OLATHE, Kan. — Olathe resident Stan Cummins is a professional English soccer legend, at least among Sunderland AFC fans of a certain age.
“The greatest thing for me is, when we go back to England — we go back about every year — and the fans still know him,” his wife, Robin Cummins, said. “We go to the Sunderland game, and they'll come up and ask for his autograph. He's so gracious with everyone.”
Stan Cummins played soccer professionally for 14 seasons, including 10 in his native England, but he ended his career with the Kansas City Comets in 1988-89 and decided to stick around.
“I liked it ... pretty much a bit like England in a way,” Stan said.
He’s made his home in Kansas City for most of the last 40 years, raising two sons and a daughter.
“I got the chance to coach youth soccer as I was coming to an end with the Comets, and I liked it,” Cummins said.
He formed his own club and coached his children’s youth soccer teams for six years before returning to England in 2002 after a divorce, but connecting with Robin brought him back.
“We met on Mattch.com; he was in England, and I was here,” she said.
That was 2007 and the couple married in 2008.
At Robin’s insistence, the dining room of the couple’s home is filled with trophies, celebrating Stan’s career accomplishments.
“That's his life,” she sad. “Only 1 to 2% of the people can make a living at a professional sport, and he did it for 14 or 15 years. That's something to be proud of. He's very humble, but I said, ‘No, you need to display that. That's something you won, that's an accolade that you got.’ It's part of his life, and now it's part of my life.”
The trophy collection includes a Sunderland Player of the Year trophy from the 1980-81 season, his second with the club after helping them achieve promotion from the second to the first division the previous season.
“You’re supposed to keep it for a year then hand it back, but, after a year, nobody asked me for it back, so I've kept it all this time,” Stan said with a laugh.
Coming up through Middlesbrough FC’s Academy, which signed Stan as a 14-year-old, he made his English first-division debut at 17 years old in November 1976 and went on to score nine goals in 44 league appearances with Boro during the next three seasons.
He also enjoyed his first stint playing U.S. soccer with the NASL’s Minnesota Kicks during the summer of 1977, scoring twice in 18 appearances and sharing the field with legends like Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and his childhood idol, English legend George Best.
Middlesbrough sold Stan to Sunderland in November 1979 for £300,000, the most the 100-year-old club had ever paid for a player.
“Sunderland’s my team ever since I was 6 years old,” Stan beamed. “... I scored on my debut and I scored the next week then, within three months, I had a game where we beat Burnley 5-0 and I scored four, so the crowd took me straight away.”
He scored 29 goals in 133 appearances for Sunderland from 1979-83, joining the Seattle Sounders on loan during the summer of 1981.
Stan spent the 1983-84 season with Crystal Palace, scoring seven goals in 28 appearances, before rejoining Sunderland.
But sensing he’d fallen out of favor with new manager Lawrie McMenemy, Stan sought a new opportunity playing indoor soccer in the U.S.
“I liked indoor (soccer) as a kid, so I said I wouldn't mind it,” Stan said.
He returned to Minnesota, spending three seasons with the MISL’s Minnesota Strikers before the club folded.
That led him to the Comets, who were coached by Dave Clements at the time, for his final pro season.
“I didn't exactly know where it was on the map when he said, ‘Come to Kansas City,’” Stan admitted. “I'm like, ‘OL, where's Kansas City?’ I knew I'd flown in to Kansas City to play, but I didn’t know on the map where it is.”
Stan battled through a nagging hamstring injury in his only season with the Comets, but found an unexpected home here, raised his family and coached youth soccer as he watched the sports’ rise in Kansas City.
“It's growing tremendously,” Stan said.
“Of course, we call it football at our house,” Robin added.
English Premier League Mornings Live, the pre- and postgame show for NBC's coverage of the top soccer league in the world, will broadcast live from KC Live inside Power & Light on Saturday and Sunday mornings this weekend. Fans can register online to attend.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
