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BEHIND THE STRIPES

Keith Weisinger

By Atlanta United FC

December 10^th, 2020

Some of the best relationships we make in life blossom through commonalities we share with others around us. It helps us form a community. For Keith Weisinger, his love for forging iron and the beautiful game of soccer have merged and given him lifelong memories.

As a child, Weisinger played soccer. When he wasn’t on the pitch playing the game, he was with his family, especially his dad who worked in computer science. In his free time, he picked up woodworking and other projects.

“He was happy and loved it,” Weisinger said. “He taught me how to do it and work with machines, how to fix cars. It always was a big part of growing up.”

As he grew older, Weisinger’s love for building with his dad continued to grow. As his dad approached retirement, they planned to work on more projects and spend more time with their tools.

“He always sent me links to new tools, a woodlay or something new he was going to get,” Weisinger reminisced. “He unfortunately passed away in 2013. He literally was four months away from retiring.”

After his dad’s passing, a light ignited in Keith to work more and more with metal working. It was the beginning of his journey to master the hobby he shared with his dad.

“When I was growing up I always tried metal working, I watched shows on blacksmithing or took classes on it, and I realized the value of time,” Weisinger shared. “It kind of hit me when you want to do something, you should do it because you might never have the time.”

From that moment on, with the support of his wife and children, he devoted more time to his passion. He started to build his shop by going to industrial auctions and buying machinery. His first items were an anvil, hammer and forge. At the auctions, he’d buy machines and would sometimes fix them and flip them to sell and make profit, which funded the rest of his shop.

Keith changed the colors on one special machine from teal to red and black — a 5-Stripe design.

“I didn’t like the color, so I spray painted it red and black,” Weisinger said with a smile. “It’s the Atlanta United hammer.”

Before they moved back to their hometown— Atlanta, Weisinger and his wife lived in Colorado in their 20s. There, they went to a few Colorado Rapids matches. Later on they studied abroad in Brazil and embraced the beautiful game even more.

“It was just crazy. You hear how crazy they are, and we loved it. We went to every match we could,” Weisinger explained. “We went to matches every Wednesday and Sunday.”

About fifteen years later, they returned to Brazil to visit his wife’s family and went to the World Cup in 2014. They signed up for the lottery for tickets, and not only did they win tickets, they got tickets for all the matches being held in Recife, where they were staying.

“We lucked out and got USA vs Germany,” Weisinger shared with a smile. “We lost, but fortunately we still qualified for the next round, so both teams were crazy in the stadium. We all were happy.”

After they returned from their trip of a lifetime, they began to hear that their hometown of Atlanta may be getting a soccer team, which later would become Atlanta United.

“We were like if there is going to be a soccer club here in Atlanta, we are going to be a part of it,” Weisinger exclaimed. “We hooked up with a guy named JR who was in Terminus Legion. We were a part of the first 100 members of that group. We were in it from ground zero.”

As his fandom grew, he had the idea to forge golden spikes and other ATL UTD related pieces for fun. He’s since made hammers, spikes, coins and more repping his home team.

He posted one of his hammers on a fan page, which caught the eye of a member of the club’s kitchen staff. The staff member contacted Weisinger and used several of his hammers as decorative pieces at a Holiday event hosted by club owner Arthur Blank at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground. At the end of the night, club president Darren Eales asked to keep a hammer, now owning one of Weisinger’s masterpieces.

Now, when the 5-Stripes are playing on Sundays, Weisinger and his family can be found on the first row beside the Supporters section cheering on Atlanta. The ATLUTD family has given them a sense of community.

“You see flags everywhere,” Weisinger said with a smile. “Every other house on our street has flags. On matchday, we all are walking down the street, walking to Marta together and in the same Marta train together going to the game. It’s something that brings us together. We really see it.”

They look forward to sitting with their neighbors in their seats once again. They keep up with each other. They check on each other’s kids. Like the time Weisinger shared with his dad in the shop as a kid, it’s a commonality they bond over— the beautiful game, the 5-Stripes, Atlanta United.

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