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.
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%).
A player must appear on 50% or more of ballots to be elected, and a third could be voted in if receiving at least 75%.
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