow and arrow as a celebration and \u201cshot\u201d the buffalo.<\/p>\n
Another memory that Wondowloski\u2019s Chico State teammate Robby Busick recalled was from that same season just before the game against Wichita State. The Wildcats lost 4-0 to Cal State Dominguez Hills during the season and knew they would have to get past the Toros to make a run in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats won in the final 30 seconds, Wondolowski scored in the game, and Busick called the scene of the Wildcats winning that game, \u201cthe greatest feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat euphoria of winning that game is definitely a highlight to all of us who were there,\u201d Busick said.<\/p>\n
When Wondolowski had finished four seasons at Chico State, O\u2019Malley saw four things that separated him from others \u2014 his ability to score, ability to finish, ability to move and his competitiveness. O\u2019Malley said he loved working out, and that showed in the thousands of wind sprints he ran in which he came in second place no less than eight times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe times he got beat was when somebody else would save up so they could win one against Wondo,\u201d O\u2019Malley said. \u201cHis desire to win is like none other than I\u2019ve coached, and he did it in such a classy way.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Malley noticed Wondolowski may have the opportunity to play professionally not just because of his skill and his love to practice, but also because of the conversations the coach and player had each year. At the beginning of each semester Wondolowski would bring his class schedule to O\u2019Malley and wanted to know what day he could come in each week to sit and talk. He would soak in all the knowledge O\u2019Malley could share.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just super proud of him,\u201d O\u2019Malley said. \u201cNot necessarily in what he\u2019s done, but the manner he\u2019s accomplished it. He\u2019s represented the city of Chico, Chico State University and the Chico State soccer program in such a classy fashion. I\u2019m super proud of the way he\u2019s achieved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wondolowski\u2019s teammate Busick said what he saw in Wondolowski that made him different from others was his unique endurance ability amongst many other traits. He would show up at the start of preseason and was ready to go. Busick also mentioned Wondolowski\u2019s underestimated strength and his consistent balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just read where to be and that\u2019s a lot of the reason he scored so many goals was because he was in the right place at the right time, but you can only do that so many times before you can discount it just being luck,\u201d Busick said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of lucky goal scorers in this world, but when he\u2019s done it for as long as he has it\u2019s not luck anymore. He just sees things a little differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
While O\u2019Malley saw Wondolowski grow in many ways as a Wildcat, how Wondolowski truly saw himself grow the most was that he learned out to compete. He knew he wanted to win, but he learned how to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it was I need to play defense on this one, I need to score on this one, we need to make sure my buddy Jake tucked in over here and I\u2019m going to demand it, it taught me how to command and how to win,\u201d Wondolowski said. \u201cIt helped me find how I can better myself everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busick had some final words for his former teammate and friend to this day. It also applies to the future of senior athletes that will be present at the banquet on May 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you see professional athletes have success and you kind of think maybe not everybody could do that, but I think Chris is a good example that you could do it,\u201d Busick said. \u201cYou might not have the path that you think of Division 1, but if you just put your head down and work, stay positive and keep moving forward you can be successful, and he was that story which is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Developing the next generation<\/p>\n
After retiring Wondolowski toyed with the idea of going into coaching and was even an assistant for the Earthquakes\u2019 first team. He quickly realized as a coach on the first team you had to be available all the time, and with kids and a family he wanted to be able to disconnect and be a dad.<\/p>\n
The Earthquakes and Wondolowski worked together to find a role that would benefit them both, and today he works in player development in the Earthquakes\u2019 academy. He sees that some players get their chance too soon or too late, so he helps players learn how to deal with adversity and still succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy finding those guys that are really going to work for it. I see glimpses of myself and I think that\u2019s what makes it fun and rewarding,\u201d Wondolowski said. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful because I saw coaching and at the beginning was one of the assistants for the first team, and realized especially for a first team coach you have to be on all the time. I have kids, and I joke I get my soccer fix but I\u2019m able to disconnect and be a dad. It\u2019s something I love and something I\u2019m so appreciative of the Quakes because it is kind of a special new role and they\u2019ve let me define it and that we will add a lot more impact in the long run with already guys that we\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banquet tickets<\/p>\n
The 51st Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet will be held May 18 at Manzanita Place at the Chico Elks Lodge. Doors open at 6 p.m., and ceremonies and dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 and run through Thursday, May 14. Tickets can be purchased at the Chico Enterprise-Record office, located at 3881 Benatar Way, Suite G, Chico.<\/p>\n
Ticket pricing is $70 per ticket and tickets will not be sold at the door or online. Seating is general seating, however if you\/athletes\/family or friends would like to purchase tickets you may purchase in a group of 8. This can include presenters for senior athletes, Hall of Fame inductees or senior athletes. Payment is cash or check only.<\/p>\n
Tickets sales are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with extended hours on Tuesday until 6 p.m. New this year, ticket sales are also available on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICO \u2014 Chico State soccer alumna Chris Wondolowski was never the strongest player, he was never the fastest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[19786,7,60059,78481,125998,1327,181,180,266,23136,88,90,89,127],"class_list":["post-297208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-butte-county","tag-california","tag-chico","tag-chico-state","tag-chico-wildcats","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-northern-california","tag-sacramento-valley","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}