National Soccer Hall of Fame

That was not what I said.

I stated that people are being asked to select ONE referee from a period spanning at least 6 decades, from a very long list.

I did not say only one referee had ever been selected.

 

OK. My bad. I misunderstood.

 

The current mechanism should bring in one or two referees every four-year cycle.

What I found in my decades as a voter (about 15 years voting on players, and now about five years on the Veterans Committee) is that, under the current system, people tend to get in eventually. I was livid for a decade or so that Kate Markgraf wasn't in, but she finally made it. I made a very impassioned plea for Mary Harvey, essentially wrapping up the OG WWC WNT in 1991, and she made it last year.

I believe this year is the first time that someone has entered the Hall of Fame for whom I would not have voted if I were still on the players ballot. You can list up to 10 people. (A few years ago, the system was modified so the committees would be smaller and more targeted, because it became apparent that a lot of voters simply weren't taking it seriously.)

This was last year's Players Committee vote:

Carli Lloyd (47, 97.9%) - IN
Nick Rimando (35, 72.9%) - IN
Chris Wondolowski (28, 58.3%)
Lori Chalupny (27, 56.3%)
Amy Rodriguez (27, 56.3%)
Cat Reddick Whitehill (26, 54.2%)
Keith Johnson (23, 47.9%)
Kyle Beckerman (22, 45.8%)
Chris Ahrens (21, 43.8%)
Dwayne DeRosario (19, 39.6%)
Jermaine Jones (16, 33.3%)
Oguchi Onyewu (14, 29.2%)
Robbie Keane (13, 27.1%)
Chad Marshall (8, 16.7%)
Maurice Edu (7, 14.6%)
Stephanie Lopez Cox (7, 14.6%)
Carlos Ruiz (6, 12.5%)
Shalrie Joseph (6, 12.5%)
Matt Besler (3, 6.3%)
Yael Averbuch (3, 6.3%)

Johnson and Ahrens were Paralympians. I think Ahrens' case may actually be hurt because he's the longtime chair of the USSF Athletes Council, and voters may be hesitant to push through any more "establishment" people.

I wouldn't vote for 10 people out of this list. This year, the newly eligible players include a LOT of Paralympians and a couple of sometime MNT players (Geoff Cameron, Sacha Kljestan, Michael Orozco, Brek Shea), but I would bet the players inducted will come from the WNT group (Heather O'Reilly is obvious, and then there's Tobin Heath, Ashlyn Harris, Jaelene Hinkle Daniels and Samantha Mewis).

The Veterans Committee vote:
Mary Harvey (23, 95.8%) - IN
Chris Armas (19, 79.2%) - IN (tiebreaker over Sanneh)
Tony Sanneh (19, 79.2%)
Tatu (15, 62.5%)
Clint Mathis (12, 50%)
Kevin Crow (9, 37.5%)
Aly Wagner (7, 29.2%)
Francis Farberoff (4, 16.7%)
Lorrie Fair (2, 8.3%)
Lori Henry (1, 4.2%)

A few years ago, it felt like we had a backlog of people who hadn't been elected by the Players Committee. We may be most of the way through it now.

But the relevant part for the refs' forum is last year's Builders vote:
Mark Abbott (19, 79.2%)
Clive Charles (16, 66.7%)
Richard Groff (12, 50%)
William Cox (10, 41.7%)
Clark Hunt (10, 41.7%)
Tim Leiweke (9, 37.5%)
Kari Seitz (8, 33.3%)
Lothar Osiander (7, 29.2%)
Joe Cummings (6, 25%)
Burton Haimes (5, 20.8%)

That's tough competition. The top six all have very strong cases, as does Seitz. So it's a good thing we'll have this one year for refs every year.

I've often proposed that we've need to do a "make-up" wave of inductees, as we did in 2005 with the last few people from the original ASL and thereabouts who had strong credentials. We've added Paralympians to the Players pool, but we clearly have more qualified people than we could possibly induct through the normal balloting process. We've also had credible arguments that it's finally time to give indoor players of the 1980s, when that's the only soccer we had, their due.

And we could argue that we're pretty far behind on Builders. Again, look at that top six. Would anyone complain if Clive Charles is inducted into the Hall? Or Richard Groff, who's done everything there is to do in US soccer? Or Hunt? Or Seitz?

We're doing fine on inducting recently retired men's and women's able-bodied NT/MLS/NWSL players. We've gone from seeing Briana Scurry, Earnie Stewart and Hope Solo passed over to seeing Nick Rimando waved in. The bar is probably where it needs to be -- finally. I'd still like to see a few more foreign MLS players make it -- Carlos Valderrama springs to mind, as does this Beckham guy. And then Thierry Henry and eventually Messi.

I'd like to see one wave of Paralympians and one wave of Builders -- including refs.

 

The voters are largely the same as last year, although the Builders voting panel is only 22 people rather than last year's 24. I think the election procedure is the same as last year, a preliminary round to reduce the field to 25 candidates, a semifinal round to reduce it to 10 candidates and then the final round to select one inductee.

Last year's voting does indicate that Seitz is the clear favorite (she was ahead of other referees in all three rounds last year), but I'd never call it a slam dunk this early in the procedure. I'd guess that Geiger has a chance, and I'm still holding out hope that Sandra Hunt does. The reason why it appears from the vote totals that Beau cited that Seitz is the only referee who got votes last year is that those were the results of the final round, and Seitz was the only referee among the 10 finalists. However, Seitz, Geiger, Hunt, Brian Hall, Vince Mauro and Terry Vaughn all got votes in earlier rounds.

Surprising things can happen in the voting. For example, last year's Builder inductee finished fourth in the preliminary round, sixth in the semifinal round and then first in the final round.

 

I'm curious if there will be enough sentiment to eventually get Vaughn in?

Because on the face of it, I don't think he accomplished enough on the field to warrant inclusion.

 

I doubt very much that he has a chance. At the rate of one referee every four years, I think there is too much of a logjam of qualified people ahead of him. And that logjam is going to get bigger every year.

 

@Beau Dure Is Clark Hunt on the voting panel? Any of them? I'm curious since the NSHOF resides in the stadium he owns.

Unrelated to Hunt, but are voters allowed to vote for themselves if they're on the eligible list?

And agreed on your post about the players category. It looks like most of the roster of former players has caught up. The list from last year, I'd be hard pressed to find it in myself to vote for most of the players on that list. It's Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Good.

Thanks for your candid post.

 

Clark Hunt is on the Veterans Committee (not Builders, which is the only category in which he'd be eligible), though I don't remember him attending the annual meeting in the years I've been on it. (It's a Zoom call. Maybe half of the committee attends. It's just to have some discussion before people cast ballots, and it's generally productive.)

I don't *think* anyone would be a position to evaluate their own candidacy. Christina Unkel is on the Builders Committee, but you have to be 50 years old or deceased to be considered in this category, and she's nowhere near.

This year's voting panels:
https://www.nationalsoccerhof.com/hall-of-famers/voting-screening-committee.html

 

Clark Hunt is on the Veterans voting panel, and is a Builders candidate. His brother Dan, who is president of FC Dallas, is on the Builders voting panel, but presumably will be moved elsewhere if he becomes a Builders candidate himself.

In the six years since the current voting panels (which change only a little from year to year) were organized by the USSF official who runs the elections, no voter has been on the voting panel for an election in which he himself was a candidate. There have been plenty of people, like Clark Hunt, who are on the voting panel for different category than the one in which they are a candidate. Looking at the 2026 voting panels, I see three of them, of whom Clark Hunt is one. The other two are Pat Onstad, who is a Players voter and a Veterans candidate, and Jim Trecker, who is a Veterans voter and a Builders candidate.

Like you, I see a lot of people who I wouldn't vote for, but I also see a lot who I would vote for, and I think that's what counts. Elections require losers as well as winners The task of the voters is to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

Semifinalists announced today:
• Gino D’Ippolito
• Mark Geiger
• Brian Hall
• Sandra Hunt
• Vince Mauro
• Harry Rogers
• Ricardo Salazar
• Kari Seitz
• Kevin Stott
• Terry Vaughn

I have a tough task on the veterans committee:
• David Beckham
• Gregg Berhalter
• Chico Borja
• Sean Bowers
• Lori Chalupny
• Brian Ching
• Jimmy Conrad
• Kevin Crow
• Lorrie Fair
• Francis Farberoff
• Kevin Hartman
• Frankie Hejduk
• Lori Henry
• Dominic Kinnear
• Karina LeBlanc
• Clint Mathis
• Shep Messing
• Heather Mitts
• Victor Nogueira
• Tiffany Roberts
• Tony Sanneh
• Lindsay Tarpley
• Tatu
• Aly Wagner
• Cat Reddick Whitehill

 

If I'm voting.
Builder = Seitz, Geiger, Hunt, Stott as Finalists. And Seitz gets the lone elected spot

Veterans = Beckham, Hejduk, Tatu, Wagner, Mitts. Not sure if I can narrow down to one there, but Beckham had more impact on soccer in the USA than any of the others. Tatu is one of the top goalscorers in indoor soccer during a period where there was no professional outdoor league in the USA. Wagner and Mitts were locked in starters for a decade on the USWNT. Hejduk says Hall of Fame to me compared to Hall of Really Good players like Sanneh, Ching, Conrad, Hartman, and Berhalter.

 

It's a tough one. All five of those veterans have a decent case, though Wagner and Mitts missed significant time with injury issues.

But then Whitehill was a starter for a long time. Sanneh's career year happened to coincide with the 2002 run. And I'm intrigued by Kevin Crow, who once did some absurd back-to-back doubleheader in which he played an MISL playoff game one day and a national team outdoor game the next.

Which gives me an excuse to post one of the funniest artifacts in US soccer history:

 

Yea, I included Wagner and Mitss because they had more caps than Whitehill while also missing alot of time for injuries in their USWNT. Whitehill sat behind long-term USWNT starters and, IMHO, a true Hall of Famer wouldn't do that. Whitehill is in the Hall of Very Good, but not the Hall of Fame for me. My voting surely would be different than other voters though, if i had a vote

 

@MassachusettsRef was correct on the three givens in the final four:

• Gino D’Ippolito
• Mark Geiger
• Brian Hall
• Kari Seitz

If you're curious about the veterans committee (we meet ... next week, I think?):

• David Beckham
• Chico Borja
• Kevin Crow
• Lorrie Fair
• Francis Farberoff
• Clint Mathis
• Tiffany Roberts
• Tony Sanneh
• Tatu
• Aly Wagner

So they cut Gregg Berhalter, Sean Bowers, Lori Chalupny, Brian Ching, Jimmy Conrad, Kevin Hartman, Frankie Hejduk, Lori Henry, Dominic Kinnear, Karina LeBlanc, Shep Messing, Heather Mitts, Victor Nogueira, Lindsay Tarpley and Cat Reddick Whitehill.

I don't understand how Fair and Roberts made the cut ahead of Mitts and Whitehill, but I'm thinking neither will really have much of a chance. If any of the three women on this list get heavy consideration, it would have to be Wagner.

 

Aren't both Fair and Roberts 99ers? That's the reason there. How many of that '99 USWNT are not in the Hall at this point?

My predictions earlier were Seitz on the Builder and Beckham, Tatu, Hejduk, Wagner, and Mitts. Cancel Mitts and Hejduk, you've still got Beckham (no-brainer) and Tatu. Wagner should get it also, but there may not be room. Sanneh got enough votes last year with 79.2% but he missed out on a technicality somehow.

So it's Seitz, Beckham and Sanneh. Final Answer

 

Good question, so I looked it up ...

These are the 99ers who aren't in the Hall and the number of minutes they played in the 99WWC:

Sara Whalen, 164 (injuries robbed her -- she could really play)
Roberts, 78
Fair, 68
Fotopoulos, 2
Ducar, 0
Webber, 0

Venturini (95) and Pearce (17) are in. Good trivia answer: The top scorer on the team in goals per 90 minutes was Venturini at 1.89 (2 goals in those 95 minutes).

Roberts did start and play 100 minutes in the 1996 Olympic semis, and she came on for the last 20 minutes in the final.

Fair played for the 2000 Olympic silver medal team but didn't play in 2003 and was an alternate in 2004.

Comparing them to Mitts and Whitehill ...

Whitehill won gold in 2004, starting all five games. She took third in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups but was injured in the buildup to 2008. (Amazing that they won that tournament without her and Wambach. I was there, and I still don't believe it.) She also played in both WPS All-Star games. (Roberts played in two in the WUSA.)

Mitts' career was riddled with badly timed injuries, but she still won three Olympic gold medals and was on the roster (DNP) for the 2011 WWC runners-up. She played little in 2004 and 2012 but was essential in 2008 -- her performance in the final was one of the best defensive efforts I've ever seen. She was an All-Star in the last WUSA season.

Also, if you take the Hall of Fame to include "Fame" as well as stats, you have to figure that Mitts helped keep women's soccer in public consciousness during the dead time in the mid-2000s when the 99ers had mostly retired and there was no pro league. She won ESPN's "Sexiest Athlete" competition and was on a lot of magazine covers. From my conversations with her, she didn't exactly seek out this sort of attention but rolled with it -- hey, it helps the sport.

I don't really want to say too much about how I'm leaning before our upcoming conference call, but I think Fair and Roberts have an uphill fight here. A lot of good candidates.

For builders ... yeah, my guess is Seitz. (I'm NOT on that committee -- no voter is on more than one as far as I know.)

 

Hey, if we can factor in looks, Fair was/is very fair on the eyes. It's probably inappropriate in this era of anti-DEI, but there haven't been many Asian-American members of the USWNT, USMNT, or the NSHOF.

 

Met her once during Regionals this past Summer. She was fantastic. She asked me, before a meeting, what was something I did that was great during the group stage and I said I played advantage in the penalty area that led the only goal of the game in my U16F match. She gave me an impressed look and corrected my verbiage. Ha.

I'll be meeting her again at State Cup next week. (Or in December for a College Showcase. I forget which one.)