It's said that Jim Carlan's smile -- the ear-to-ear grin that seems to never disappear -- is infectious.

The man, dubbed by his colleagues as "the face of the Soccer Association of Columbia," has a commanding personality -- the kind that lets you know he's in charge, but without the intimidation factor. He'll shake your hand, flash those pearly whites and, five minutes later, he'll have you hooked.

"You won't find many like Jim," former Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County president Jerry Fischer said. "That warm personality, it just draws people to him. I remember that first time I walked in his office, I was a clinic coach for my daughter who was four and I wasn't even sure if he knew who I was, but he seemed so excited to see me. We talked for a few minutes and before I knew it I was asking him what I could do to help."

In his more than 30 years with SAC/HC, Carlan has seen the program from all angles. He's been a parent, a coach, tournament director, education and travel coordinator, president and, currently, the chief operating officer. And every step of the way he's been able to use his friendly disposition to build relationships and make a difference for a club he has watched grow from a "mom-and-pop operation to a real business."

"Take a look out my window and you'll see why I'm happy," said Carlan, who has a view of the Northrop Fields at Covenant Park, which opened in 2004. "When I started with the program as a coach, I did it for the kids and it's still the same today. The 6,000 players we have out here running around, that's who I work for."

Carlan did not start out as a soccer guy. Baseball and hockey were his sports growing up, and, when he first started assistant-coaching his daughter Laura's team in 1973, he says he had seen a soccer ball only a few times.

"They needed coaches and my wife volunteered me," Carlan said. "The truth is, though, some of those kids knew more about soccer than I did. I was reading books and learning the game as I went."

A fast learner, Carlan was a head coach within a couple seasons and, not long after that, had his girls team playing in the Maryland State Cup.

In 1977, though, his day job with the United States' General Accounting Office required a move out of the area. For four years he lived in New York, still coaching his daughters, just in a different ZIP code.

When he returned in 1981, Carlan picked up where he left off, coaching recreation and classic travel teams for the next two decades. During that period were stints as coach of a boys travel team (1987) and head coach of the Atholton varsity girls soccer team (1993-94). In 1993, he was voted the Maryland State Youth Soccer Coach of the Year.

"No one plans to coach for 30 years, but after awhile it becomes second nature. It becomes a part of you," he said.

Carlan began getting involved with the administrative end of things in the late 1980s and early '90s, and it was his work as the club's education and travel coordinator that laid the groundwork for his future endeavors into even bigger things.

In 1996, just after retiring from the GAO, Carlan was elected SAC/HC president. The first order of business was to accelerate the efforts to find property on which the club could build its own facility.

"The whole process started long before I became president. Money actually started being raised in the late '80s and starting in 1990 there was a group of us that were constantly looking for anything that might work," Carlan said. "The problem was that we didn't have enough money early on and then when we finally did, there was nothing out there. The way the county was growing, we were going to get squeezed if we didn't find something quick."

Fischer recalls how the expanding community not only was eating up potential property but also creating more of a premium on existing field space.

"With the county growing, naturally the number of individuals playing sports went up. And it wasn't just kids; adults were competing for these board of (education) and rec and parks fields, too," Fischer said. "Eventually, there wasn't going to be enough space, and Jim was one of the ones that realized it."

As he helped scour the area for suitable land, Carlan continued coaching. He negotiated a sponsorship with Adidas for uniforms and equipment. He helped build up tournaments for A and B recreation teams, and he actively supported the development of an outreach program for economically disadvantaged youth in the county.

Until 1998, he was performing all those duties as a volunteer, something SAC decided to change.

"Jim was actually driving school buses on the side when the board decided to make him one of the first paid employees of the club," said John Lombardo, who is senior vice president for SAC/HC. "All his years of service, what he's meant to SAC ... if anyone deserved it, he did."

In 2000, Carlan assumed the role of chief operating officer; then in 2001, SAC/HC got its big break. In a deal with the Covenant Baptist Church the club was able to purchase 55 acres of land, located off Centennial Lane, for a soccer complex and then build it using several million dollars in private money raised over the years. The complex has eight fields, four of which are synthetic, and is home to the club's administration building.

In 2004, just in time for the annual Memorial Day weekend tournament, the fields were open for play.

"Of all the things the club has been able to do, Covenant Park is definitely that crown jewel, because it's something everyone can see," Carlan said. "I don't know if the public realizes how many people and how much time it took to really get this thing done."

Carlan ended his tenure as president in 2002 and retired from coaching in 2006, putting all his efforts into his current role as the COO. The amount of time he spends around the club, however, is still the same.

"Jim is SAC 24/7, and it's been that way for as long as I've known him," president Craig Blackburn said. "He's always out there, meeting people ... he genuinely cares about every single kid and parent involved. And that's what makes Jim so unique: He's been doing this for 30 years and he still has that same enthusiasm as he did when he started.

"He loves this place, and he lets you know it."

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