Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

MALIBU, Calif. — Tom Gores has had a close seat to watch the explosion of youth soccer in the U.S.

The Detroit Pistons owner has burned up miles on California highways following and coaching his three children.

He was instrumental in their soccer growth — his oldest, 19-year-old daughter Catherina, became one of the top high school players in southern California.

Gores picked up the game as a youth, becoming proficient enough as a teen to make a team that represented the Midwest against Canada.

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The growth of soccer since those humble days in the Flint area amazes Gores. It seems as if there’s a major soccer match somewhere in the world daily.

So when Gores is asked why he has joined forces with Cleveland Cavaliers owner and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert to pursue bringing a Major League Soccer franchise to downtown Detroit, a better question might be ... why not?

“Today, people love soccer, and it’s really become almost a bit of America’s sport in a way,” Gores told the Free Press recently. “You see all the kids on the soccer fields. They run around and the parents are grabbing their (water) bottles, their picnic baskets. It’s really become a very familial (sport), a family environment sport.

“It’s not the most popular, but it’s really good for families. I don’t know if it’s the big field, not a lot of scoring, there’s something that kids are loving about soccer, and there’s something families are loving about soccer.”

Soccer roots

Gores was born in Nazareth, Israel, but his family relocated to the Flint area when he was 4.

He was attracted to many sports. It was football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring at Genesee High School, which didn’t have a soccer program.

But soccer took the summer months of the sports calendar.

He was good.

Gores, who played midfielder and right wing, recalled tryouts at venerable Atwood Stadium in Flint when he was successful in making a team of players from the Midwest that faced a team from Canada.

“Being a soccer player helped me in my other sports, and a lot of it has to do with footwork,” Gores said. “To this day, I love to play. There’s something about being on a big field, kicking the ball, passing. There’s something about that, that’s really, really nice so I think the sport does have a special place in my heart.”

Natural progression

Gores graduated from Michigan State in 1986.

From there, he found fortune after he formed the private equity firm Platinum Equity in 1995. Growing that business was time-consuming.

Coaching youth teams offered him an opportunity to spend extra time with his children, now teens.

Gores estimates he has coached more than 20 youth teams — which includes basketball.

Two of his children, Charles, 14, and Amanda, 18, recalled times he stepped up during seasons started with other coaches.

“My dad was like, ‘I’m just going to take over,’ ” Charles said of one basketball season. “That season, I’m not going to lie, we didn’t do that well, but by the end of the season we beat the best team.”

Gores can be animated seated courtside at Pistons’ games. For proof, check his high-five for forward Stanley Johnson after sinking a corner three-pointer in a first-round playoff game at Cleveland in April.

But Amanda described his coaching style as tough but loving.

“Everyone loved him, he was super encouraging,” Amanda said. “He was tough, but not to a certain extent. You had the perfect combination of toughness, but he also had a lot of love for all the girls and he really cared for them — on the basketball court or the soccer field.

“He took even the players that weren’t playing so well, he took the little things, saw the best in every one, and got the best out of them, which I thought was so special.”

Different path

The eldest child, Catherina, was a soccer natural.

As a freshman at Harvard-Westlake, she was named 2012 newcomer of the year by the Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News after scoring 10 goals in her first five matches.

TopDrawerSoccer.com ranked her as a four-star prospect for the Class of 2015 so there was major college interest.

Want evidence? Check YouTube for highlight reels.

“She has a natural gift,” Gores said. “Her first step when she makes a move and the ability to cut is not something you can totally train. She did just have a natural athletic ability.

“She worked really hard for a lot of years to get it done.”

You can imagine Gores’ thoughts when Catherina approached him to say she was thinking of walking away from the game.

He didn’t freak out, but he admits he was stunned.

He advised her against a hasty decision and the process took several months.

But ultimately she was finished.

“That’s why I don’t own it,” Gores said. “Maybe I mentored her, maybe I guided her, but I don’t own it. She owns it.”

Catherina’s different path has led her to join with Amanda to form a nonprofit that raises money to distribute EpiPens to those in need and to raise awareness of food allergies.

“You’re a badass person, a badass player,” Gores said of Catherina. “I never want you to forget that. Her decision is ‘I want to get to another level in my life and I don’t want to be Catherina the soccer player anymore. I have that, I just want to be Catherina the person.’ It was really very powerful stuff, but I tell ya, my relationship with Catherina wouldn’t be the same without the soccer, all the training and what she’s done.”

Community asset

So there’s a natural synergy for Gores and the MLS.

Shortly after his hire last year, Palace Sports & Entertainment and Pistons Vice Chairman Arn Tellem was tasked with seeking ways to work with other financial players in the market.

And during discussions with Gilbert, Tellem discerned mutual interest from both parties in bringing the MLS to Detroit.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber has said MLS intends to announce four new expansion franchises, which would increase the league total to 28 teams. Several cities are in the mix, including Detroit.

Gilbert and Gores announced the joint effort in late April. The initiative would like to build a soccer stadium at the troubled Wayne County jail site on Gratiot, though Gores told the Free Press: “We’re not married to (the jail site). What we’re married to is getting another sports team in Detroit.”

Tellem said there is an ongoing cost analysis of the site that could be finished by the fall. Tellem knows what the sport means to Gores.

“Tom has been a big supporter of youth soccer for many years,” Tellem said. “… Tom has probably coached more teams in soccer than any other sport. He loves basketball, but his passion for soccer is as strong as it is in basketball. He loves the game, he knows the game and his children love the game. It’s an important part of his life.

“He’s coming at this as not just a business project, but also because of his love of the game.”

Gores, 52, purchased the Pistons in 2011. Throughout that time, he’s referred to the franchise as a “community asset.”

He’s taking the same approach with the MLS.

“Like we’ve seen with the Pistons, it’s an amazing asset for the community,” Gores said. “The impact we can make through sports is really pretty incredible. So another sports team, in a sport that I know …

“Soccer will keep growing. It may never be the big sport in our country, but I think it’s become an important sport for families.”

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Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.