WILDWOOD CREST — Carli Lloyd began playing soccer at four-years-old. At age 10, her uncle Wayne Wilson, of this borough, told her that one-day she would end up on a Wheaties cereal box.
He wasn’t too far off.
Lloyd, now 26 and a resident of Delran NJ, lead the United States Women’s Soccer Olympic team to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olym-pics by scoring the only goal in the Aug. 21 match against Brazil, in overtime.
Patti Wilson told the Herald that her family had lived in Delran for over 32 years and had recently moved full-time to Wildwood Crest and said the family has fond memories of watching Lloyd in local soccer games. Lloyd even credits her cousin, Patti’s daughter Jaime, for providing her with inspiration throughout her athletic career.
Although they couldn’t be with her in Beijing, the Wilson family dili-gently followed Lloyd’s progress on television and Internet updates.
“We knew Brazil was going to be tough, but we couldn’t imagine that she would score the only goal,” Patti said.
Wayne, Patti and her cousin Adam Wilson were part of a large group that welcomed Lloyd home as she arrived with her gold medal at the Philadelphia airport on Aug. 25.
“She didn’t know that we were going there to surprise her,” Patti Wilson said. “There were over 100 fans and the local school even brought people in on school buses.”
The Wilson family was able to get a few minutes alone with Lloyd before she was surrounded by her fans and took a quick snapshot together.
“If she thought that reception was big, she was blown away by the parade the town through her on Labor Day,” said her aunt. “There had to be a thousand people.”
Since arriving home with the gold, she’s been on the Today Show, Oprah and has a contract with Nike.
But Patti Wilson said that Lloyd’s newfound fame hasn’t changed her in the least.
“She has always been modest about her accomplishments and she worries about being too boastful,” Wilson said. “She even asked me if she should wear her gold medal during the parade in her honor.”
Wilson said she even managed to embarrass her niece when picking up sandwiches at the local Primo Hoagies shop by announcing that they were in the presence of a “soccer star.”
“Carli, of course, was shy but everyone work-ing just went wild,” she said.
Wilson said Lloyd is already working toward the World Cup and is hopeful to be a part of the next two Olympic summer games.
The Wilson family is going to see their family’s Olympian play a part of a 12-game exhibi-tion tour at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Sept. 13 in a game against Ireland.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com
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