Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, tennis and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as the MLS predecessor, the North American Soccer League (NASL). Hunt co-founded World Championship Tennis, and was also the founder and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL), the Kansas City Wizards of MLS, and at his death owned two MLS teams, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas. The oldest ongoing national soccer tournament in the United States, the U.S. Open Cup (founded 1914,) now bears his name in honor of his pioneering role in that sport stateside. In Kansas City, Hunt also helped establish the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun theme parks. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972; into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1982; and into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. The National Soccer Hall of Fame bestowed upon Hunt their Medal of Honor in 1999, an award given to only three recipients in history thus far. He was married for 42 years to his second wife Norma, and had four children, Sharron, Lamar Jr., Daniel, and Clark Hunt.
The 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 98th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early October. Seattle Sounders FC, who entered the competition as the two-time defending champions, successfully defended their title again. They became the third team in U.S. Open Cup history to win three straight U.S. Open Cups (the others being Stix, Baer and Fuller/St. Louis Central Breweries from 1933 to 1935 and Greek American AA from 1967 to 1969 — this excludes the run of Fall River Marksmen in 1930 and 1931, as the team that won in 1932, New Bedford Whalers, was the result of mergers of teams that included Fall River). As winner of the Open Cup, the Sounders earned a place in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage (the Preliminary Round will be eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League starting from 2012–13). The farthest advancing USL Pro team was the Richmond Kickers.
Like the previous edition, the Open Cup featured 40 clubs from across the five tiers of the American soccer pyramid. This season, due to late provisional sanctioning, the North American Soccer League was not allowed to send its clubs to the tournament. The event featured eight clubs from Major League Soccer, with six automatically qualifying based on their league position in the 2010 season and two qualifying through a play-in tournament. They entered the tournament in the third round. All 11 USL Pro League clubs based in the United States, nine clubs from the USL Premier Development League, four clubs from the National Premier Soccer League, and eight United States Adult Soccer Association qualifiers began play in the first round.
The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 96th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early September.
The tournament proper features teams from the top five levels of the American Soccer Pyramid. These five levels, namely Major League Soccer, the United Soccer Leagues (First Division, Second Division, and Premier Development League), and the United States Adult Soccer Association, each have their own separate qualification process to trim their ranks down to their final eight team delegations in the months leading up to the start of the tournament proper. The eight MLS clubs receive byes into the third round, while the remaining 32 teams play in the first two round with brackets influenced by geography.
Seattle Sounders FC defeated defending-champion D.C. United 2-1 in the final at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Both clubs had started in the MLS qualification tourney, and ended up playing 6 matches each.
Matchdays
The 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 94th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early October.
The New England Revolution defeated FC Dallas 3–2 in the final played at Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas.
Pairings for the competition were announced on Tuesday, May 29, 2007. The 2007 tournament was the first since 2002 to not include all Major League Soccer teams. Instead, MLS had eight teams in the tournament; six qualified automatically, while the remaining six US-based sides participated in a playoff for the final two positions. In another change for the tournament, all nine US-based USL First Division teams entered into the Cup. The Puerto Rico Islanders are not eligible for the tournament, as Puerto Rico has a soccer federation independent from US Soccer.
Matchdays
Participating teams
The tournament consists of 40 teams, according to the following distribution:
*Includes 8 USL Premier Development League teams and 8 USASA regional qualifiers
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup, is a knock-out cup competition in American soccer. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U.S. and the world's third-longest-running open soccer tournament. The 102nd edition, to be held in 2015, is expected to be contested by 91 clubs from the three professional leagues sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, including Major League Soccer, the North American Soccer League, and the United Soccer League, and amateur clubs in the earlier rounds of the tournament after qualifying through their leagues. The overall champion earn a total of $250,000 in prize money, while the runner-up receives $60,000 and the furthest-advancing team from each lower division league receive $15,000. In addition, the tournament winner qualifies for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.
The competition was first held during the 1913–14 season as the National Challenge Cup, with Brooklyn Field Club winning a trophy donated by Thomas Dewar for the promotion of American soccer. It was renamed to the U.S. Open Cup in 1990 and then dedicated to MLS owner Lamar Hunt by the United States Soccer Federation in 1999.
The 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 100th edition of the oldest ongoing competition in American soccer. Qualification began in November 2012 in the fifth tier, although the United States Soccer Federation did not announce the format until March 5, 2013.
The defending champions were Sporting Kansas City, who were knocked out of the competition in the Fourth Round. D.C. United received a $250,000 cash prize and a berth into the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League for winning the tournament, while Real Salt Lake received $60,000 for being the runner-up. Three teams received $15,000 for being the top finisher from each lower division - FC Tucson (USL PDL), Orlando City (USL Pro), & Carolina RailHawks (NASL).
Qualification
Two play-in matches were conducted between 2 NPSL teams and the entrants for USCS and SS with the winners entering the First Round.
The 1968 National Challenge Cup was the 55th edition of the United States Soccer Football Association's annual open soccer championship. No North American Soccer League teams played in the tournament because it was during the offseason and it was when National Professional Soccer League and United Soccer Association were merging at the time. In the end, New York Greek American Atlas F.C. won its second of three straight National Cups.
Bracket
Final
First game
Chicago Olympic (IL) v Greek American AA (NY)
Second game
Greek American AA (NY) v Chicago Olympic (IL)