When we speak of Lamar Hunt and his remarkable impact on American professional soccer - as the driving force behind the country’s first major pro league, later as a prime mover in Major League Soccer’s formation and inexorable progress, as the spearhead of the game-changing MLS stadium initiative - it’s important to remember that it all started somewhere.
More accurately, that "somewhere" was really more of a "someone."
And that someone was Norma Hunt.
The FCD and MLS community are mourning the passing this week of Norma Hunt, who died last week at age 85. Norma and Lamar Hunt were married in 1964.
So much is known about Lamar Hunt’s singular role as an American soccer pioneer, about the soft spoken but highly respected visionary who practically willed professional soccer’s cultural progress in our land. A little less may be known about how, exactly, those seeds of love for soccer were sown. And that’s where Norma Hunt comes in.
She absolutely helped to drive and cultivate Lamar Hunt’s love of the game, right up until his death in 2006.
“She was the only person we knew who rivaled his love of sports,” FC Dallas president Dan Hunt has said. “The two of them found such joy together, whether at home, or in stadium stands around the world.”
Norma was a big part of Dallas soccer well before anyone began dreaming about FC Dallas or Major League Soccer. The Hunt family owned the Dallas Tornado of the old North American Soccer League from the late 1960s into the early 1980s. The games at Ownby Stadium on the SMU campus or at the old Texas Stadium (the team had several home venues through the years) were a family affair. Norma cherished her time being around the club and around the Tornado players who would help teach North Texas about the game and help establish Dallas as a thriving soccer community. Some of them, including Kenny Cooper Sr., will be among the honorary pallbearers at services Saturday for Norma Hunt.
She was definitely there when it all began for the man affectionately known as Uncle Lamar.
The story has been told, but its “butterfly effect” cannot be overstated. How incredible it is that an otherwise unremarkable match in 1962 at a small ground in Southern Dublin County, Republic of Ireland, would mean so much for decades to come in soccer’s professional development in the United States.
Norma Hunt was a Rotary Scholar, temporarily attending University College Dublin (helping to document and transcribe ancient Gaelic fairy tales that might otherwise be lost to time.) Lamar went to visit Norma; while there they attended a Shamrock Rovers match, watching the match on a chilly night from the standing-room-only terrace.
The pair, soon to be a family, was fascinated. And hooked.
So much so that Lamar crossed the Atlantic again in 1966 to see the World Cup in England, witnessing firsthand as excitement over the host country’s success built to a fever pitch. England would go on to win that World Cup, prevailing over Germany in the final at famed Wembley Stadium.
Lamar was a World Cup regular after that initial dive into soccer’s quadrennial world championship. Norma attended with her husband at World Cup ‘74 in Germany, World Cup ‘82 in Spain, World Cup ‘86 in Mexico, World Cup ‘90 in Italy and World Cup ‘98 in France. Norma, by now well acquainted with these World Cup excursions, also went attended with the family in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).
Of course, Norma was often with Lamar as they traveled around our own country at World Cup USA in 1994 – but it would be inaccurate to describe the family as “visitors” or “supporters” for that World Cup. Indeed, Lamar Hunt was a presiding force in helping the United States land that World Cup.
Lamar Hunt was the co-chairman of the Dallas Host Committee, and his influence in the American sports community (along with the NASL and Dallas Tornado legacy) was a significant factor in Dallas being awarded six matches, including a memorable quarterfinal, at World Cup USA ‘94.
Again, none of it happens, perhaps, if not for that Shamrock Rovers match in 1962.
Dan Hunt has described World Cup Italia ‘90 as one of the best times of his life. Brother Clark Hunt was a college graduate and already in the business community but was able to join the family for some parts of that trip.
Some of it was just Dan, Lamar and Norma. Dan was still a teenager, but old enough to appreciate the beautiful game, played at its top level, in a country that cries real tears over the joyous triumphs or the torment of painful defeat. And they didn't just see one part of Italy; the Hunt trio traveled throughout the country for 35 days, taking in scenes and sights between World Cup matches. They attended 22 matches, driving between the venue cities for all but one of those.
Of course, some of the cherished soccer memories had nothing to do with the pro game. The Hunt family estimates Norma, a dedicated soccer mom in the more conventional sense, must have seen 1,000 soccer matches between her own sons and the grandkids.
“My mom has been called by (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell the “first woman of American football,’ ” Dan Hunt said. “Truth be told, she was the first woman of the global game of football, especially with regards to people in the United States. For the longest time, not many women had seen as many professional soccer matches as she had attended, or World Cups, and had nearly the kind of influence as she did, especially early on in the professional game in this country.”
