“Mooch” Finishes Second in HoF Voting; Misses Election Nod

The National Soccer Hall of Fame announced yesterday that no Veteran Player was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009.

Former Rapids head coach Glenn "Mooch" Myernick, despite garnering the second highest vote total, missed election into the Hall of Fame needing only nine more percent of the vote.

Selection on 50% of the ballots cast is required for election into the Hall of Fame. In 2009, 56 ballots were cast in the Veteran Player Election.

Myernick was the Rapids coach from 1997-2000. He died in October 2006 after suffering a heart attack. As a player, Myernick starred in the North American Soccer League and had 10 caps with the U.S. National Team in the late 1970s.

"We are disappointed in this result," Hall of Fame President Steve Baumann said. "There were several strong candidates on each ballot, but our voters have determined that none reached Hall of Fame standard at this time. As we do at the end of each election cycle, the Hall of Fame staff and the Eligibility and Awards Committee of the Board of Directors will dig into the results and the voting patterns to determine if we have a process that best serves soccer in the United States."

Players were selected to the Veteran Ballot from the over 300 eligible players by vote of the 16-member Veterans Screening Committee, which is made up of selected Hall of Famers.

Voting Results

Kyle Rote, Jr........................25 votes..........44.64%
Glenn Myernick..................23 votes..........41.07%
George Best.........................21 votes..........37.50%
Teofilo ‘Nene’ Cubillas.......20 votes...........36.71%
Shep Messing......................19 votes..........33.93%
Desmond Armstrong.........18 votes............32.14%
Hubert Birkenmeier..........17 votes...........30.36%
Bruce Murray....................17 votes...........30.36%
Bob Rigby...........................17 votes..........30.36%
Linda Hamilton..................16 votes..........28.57%
Steve David........................12 votes..........21.43%
Barry Barto........................10 votes..........17.86%
John ‘Harp’ O’Connell........7 votes...........12.50%
Lori Henry...........................5 votes............8.93%
Bill McPherson....................3 votes............5.36%
Andy Racz...........................1 vote...............1.79%

“Mooch” Finishes Second in HoF Voting; Misses Election Nod