FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Goalkeeper Tim Howard was elected to the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday and will be inducted on May 4.
Howard was on the ballot for the first time and received 46 of 48 votes (95.8%) from the player selection committee, the hall announced.
“When you play football, you try and for the love and play for the glory, and hopefully along the way you do some things,” Howard said after being told the news while on air as an analyst for NBC’s Premier League coverage.
Josh McKinney, captain of the U.S. seven-a-side Paralympic team, also was elected from the player ballot. Midfielder Tisha Venturini-Hoch was chosen from the veteran ballot and United Soccer Leagues founder Francisco Marcos was picked from the builder category.
The 52-year-old Howard made 121 appearances with the U.S. national team from 2002-17 and was in goal at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
After playing with Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey MetroStars from 1998 to 2003, he spent 13 seasons in the English Premier League with Manchester United (2003-06) and Everton (2006-16). He was Premier League goalkeeper of the year in 2004.
Howard returned to MLS with Colorado from 2016-19 and last played in 2020 for Memphis in the second tier United Soccer League’s League Championship, where he is a non-controlling owner and sporting director. He is in his fourth season as an NBC analyst.
“You can’t think of these moments,” Howard said. “You get your head down and you work hard, I’ve always said I’m just a kid from New Jersey who enjoyed playing soccer and learned how to compete and learned how to love the game.”
The 44-year-old McKinney, who was born with cerebral palsy, scored 81 goals in 124 appearances over 19 years and played at Paralympics in 1996, 2004 and 2012. He was on 35 ballots (72.9%).
Venturini-Hoch, 50, scored 47 goals in 134 international appearances from 1992 to 2000, playing in the 1995 and 1999 World Cups and scoring a pair of goals against North Korea in the 1999 tournament.
She played three seasons in the Women’s United Soccer Association, winning one title, and one season each in the W-League and the Women’s Premier Soccer League. Venturini-Hoch is an assistant coach at Newport Harbor High School in California.
Marcos, 78, worked for North American Soccer League teams, founded the USL in 1987 and has been commissioner of the A-League and a vice president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. He won the USSF’s Werner Fricker Builder Award in 2007.
A player must appear on 50% or more of ballots to be elected, and a third would have been voted in if receiving at least 75%.
Lori Chalupny was third among players with 34 votes (70.8%), followed by Kyle Beckerman (25, 52.1%), Nick Rimando (23, 47.9%), Cat Reddick Whitehill (22, 45.8%), Dwayne DeRosario (21, 43.8%), Oguchi Onyewu (14, 29.2%), Robbie Keane (13, 27.1%), Jermaine Jones (11, 22.9%) and Chris Ahrens (10, 20.8%).
The person with the most votes is elected from the veteran ballot as long as the total is at least 50% and a second person would be elected if receiving 75% or more.
Venturini-Hoch received 17 of 24 votes (70.8%) and won on a tiebreaker over Chris Armas based on preliminary ballot screening points. Mary Harvey (16, 66.7%) was third, followed by Clint Mathis (16, 66.7%), Tony Sanneh (16, 66.7%), Eddie Lewis (seven, 29.2%) and Aly Wagner (six, 25%).
This year’s builder ballot considered contributors, excluding coaches and referees. The person with the most ballots was elected as long as the total was at least 50%. Marcos received 17 votes (70.8%), followed by William Cox (10, 41.7%), Mark Abbott (nine, 37.5%) and Clark Hunt (seven, 29.2%).
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