KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City Wizards Founder Lamar Hunt will be honored tonight, September 15th, at the U.S. Soccer Foundation's 10th Anniversary Banquet where he will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The U.S. Soccer Foundation Banquet will take place at the Wardman Park Marriott in Washington D.C beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Hunt, who in addition to the Wizards also founded the Columbus Crew and is an investor-operator of FC Dallas, will be honored by the Foundation for his pioneering efforts in building soccer in the United States. He and the Hunt Family became charter investors in Major League Soccer and its unique, single-entity operating structure and have helped advanced the sport of soccer in this country.
In 1999, the Hunt family established a pro soccer milestone by funding construction of the first major-league stadium built specifically for soccer in the United States as the Columbus Crew opened their facility. With the opening of FC Dallas' stadium, Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas last month, two of the three soccer-specific stadiums in Major League Soccer have been built through the initiative of the Hunt organization.
Also in 1999, Hunt was awarded the National Soccer Hall of Fame Medal of Honor (only the second ever given) and also saw the U.S. Open Cup Tournament renamed in his honor to recognize his contributions to soccer in America. Since the tournament was renamed in his honor, two of his teams have captured the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Championship; the Columbus Crew in 2002 and the Kansas City Wizards in 2004. The Wizards also captured the 2000 MLS Cup Championship.
Last November, at the 2004 MLS Cup, Lamar Hunt was presented the Commissioner's Award by Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber as one of the league's founding fathers as well as a man who has championed soccer in the United States for nearly 40 years.
As far back as 1982, Hunt was honored for his efforts to help establish pro
soccer in America when he was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in
Oneonta, N.Y. Hunt has also been inducted into both the Pro Football Hall
of Fame and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, as well as the state
Sports Halls of Fame of both Missouri and Texas.
