Editor’s note: With the 25th season of Major League Soccer upon us, this story is part of a New England Soccer Journal series with local players reflecting on the return of top-flight soccer to America.
By the time MLS launched in 1996, John Kerr was already a decade removed from winning the MAC Hermann Trophy during his senior season at Duke.
Kerr, now entering his 13th year as the Blue Devils’ head coach, was also a decade into his professional playing career, one that was mostly spent in England, with brief stints also in France and Northern Ireland. The original North American Soccer League had folded in 1985, and well-paying, outdoor opportunities were hard to come by in the United States.