Chinua Hawk had experience singing the national anthem at sporting events, but it’s a performance you never really get used to.
“I had done a national anthem before, but it had been years. There were jitters, especially when I heard there was going to be 45 or 50 thousand people there.”
Chinua says as much as anything he was excited to experience his first professional soccer game, the Atlanta United’s home matchup against the Houston Dynamo. But before he could sit back and relax, he had to perform. And he knew right away something was going wrong.
“The moment I said the first two words I knew they couldn’t hear me."
"Then I kind of paused for a second, I thought, ‘OK let’s try it again.’ So I tried and realized they couldn’t."
The sound system at the historic Bobby Dodd Stadium had gone out, one of the worst things that could happen to a live performer.
“It’s a mixture of nervousness, sheer terror and confusion. You’re standing on the field in front of 40,000 people and you don’t know what’s happening and don’t know what to do about it. There’s just nothing you can do.
"It was almost a nightmare, but then all my heroes stepped in and rescued me.”
“I exhaled. I thought, ‘They’ve got it,’ and I just let go. I’ll just keep singing, and if the mic comes on in the middle, I’ll be in sync with everyone. But if not, it’s cool. A moment like that, you can’t plan it."
"You couldn’t even pay someone to have a moment like that. And I just realized that wasn’t my moment to be heard. That wasn’t the plan that day, and that was okay.”
The Five Stripes fans stepped up and turned the performance around. It was a special moment, one that many Atlanta United fans put above anything that happened on the field in an inaugural season full of great memories. It’s because fan after fan has learned that the sea of red, black and gold is unified in a way that’s unique to sports in Atlanta.
“There’s so much division and so much going on in the news all over the world right now. For everyone in that moment to have forgotten about their different affiliations, politically or otherwise, in that moment, that was cool. It was like Christmas. At Christmas, everyone shows their best self, and that was what that moment for me, it was like Christmas.”
That feeling of togetherness in the crowd is just one of the reasons the city has fallen in love with the club. It’s brought a unique experience to a city that’s proven contagious for everyone who’s walked through the stadium gates.
“I feel like Atlanta just needed something new. I feel like the club has brought an incredible energy to the city, and has given something new for the people to be excited about and to support.”
It’s a special time in Atlanta United’s story, a time when its history is being written right in front of the roaring crowd’s eyes.
“It was something that I didn’t expect. But it’s nice to be a part of the team’s history, even if it’s just a tiny little piece. Someday I can tell my grandkids, ‘Let me tell you about that one time.’”
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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