FRISCO — Many of those inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in a ceremony Saturday ended their careers as locks to achieve one of U.S. Soccer’s highest honors. So what stood out, as each gave a speech accepting induction, is how close many felt they were to never achieving success on the soccer field.
Kate Markgraf shared a story of passing out during her first national team camp and needing to be functionally tricked back into international duty years later. Landon Donovan recalled hearing a pair of pops in his ankle before heading into a U-15 camp. Lauren Holiday started playing the sport after open heart surgery at age three and has continued to work in and invest in the sport after her brain surgery in 2016. Hope Solo spoke of the challenges she watched her family navigate when it came to paying to propel her on her American soccer journey.
Markgraf, Donovan, Holiday, DaMarcus Beasley and indoor wizard Steve Zungul make up the Class of 2023; Solo was inducted after deferring in 2022. Jill Ellis was inducted as a Builder, while legendary journalist Grant Wahl was posthumously honored with the Colin Jose Media Award.
In addition to reflecting on just how close they came to falling short, inductees also thanked their families and coaches who pushed them to the heights they achieved during their careers. Many family members gave the induction speeches ahead of the speeches by the honorees themselves, with Solo’s husband Jeremy Stevens, Markgraf by her son Keegan, Holiday by her mother Rita Cheney and Beasley by his father Henry.
“I always say I never played this game for things like this, I played for them, the name on the back of my jersey and the crest across my heart,” Beasley told The Striker. “It’s a great moment for me, for my family to be able to share this with them. We’re about 25 deep! Everybody came to show out to show love and support.”
Ellis, who led the United States women’s national team to a pair of World Cup wins, was inducted by fellow Hall of Famer April Heinrichs. Despite recalling Ellis jokingly asking if the “AH” initials on her coaching sweater stood for ‘asshole’ the first time they met, Heinrichs offered Ellis her first coaching opportunity, convincing the future champion to take a payout and leave her corporate role to work in the sport.
“Sometimes we are fortunate to have those moments that give us pause and show us what is really important,” Ellis said. “Trophies will sit on shelves and medals will get dusty, but as I tell you this moment I’m humbled that the most significant part of the journey are the people who are on it with me.”
Another "sure-thing Hall of Famer," Donovan said as he has thought through his selection for the honor, he’s ruminated on lessons he had been taught by a life in soccer and how he’s now applying those lessons as a husband, father and executive in the sport.
“My reflection has gone to what I’ve learned and what this game has taught me. This game has given me so many lessons in my life,” Donovan told The Striker. “From the time I could start walking with my brother playing with me to this weekend and teaching the importance of having people around you that care. If I’d done this all by myself, it wouldn’t feel the same as it does with all these people around me.
“This game has been part of my life since I could walk, and I’m really fortunate it taught me some incredible lessons along the way.”
One of those lessons, Donovan said in his speech, was how to truly show compassion. He remembered teammate Kyle Beckerman coming into the locker room with several teammates to console him after missing out on the final roster for the 2014 World Cup and later realizing Beckerman could’ve been celebrating his own inclusion on the roster and his first trip to the tournament, but instead took time to take Donovan’s feelings into account.
Zungul was unable to travel, but goes into the Hall as the first player recognized largely for his contributions on the turf inside. A native of Yugoslavia, he defected to the U.S. in an effort to join the NASL. FIFA ruled against him playing in NASL or any other FIFA-affiliated competition. He eventually scored more than 700 indoor goals and then earned NASL MVP in the one full outdoor season he was able to play.
Wahl’s brother Eric and wife Céline Gounder accepted the media award, with Eric Wahl emphasizing Grant’s firm belief in covering all soccer, whether men’s or women’s in the U.S. in.a professional way that respected the subject and the sport.
The physical Hall of Fame building attached to Toyota Stadium opened in October 2018, providing a home for a display of artifacts and archives collected for decades but without a place to be displayed after a building in New York closed in 2010.