A Feeling for the Air Waves : Until Jacques Ladouceur Gets His Radio Break, He’s Perfectly Happy as a Socker Midfielder

Jacques Ladouceur has this dream about back yards, hot tubs and sunsets, and that sounds quite normal except that Ladouceur doesn’t see himself in that part of the picture.

Instead, he sees himself as a disc jockey in a little studio, cranking out soft music to soothe the after-work nerves of the populace. He even has a name for his show: “The Quiet Stone.”

This is the mellow side of a man who makes a very hectic living as a midfielder for the Sockers.

“From 6 to 7 each evening I could catch the entire town,” said Ladouceur, a communications major from Howard University. “This would be a good show for San Diego. People want to relax after work, so I would be as mellow as possible. No heavy stuff and nothing to kill them. Some jazz, a little reggae and maybe some light pop.”

Ladouceur spends Wednesday evenings taping a music show at an American Talent Search studio in San Diego. ATS sends Ladouceur’s tapes to radio stations all over the country with the hope of landing him an off-season job as a disc jockey.

His feeling for the air waves can be traced to his All-America soccer days at Howard University. That’s when “The Quiet Stone” was the top music show on campus. It was also when Ladouceur had a 15-minute music program and a call-in talk show.

“On my call-in show we talked about life in other countries, music, and sports,” Ladouceur said. “I tried to make it interesting and informative so that people could get something out of it. I heard about ATS by listening to the radio. I have to get more experience, but I would like to be a disc jockey. You have to get the breaks.”

Ladouceur got his break in indoor professional soccer last fall while playing for the U.S. national outdoor team. Socker Coach Ron Newman was in Los Angeles to watch Kevin Crow and Hugo Perez play for the National team. As a bonus, he saw Ladouceur.

“We didn’t really need anyone at the time, but I liked what I saw,” Newman said. “He is very quick and is a complete player who has the ability to put the ball in the net and knock the ball loose.”

Ladouceur had a brief tryout with San Diego, immediately made the team and scored on his first indoor shot in a game against Los Angeles last November. He finished the season with five goals and two assists in 28 games.

Ladouceur gained his greatest notoriety as the shooter in the playoff controversy that came to be known as the “Dale Decision.” He scored what appeared to be the tying goal in round 13 of the Sockers’ apparent shootout win over Minnesota in the fourth game of their semifinal playoff series.

Major Indoor Soccer League Commissioner Francis Dale declared Ladouceur to be an ineligible shooter, disallowed the goal and forced a fifth game by turning a San Diego victory into a loss.

Suddenly, Ladouceur’s name was spread across the country, or wherever news of the MISL goes.

“It was really strange and it is not the kind of thing you want to happen to you,” Ladouceur said. “My shot really didn’t decide the game and it was a ridiculous decision.”

This season, Ladouceur is being recognized for his fast start.

His smile and enthusiastic style of play have been accompanied by an increased knowledge of the indoor game and an early scoring spree. Filling in for the injured Brian Quinn in the team’s first four games, Ladouceur has three goals and two assists in six games.

“Going back and forth at full speed was different than playing the outdoor game,” Ladouceur said. “I began feeling real comfortable late in the regular season last year. The main thing is getting to play all over the field. I don’t like when people try to restrict me and don’t let me use my own judgment.”

A marathoner who is continually running, roaming and stabbing at loose balls, Ladouceur is also scoring.

“Last season was like a training year for him,” Newman said. “He is a completely different player this year, and I’m so pleased at the way he is playing. He has made an enormous jump and he looks like he has been playing the indoor game his entire life.”

He started playing soccer as a five-year-old living in Haiti. At 10, his family moved to New York, where Ladouceur continued playing soccer and picked up baseball and hockey.

He used to play at Sky Rink and at the roller and ice rink at 100th and Central Park. One summer, he even played in a junior league in Montreal.

When he was 15, Ladouceur took a couple of years off from soccer to play hockey and patrol the outfield in a baseball league in Central Park.

“Then I returned to soccer because it was my first love and because hockey was a very expensive sport,” Ladouceur said.

He was a two-time All-American at Fulton-Montgomery Junior College in New York before transferring to Howard. After a successful career at Howard, Ladouceur was invited to try out for a first-division team in Greece in the summer following his senior year.

“I trained twice with the team and they asked me to play for them,” Ladouceur said. “I was shocked. I never thought about them asking me to stay. At first, I didn’t know if I wanted to stay. The first few months were tough. After six months, I began to adjust.”

Ladouceur learned to speak Greek, enjoyed living in Athens and fulfilled his three-year contract with Poninious.

“It was really tough when I was leaving,” Ladouceur said. “The longer I stayed, the more attached I got. The Greek people are particularly friendly if you are a soccer player. It’s a very radical game there and people go crazy. The atmosphere at games is incredible.”

When “The Quiet Stone” debuts, Ladouceur might play a few tunes from “Zorba The Greek.”