Dan Woog

Dan Woog has four passions: Westport, writing, soccer and LGBT issues. Occasionally, they intersect.

Dan began writing for the Westport News as a Staples High School sophomore. His first column was “Up at Staples.” Since 1986, his “Woog’s World” has appeared in the paper every Friday.

In 2009 he started his “06880” blog. The tagline is “Where Westport meets the world,” and it attracts 10,000 visitors a day. He has written over 6000 stories, and has never missed a day of posting.

A fulltime freelance writer, Dan has been published in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and USA Today. He has also written 17 books. His “Jocks” series on gay athletes marked the nation’s first introduction to this topic. He has also written about LGBT issues in education, the workplace, and the importance of straight allies. His most recent book is We Kick Balls: True Stories of the Youth Soccer Wars. In 2005, Dan wrote a 380-page history of Staples High School.

In 2003 Dan was named head boys soccer coach at Staples. In 14 years he has led the Wreckers to 4 FCIAC championships, 1 state title, and a 192-62-32 record.

Dan was named National Youth Coach of the Year in 1991. He was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame (2000), was named a Sportsmen of Westport Man of the Year, and has also earned the National Coaches Association’s President’s Award. He chairs that organization’s LGBT and Allies diversity group.

A co-founder of the Westport Soccer Association in 1975, Dan has organized over a dozen youth soccer trips to Europe, South America and Australia.

In 1993 Dan co-founded the Staples Gay-Straight Alliance (the first in any Connecticut public school) as well as OutSpoken, Fairfield County’s LGBT youth support group. He was an OutSpoken facilitator until 2016. In 2015, the Triangle Community Center gave him its Visionary Award.

Dan was a charter member of TEAM Westport (the town’s diversity group), and a 10-year member of the Youth Commission. He conducts an annual tour of Westport for the Historical Society.

“I’m a lifer here,” he says.