One of the leading NASL team owners, and donor of the trophies that are given each year to the outstanding male and female players in American college soccer.
Hermann, a St. Louis businessman, and William Cox were the prime movers behind one of the mid-1960s bids to start a pro soccer league in the United States. Their league, the National Professional Soccer League, began play in 1967 and then merged with the United Soccer Association to form the NASL in 1968. Hermann was owner of the St. Louis Stars and California Surf of the NASL from 1968 to 1980, and chairman of the NASL’s executive committee for much of that time.
In 1967, Hermann donated the trophy that quickly became the soccer equivalent of football’s Heisman Trophy, honoring the nation’s college most valuable player. In 1988, a second Hermann Trophy, honoring the best player in women’s college soccer, was inaugurated.
Inducted in 2001.
