The Hermann name has long been a part of the soccer community at SLU. While the stadium took the name in 1999, the Hermann influence on St. Louis soccer began in the 1960s with the St. Louis Stars. The Stars were founded in 1967 as a team in the National Professional Soccer League and were the city’s first-ever professional soccer team.
The man behind this team was none other than businessman Robert, or Bob, Hermann. The Stars attracted many mainstream fans and gained local attention, having the highest average attendance in the league at each game with 7,613 fans. Hermann went on to become the NPSL resident, and found trophy recognizing the top male and female collegiate soccer players.
This trophy, which is the Heisman equivalent in soccer, was named after Hermann. Despite competing awards with the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), the now-titled MAC Hermann trophy is still the highest honor given in collegiate soccer.
This year, SLU has more connections to the trophy than simply donning the stadium’s name.
Seniors Anthony Manning and Robert Kristo were both named to the watch list for the Hermann Trophy for the second season in a row by the NSCAA. They are two of the 32 players named to this list. Toward the end of the season, the list will be narrowed to 15 semifinalists, and finally six finalists. The finalists are then invited to the Missouri Athletic Club annual banquet, held in St. Louis. There, both the male and female winners are named, and presented with the ten-pound crystal soccer ball replica. This year, the banquet will be on Jan. 9, 2015.
In 2012, Kristo was named one of the 15 semi-finalists for the award. Kristo was named to the third team All-America after his performance last season, which included ten goals and five assists. He has 70 career points and needs just two more to break into the top 20 SLU scorers of all time, as of press time. If he leads the team again in points and goals like he has the previous three seasons, Kristo will be the first player to do so since Brian McBride did from 1990-1993.
“Robert is one of the elite scorers in the country and knows he can lead this team to great heights and awards like this will follow,” head coach Mike McGinty said.
Manning missed the first six games of the season last fall due to injury but was still named the A-10 Conference’s Defender of the Year. He also earned second-team All-Region honors from the NSCAA. Manning was the center of a defense that allowed just 0.90 goals per game in 2013 with eight shut-outs.
“Anthony is a great defender and could emerge as the most dominant defender in college soccer. If he has the year he is capable of having, he will be a serious candidate for the Hermann award,” McGinty said.
The trophy was won five consecutive times by a SLU player from 1969-1973, but has not been won since. SLU male players men who have won the trophy include Al Trost, who won in 1969 and 1970, Mike Seerey in 1971 and 1972, and Dan Counce in 1973.
The Hermann name will forever be part of SLU soccer history, and this season, Kristo and Manning have their shot to etch their name in the books next to his. Catch the team next on Sept. 9, against Louisville.
