Torrance, Calif.—The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) has announced John Ouellette, Ron Littlefair and Michael Michalski and as the 2012 class of the AYSO National Hall of Fame. The three legendary volunteers of the organization were inducted during the AYSO National Annual General Meeting on May 24-28 in Seattle, Wash.

From North of Salt Lake City, AYSO coaching has become synonymous with John Ouellette. He had been the face of the AYSO Coaching community for 22 years as the AYSO National Coach until his retirement from that role in 2010. Before joining the AYSO staff, Ouellette was a volunteer and continued to be a volunteer, including coaching his granddaughter’s team, during his tenor as the AYSO National Coach.  Ouellette created the National Coaching Program, which is accredited by National Council for Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE), as well as all the content for AYSO’s online coaching courses.

Littlefair was one of the small group of founders of AYSO in Torrance, Calif. in 1964. Two years later, he became the third Regional Commissioner (or league organizer). Littlefair set up a mimeograph shop in his garage to print rosters, newsletters and registration forms, and in the space left, he had about 500 sets of uniforms. Littlefair travelled all over the U.S. to develop AYSO. He also created a self-insurance program for AYSO, which in the early days helped fuel AYSO’s growth. Littlefair retired from AYSO in 1976.

Michalski is probably best known as the founder the AYSO National Games. After running a yearly tournament in Southern California, Michalski decided to invite AYSO players from all over the U.S. to one location to play in a tournament—that tournament has become the AYSO National Games. The first National Games was held in 1988, with Michalski serving as Venue Chair.

For more information on the three inductees in the Class of 2012 and AYSO’s Hall of Fame, please contact Sahar Milani at saharm@ayso.org or 424-221-7921.

About American Youth Soccer Organization

The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) is the largest single-entity youth soccer association in the U.S. with nearly 500,000 players and 200,000 volunteers. AYSO develops and delivers quality youth soccer development programs in a fun, safe environment based on the Six Philosophies of Everyone Plays®, Balanced Teams, Open Registration, Positive Coaching, Good Sportsmanship and Player Development. For more information contact Sahar Milani at 424-221-7921, saharmilani@ayso.org or visit www.AYSO.org.

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