FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Clint Dempsey, Hope Solo and Shannon Boxx were among six people elected Sunday to the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Marco Etcheverry, Linda Hamilton and Esse Baharmast also were voted in and will be inducted May 21 at the Hall in Frisco, Texas, along with Christie Pearce, who was elected last year and deferred her induction.
Dempsey, a three-time U.S. Soccer Federation Player of the Year, tied Landon Donovan for a U.S. record 57 international goals and made 141 appearances for the national team from 2004-17. He played for New England (2004-06), Fulham (2017-12), Tottenham (2012-13) and Seattle (2013-18), and his 82d-minute chip against Juventus put Fulham into the 2010 Europa League quarterfinals.
Solo made 202 international appearances from 2000-16 and was part of U.S. championship teams at the 2011 Women’s World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She was voted top goalkeeper at the 2011 and 2015 Women’s World Cups.
Solo was suspended for six months by the USSF in 2016 and her contract terminated after she called Sweden “a bunch of cowards” following that nation’s quarterfinal win over the Americans. Solo filed a grievance that was settled. Solo also was suspended for 30 days in 2015.
Boxx was a midfielder who scored 27 goals in 195 international appearances from 2003-15. She is among three women who played in all three seasons of the Women’s United Soccer Association and Women’s Professional Soccer and the first three seasons of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Hamilton, elected from the veteran ballot, was part of the U.S. championship team at the 1991 Women’s World Cup and made 71 international appearances from 1987-95.
Etcheverry, also chosen from the veteran ballot, was a three-time Major League Soccer champion with D.C. United from 1996-2003 and was voted league MVP in 1998. He scored 13 goals in 71 appearances for Bolivia from 1989-2003.
Baharmast, elected from the builder ballot, was as MLS referee and officiated games between Spain and Nigeria, and Brazil-Norway at the 1998 World Cup.
Dempsey received 97.9% from the player voting committee, followed by Boxx at 91.7%, Solo at 81.3%. Lauren Cheney Holiday was next with 75%, followed by Josh McKinney (72.9%), David Beckham (56.3%), Aly Wagner (50%), Heather Mitts (35.4%), Pablo Mastroeni (33.3%), Lori Chalupny (31.3%), Cat Reddick Whitehill (27.1%), Thierry Henry (27.1%), Robbie Keane (25%) and Oguchi Onyewu (22.9%).
Etcheverry got 83.3% of veteran committee votes, followed by Hamilton (79.2%), Kate Sobrero Markgraf (70.8%) and Chris Armas (58.3%).
Baharmast received 91.7% of builder committee votes, followed by referee Kari Seitz at 50%.
A person must receive 75% to be elected, with a maximum of three people annually from the player ballot and two from the veteran ballot.
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