A hometown hero: Product of Wauwatosa East, Tony Walls is a Milwaukee Wave fan favorite

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Milwaukee Wave sells both entertainment and competition. Tony Walls provides both, but there are other reasons he's a true fan favorite.

The Milwaukee Wave puts on a pretty good show. The team wins a majority of its contests -- especially on home turf, and a loyal fan base remains appreciative. Tony Walls feels that connection as much or more than most of his teammates. After all, he's a hometown hero -- a product of Wauwatosa East High School.

"It's cool. A lot of professional players never get the opportunity to play in their home city, no matter what sport it is," Walls said.

Walls makes his living in soccer, but he loves basketball too. He was a regular on Toas East's 2008 state championship team and spent a season on the hoops team at UW-Green Bay. That's where he connected with Phoenix standout Keifer Sykes.

"Man, I love watching that kid play. He's explosive," Walls said.

That's exactly how Sykes would describe Walls. He is an explosive soccer player. Like Sykes, Walls has a flair to his game, which makes him a favorite among the crowd.

"I don't really think about it too much when I'm playing, but you know, I try to get them involved. They are the whole reason we are out there playing. Without them, we'd just be at Brookfield playing, so we try to get them involved and make them feel welcome whenever I can," Walls said.

Walls has become even more of a target for fans' attention after making a position switch earlier this season.

"Tony Walls started with us as a defender -- starting this year as a defender, and played the entire last season as a defender. We were a little light at the target forward position, so probably a quarter of the way through the season, we tried him up there and just unbelievable. He works extremely hard and just capable of scoring goals as well," Wave Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero said.

"Defenders always joke 'hey Coach, you should use me at target.' Tony joked with us a little bit about that and you know what? He was true to his word. He's capable at both ends of the field," Oliviero said.

The Wave opens their post-season Thursday, February 26th in Chicago vs. the Mustangs.