A group of nearly 100 Crown Point residents gathered downtown Wednesday to welcome hometown hero Casey Krueger back after she helped Team USA capture a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
Krueger, who helped the U.S. women’s soccer team win the gold medal, paraded through downtown Crown Point as part of a parade, complete with a ride on a fire truck and a police escort.
“Thank you for being here, the support means the world, this community has always been so huge,” Krueger told the crowd. “We love this community so much.”
A large proportion of the collectors were young footballers, who now have a hometown icon to look up to.
“I want to be in the Olympics and I want to be a goalkeeper in the Olympics,” said youth soccer player Dylan James.
Other kids in the neighborhood spent the day making signs to welcome the star home.
“We had a big garage party and made signs and decorated their lawn and really went all out to celebrate her,” Paul Jones said. “It was super exciting to see her involved in the game [in Paris] and give her input into what was going on, and she was excited and passionate about what she was doing.”
The city proclaimed Wednesday “Casey Krueger Day” in honor of her success at the Paris Olympics.
Krueger grew up in Naperville and now calls Crown Point home with her husband and their children.