Back to the DC United Newsfeed

Jill Ellis’s dad has U.S. soccer in his heart and an English football anthem in his head

LYON, France — On U.S. women’s soccer match days, seated at his organ in the Florida retirement home he shares with his wife, John Ellis sings the Liverpool FC anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

While doing so, he glances at a photo of his daughter Jill, taken when she guided the United States to the 2015 World Cup trophy in Canada.

“She doesn’t know I do that. It’s a bit crazy, but I do,” John, 80, said during a phone interview Saturday. “When you are a soccer fan, you do crazy things.”

Crazy things include wearing the same red, collared shirt he owned when he was as an assistant coach of the U.