'Chico' Unmasked: Meet Charlotte FC’s Super Fan
'Chico' Unmasked: Meet Charlotte FC’s Super Fan
Getting to know 'La Muerte,' the team's unofficial mascot, whose tab for a trip to Sunday's game in Seattle was picked up by the Charlotte FC faithful; sizing up newcomer Vargas — and more
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Meeting the man behind the mask — and the inspiration for both his costume and his commitment
Antonio Sanchez, known more commonly as “Chico” or “La Muerte,” is probably Charlotte FC’s most recognized fan. He plans to attend every game during the club’s inaugural season, at a total cost of $30,000 or more. (Video by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
You might not realize you know Chico. But if you’re a Charlotte FC fan, or you’ve paid attention to billboards around town the past few months, you’ll recognize his get-up.
Chico is Charlotte’s skull-masked Super Fan. He’s attended every Charlotte FC game — home or road, exhibition or otherwise — during this inaugural season. He’s always decked out in skull mask, sombrero and tricked-out mariachi costume, and he waves a flag from the supporters’ section.
“Soccer is a passion,” he said. “It’s more than sport to me. I played it for years, and now I have the opportunity to follow a team here in the United States and show my passion for it.”
Chico takes off his mask for a while at pre-game tailgates and when he needs to eat or drink at the game. Otherwise, he’s wearing it — rain or shine, regardless of the temperature. And you, Charlotte Ledger readers, get to see him unveiled here!
Chico is a nickname. His real name is Antonio Sanchez. And when he’s in costume, he prefers the persona “La Muerte,” or “death” in Spanish.
Hey, it works on my 4-year-old son Wes, who let out a wail every time we drove past the giant banner of “La Muerte” draped down the side of Ally Financial parking deck in uptown Charlotte for a while. But as I told Wes, when you meet the “skeleton” without his mask on, he’s a really nice guy.
Chico is a 39-year-old father of two boys, one of whom happens to be 4 and isn’t afraid of his costume! The other is 9. He works for MC Tile in Salisbury, where he lives. It helps that his boss, the owner, is his best friend.
“Whenever there’s a game, if I have to travel, he knows I’m going to be out a lot of days,” Chico said.
Chico is soft-spoken and also hoarse from yelling at a game four days earlier. He’s as humble as he is dedicated to Charlotte FC soccer, so it’s easy to see why Charlotte fans rallied around him to make sure he could be at Sunday’s game in Seattle.
Chico with his sons Nicholas, 4 (left) and Mickey, 9. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Committed to every game but one: He thought it was be a cool commitment to represent Charlotte at every game this first season. “It’s just a different feeling, being in the stands,” he said “It feels like when you scream (for) players, they’re listening to you instead of me screaming at the TV.”
But when it came time to buy plane tickets, he realized it was more realistic to plan for every road game but one. He budgeted for trips to Los Angeles and Denver, for Chicago and Cincinnati, but Seattle was just too expensive. He figures he’s already on track to spend more than $30,000 this year following the team — or about the price of a new car.
But with Seattle, Chico said, “The plane ticket never dropped below $700.” He often takes his sons Mickey and Nicholas on the road with him. “I paid $700 for three plane tickets to go to Denver. And I was like, ‘$700 just for me? It’s not worth it.’ L.A. is about that, for three of us. Houston’s another, but it’s for three of us. Last I checked Seattle, they were about $800, $900. It was not worth it.”
Chico was talking about it with his friends in the Mint City Collective fan group riding on their chartered bus to Greenville for Charlotte FC’s first U.S. Open Cup game last month. (Chico sits on the board for Mint City Collective and is also a member of the Carolina Hooliganz fan group.) His friends from Mint City encouraged him to start a GoFundMe page. They figured if each of Mint City’s 700 or so members threw it a couple bucks, that would take care of it.
Chico didn’t want to at first but relented when he thought the link would only post on Mint City’s chat group. But one of the officers posted it on Facebook and Twitter, too. Within an hour, it had raised $1,000. Three hours after that, he had reached his goal of $2,000.
“I was totally shocked,” Chico said.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been. With our apologies to Minty, the soccer ball with arms and legs and the team’s official mascot, Chico is more authentic. There’s a reason “La Muerte” has been featured on billboards along I-77 and in ads on the Lynx train.
Charlotte FC fans recognize him. The coaches know him. The players know him, too.
“Some of them tell me I’m more popular than they are,” Chico said. “And I’m just laughing.”
His two young boys have learned that it might be an hour or two after games at Bank of America Stadium before they get back to the car, because Dad will stop and take pictures with any Charlotte FC fan who asks, and the line of people keeps growing.
Chico in full costume, drumming with Charlotte FC supporters. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Origins of the “La Muerte” costume: Chico was born in Mexico and moved to Salisbury at age 5. He’s a lifelong fan of the Mexican National team and head of the Salisbury chapter of Pancho Villa’s Army, a supporters’ group for the Mexican National Team. Last year, he traveled to 10 of their 13 games in the U.S.
When David Tepper’s ownership group was trying to make a case to bring MLS soccer to Charlotte, its members reached out to Sanchez.
“They told me there’s not many Hispanic or Latino people going to Panther games, and they wanted to know why,” he said. “They asked what would bring the Latinos out to Bank of America. I said ‘You’ve got to bring somebody that represents us, some Hispanic players, Latino players, and we’ll show up.’”
Chico didn’t wait for any Latino players to sign before he started showing his support. He was there rubbing elbows with Tepper when he announced the franchise in December of 2019. Six months later, and just an hour after the team announced its name and crest, Chico had an appointment to get the Charlotte FC logo tattooed on his leg.
“I hope they don’t change the logo,” he says now, laughing.
Chico came up with the idea for his costume before going to see Charlotte FC’s Under-17 and Under-14 Academy teams (developmental squads) host teams from Atlanta at Bank of America Stadium during the pandemic. The games were offered as consolation when the team announced Covid would delay its start by a year.
The academy matchup was on Oct. 31, 2020. A Halloween theme worked well with the skull mask Chico wore with his Mexican National team jersey for Mexico’s games.
“I always wanted to get an outfit for my skull,” he said. “I thought about the Day of the Dead, Halloween. And in Mexico, the tradition is to dress up for Dia de los Muertos; that’s the day after Halloween. It’s a big celebration. I thought, ‘Let me see what I can find around here to make a costume and combine everything together.’”
He bought a mariachi costume at a Halloween pop-up store at Concord Mills for $50. He ordered a charros bow, an authentic mariachi bow, from Mexico. He put Charlotte FC patches on each shoulder and a Charlotte FC logo on the back.
A friend of his made blue crown buttons with a 3D printer, which Chico sewed on the jacket himself. He wears black gloves with a Charlotte FC logo and “skeleton bones” a friend attached to them. And whenever he takes a picture, Chico holds his four bony fingers up to represent the crown.
Cowboy boots and a sombrero complete the ensemble.
By now, more than one-third of the way through the MLS season, some of Chico’s handiwork is starting to fray. Parts of the costume are literally glued together.
Chico said he’s reached out to family in Mexico who have found someone to hand sew a custom authentic mariachi suit. He’s ordering two. He said they run about $1,000 apiece.
Here’s my thought: Chico said he doesn’t get paid for the image the Charlotte FC uses on ads and billboards. But every time the team calls to ask his permission to use it, he gladly gives it. Even as the unofficial mascot, wouldn’t this be a nice opportunity for the team to pick up the tab?
Vargas’ arrival perfect time, just as Polish duo heads for Europe
With star striker Karol Swiderski already in Europe preparing to play four games with the Polish national team, and winger Kamil Jozwiak set to join him after the Seattle game, the timing couldn’t be better for Charlotte’s new U-22 initiative signing Kerwin Vargas to provide an offensive lift.
Vargas, who was signed on May 2 and joined the club from Portugal a week ago, made his debut for Charlotte FC off the bench against Vancouver on May 22 after just two practices. Getting action so soon came as a surprise even to Vargas. Coach Miguel Angel Ramirez said he liked the chance to get Vargas acclimated to his new team in front of a home crowd; Charlotte’s next two games were on the road. And with the game tied 1-1, Charlotte needed an offensive lift late. Ramirez referred to Vargas, a native of Colombia, as the kind of player “who can change the game.”
Vargas showed it against Vancouver. He took four shots in a matter of 25 minutes, including two on target. Jordy Alcivar was the only Charlotte player with as many shots that game (and none were on frame, as they say) and he played for 90 minutes. Vargas’ versatility is a plus for Ramirez too. He can play either wing or the center forward spot.
“He's very aggressive, attacking spaces,” Ramirez said. “And then he has this South American spirit in the 1 vs. 1 to go brave and big.”
Vargas showed that off in a hurry against Vancouver, getting a shot off within moments of his first touch:
Up Next: Charlotte (5-7-1) vs. Seattle (4-6-1)
When/Where: 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Lumen Field, Seattle.
How to watch: FS1, Fox Deportes.
Notable:
Charlotte FC is still looking for its first MLS road win, where it has gone 0-5-1, with its sole point on the road coming in a 0-0 tie in Colorado.
The Crown got knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday in a chippy 3-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls. The two teams could bring some of that attitude back to Bank of America when they match up again June 11.
Without center back Christian Fuchs, who was nursing a sore ankle, Charlotte’s back four proved vulnerable against the Red Bulls, giving up three goals at point blank range. Fuchs was hopeful to return in Seattle.
Charlotte FC will be debuting Primeblue uniforms Sunday, as part of this weekend’s MLS-wide promotion to raise awareness about plastic pollution. The uniforms are made from recycled plastics intercepted from beaches and shorelines. Here’s a look at Matt Swift, Mint City Collective communications director, trying his on for size.
Previous editions of Fútbol Friday
You can find previous issues of The Charlotte Ledger’s Fútbol Friday newsletter online.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now cutting her teeth on soccer and the Charlotte FC just as fans in Charlotte do. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project