“It’s in the net!”



The words stopped Dave Johnson in his tracks as he strolled through his neighborhood. It was the late 1990s, Major League Soccer was just a few years old, and Johnson was the voice of D.C. United. His signature goal call had become a staple of those broadcasts. And now, as he walked around the block, Johnson encountered a few kids playing pick-up soccer in a front yard. One of the kids scored, punctuating the moment with Johnson’s goal call. Unbeknownst to the kid, the man who had made the call so well-known in the D.C. area was watching.



“That was pretty cool—that they could feel the same passion at the moment that I feel,” Johnson said. “Passion and happiness are not bad things to spread, and that’s all I really have tried to do.”



One of the few local broadcasters who has covered MLS since its inaugural season, Johnson, 54, has made his signature call for some of the best to play...