CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) – For Andrew Gray, soccer has never been just a game. The Cape Coral resident and owner of Rack\u2019em Billiards has spent nearly 50 years playing, watching and living the sport. The walls of his business are lined with World Cup tickets, team photos and soccer memorabilia collected over decades. Each item tells a story.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first glance, Rack\u2019em looks like a bar,\u201d Gray said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not a sports bar. I\u2019m a soccer bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gray moved to Cape Coral in the 1970s and joined the Cape Coral Soccer Association shortly after arriving. What started as a childhood activity quickly became something much bigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoccer was our life,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the game gave him lifelong friendships and opportunities to travel the world. He attended World Cup matches in the United States and Qatar and has watched some of the sport\u2019s biggest stars compete on the world stage.<\/p>\n
Gray says soccer\u2019s impact on his life goes far beyond the memories and trophies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to say I wouldn\u2019t exist, but my life has gone to the edge several times and soccer pulled me back,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
When life became overwhelming, Gray says he often found comfort on a soccer field with nothing more than a ball and time to think.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart would ease, my mind would ease down, and my soul would be back again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That connection remains just as strong today. Even after 30 years of owning Rack\u2019em, Gray still plays in adult leagues and follows the sport whenever he can.<\/p>\n
As the world turns its attention to soccer with the World Cup returning to North America, Gray is preparing to welcome fans into his Cape Coral business for watch parties and match-day gatherings.<\/p>\n
He hopes others can experience the same sense of community and connection that soccer brought to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come in here for family. They come in here for congregation,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
For Gray, every photo on the wall and every match on the television serves as a reminder of the sport that helped shape his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I have anything to thank,\u201d Gray said, \u201cit would be soccer\u2026 including my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) – For Andrew Gray, soccer has never been just a game. The Cape Coral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,325,115],"class_list":["post-318923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-lee","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}