Family Ties : Soccer Bonds Father and Son, Who Both Came From Vietnam

Tuan Dang ducked under one defender and slipped past another. He took a pass in front of the goal, then, almost casually, tapped the soccer ball with his left foot.

It was such a beautiful move, so perfect, that Dang had already raised his hands in celebration when the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back.

Dang, a senior at La Quinta High School, let out a scream of frustration and ran up field.

On the sideline, Tom Dang watched impassively.

Throughout the match, his son bounced around the field, trying to create. Finally, Tuan Dang scored on a penalty kick, which gave La Quinta a 2-1 victory. He then limped off the field and sat down, exhausted.

His father smiled, just a bit.

“He gets better every game,” Tom Dang said.

Tom Dang loves his family and he loves soccer. They’re the two things he has retained from his homeland, Vietnam--a country they fled in 1978.

Soccer has helped the father and the son build a strong bond. Tom Dang taught Tuan the sport, and taught him well. Tuan Dang, 5 feet 5, has scored 24 goals in 16 matches this season, including 18 in his past eight contests.

Two weeks ago, Dang scored six goals against Bolsa Grande, an Orange County record. He scored three more in the next game against Santiago.

His father attends almost every match, gives a nod, or maybe a little smile.

“I know he’s proud of me when I do something good,” Dang said. “He just doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. He might say, ‘Nice job.’ That’s just dad.”

“Dad.”

Tuan Dang, then 5, had the word right. It was just the wrong person.

On that November day in 1979, Dang was holding his mother’s hand at Los Angeles International Airport when three people approached them--his father, his uncle and his aunt.

Tuan Dang pointed at his uncle and said, “Dad.”

“I had to laugh,” Tom Dang said.

He could also have cried. It had been more than a year since he had seen his son.

It had taken three years of planning under dangerous circumstances, but Tom Dang had gotten himself and his family out of Vietnam.

There had been two boat trips across the China Sea. First, Tuan and his mother, Thoa Dang, made the risky journey to Hong Kong. A year later, Tom Dang followed.

The ordeal was finally over when he stepped off the airplane at LAX.

“It was a very emotional day for all of us,” Tuan Dang said.

The only stories about Vietnam that Tuan knows are about soccer.

He’ll hear about the time the West German team came to Da Nang or the great matches against Laos. But it’s always soccer.

“That’s all my dad wants to remember,” he said.

Tuan was born in 1974 in Da Nang, a large city on the north coast of what was once South Vietnam. A year later North Vietnam took over South Vietnam.

For Tom Dang, who was then Tha Dang, life took a sudden turn for the worse.

“The day after the communists took over, everyone who had been in the service had to report,” Dang said. “I was scared. But if you didn’t report they would come and take you away.”

Dang had been an air force mechanic and also coached the base soccer team. In 1975, he had been out of the service two years and was running a bicycle and motorcycle shop.

He was also an assistant coach for the Da Nang all-star team. Dang had been a respected coach for a number of years in Da Nang.

Dang had played the sport as a youth, but spent most of his life studying it and coaching. He said it was part of the reason he wasn’t arrested.

“They wanted be good in athletics,” Dang said, “so anyone who played or coached was not taken away.”

Dang lost his business, and his family was forced to live in one room in the back of their house, which had been confiscated by the government.

“I knew we had to escape,” Dang said. “I had to protect my family.”

For two years, Dang saved money and planned the trip. Like many Vietnamese, they were going to attempt to get to Honk Kong by boat. The cost was five ounces of gold per person.

On the night they were to leave, the Dangs were put in two groups, 10 miles apart. Tuan and his mother were picked up, but Tom Dang’s group was not.

“I remember asking where dad was, but mom wouldn’t say anything,” Tuan Dang said.

The 18-foot boat, which had 20 people aboard, was at sea five days before landing in China for food and water. They were turned away and drifted on the ocean three more days before landing in Hong Kong.

“I don’t remember much about the trip, except there was no food and I was seasick,” Tuan Dang said.

After five months in Hong Kong, Thoa and Tuan Dang moved to Chicago, where their sponsors lived. Five months later they came to Garden Grove.

“I never thought I would see (dad) again,” Dang said.

Back in Vietnam, Tom Dang was questioned about his family’s disappearance, but was not arrested.

“They had me write a report on where my family went and how they got out of the country,” Dang said. “Almost every day a soldier would tell me that he was going to be arresting me soon.”

Dang began planning to escape, along with his wife’s sister and her husband. In 1979, they left on a 35-foot boat that had 74 people on it.

Their crossing was more difficult. Dang estimated that more than 20 people died during the second journey. When they got to Hong Kong, he said they were placed in a camp with 20,000 people.

“We slept in a warehouse, right next to each other,” Dang said. “There was no room to even turn over. Still, we were out.”

It took eight months to process papers and get Dang and his relatives out of the camp. When they were finally freed, they flew to Los Angeles.

“I remember the day mom told me dad was coming,” Tuan Dang said. “I didn’t really believe her. I really didn’t believe her until we got to the airport to get him.”

Tom Dang first tried welding, but, at 5-6, he was told he was too small for the work. He went to work as a car upholsterer and now has his own shop.

What Dang did in his spare time was coach soccer, as he did in Vietnam.

Dang and his friend, Nhu Tran, who had been a famous soccer and volleyball coach in Saigon, formed four youth teams.

“We wanted to give the kids something to do, to keep them off the streets,” Dang said. “It’s terrible what goes on. Kids going around shooting each other. We wanted the kids to stay out of trouble.”

Naturally, Tuan was expected to play.

Even at a young age, Dang showed some ability. His father began teaching him to play when he was barely old enough to walk. Tom Dang has continued to work with his son and even offers advice during matches.

“At times, I got tired of the soccer,” Tuan Dang said. “I liked playing, but that was all we did. I’d ask, ‘What are we doing this weekend?” and, of course, that answer was always: soccer.

“I tried to quit a few times and he would get mad. He’d say, ‘I’m the coach. If you quit, how can I coach? Dad pushed me and kept me going.”

By the time Dang was 13, he was a halfback for the Vietnamese Air Force, a club team for players 17 and younger. He also played for another of his dad’s teams, which had players up to 20 years old.

Although he was small, Dang excelled.

“I’d get pushed around a lot, so I had to learn to be quicker,” Dang said.

Dang uses every inch of the soccer field, bobbing and weaving through defenders. At times, he admitted, even he’s not sure where he’s headed.

This season, three players have been given red cards while guarding Dang, an offense that carries a one-game suspension.

“He can be a very frustrating player to defend,” La Quinta Coach Craig Cummings said. “He moves so quickly that other players sometime get angry.”

This will probably be the last soccer season for Dang, who believes he is too small to play on the college level. Instead, he plans to study business or accounting and has already been accepted to Cal State Fullerton.

His parents never talk about their journey to the United States and speak little of Vietnam. Still, someday, Dang said he would like to return to visit.

“I think I should see it sometime,” Dang said. “Maybe I could even play some soccer there.”