Lamar Hunt

Lamar Hunt, born August 2, 1932 in El Dorado, Arkansas, is one of the most influential sports promoters in the United States.

Soccer

Lamar Hunt is an avid soccer fan having attended eight of the past nine World Cups. He was instrumental in forming the two most recent important American soccer Leagues: the North American Soccer League (NASL) and Major League Soccer (MLS).

Related Topics:
World Cups - North American Soccer League - Major League Soccer

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NASL

Hunt was one of the original owners of the NASL, operating the Dallas Tornado starting in 1967. The Dallas Tornado were one of the lead franchises of the NASL. They were crowned champions in 1971 and were runners-up the following 3 years from 1972 to 1974.

Related Topics:
Dallas Tornado - 1967 - 1971 - 1972 - 1974

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MLS

Lamar Hunt was also one of the original founding investors of Major League Soccer in 1996. This time he owned two teams: the Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards. In 1999, Hunt financed the construction of the Columbus Crew Stadium, the first of several large soccer-specific stadiums in the USA. In 2003, Hunt purchased a third team, the Dallas Burn (now F.C. Dallas), after announcing that he would partially finance the construction of their own soccer-specific stadium.

Related Topics:
1996 - Columbus Crew - Kansas City Wizards - 1999 - Columbus Crew Stadium - Soccer-specific stadium - 2003 - F.C. Dallas

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In 2004, Hunt announced that he planned on selling the Kansas City Wizards.

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Honors

• For his efforts in building the sport of soccer in the United States in the modern era, Hunt was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992. http://www.soccerhall.org/builders/lamar_hunt.htm
• The United States Soccer Federation changed the name of its oldest and most prestigious competition, the U.S. Open Cup, to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1999.