FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Rob Ukrop remembers quite vividly the details of April 13, 1996.
He remembers waking up that morning in a hotel bed in Tampa, Florida, anxious and excited for the New England Revolution’s first-ever game. He remembers killing time that afternoon at a local mall with teammates Ted Chronopoulos, John DeBrito and Darren Sawatzky.
He remembers the game. He remembers Alexi Lalas playing a perfectly-weighted ball out of the back for Welton streaking down the left wing, and Welton cutting inside to deliver a cross to the back post. He remembers volleying that cross into the back of the net to give the Revs a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.
It was the first goal in New England Revolution history.
“I think I one-timed it with my left foot from five yards out maybe,” Ukrop recalled. “It was pretty easy. If I’d missed, it would’ve been worse. I was just happy to be in the right spot.”
He remembers the Tampa Bay Mutiny scoring the next three goals before he got on the board again, expertly nodding home a Peter Woodring cross in the 71st minute to cut the lead to 3-2.
It was the second goal in New England Revolution history.
It was the final goal of Rob Ukrop’s brief Major League Soccer career.
Ukrop was 25 years old when MLS was forming its first 10 rosters in early 1996. A remarkably successful four-year stint at Davidson College had paved the way for a somewhat nomadic professional career, including stints with the Richmond Kickers (twice), Raleigh Flyers, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and a pair of indoor clubs (Baltimore Spirit and Dayton Dynamo).
An opportunity to attend the inaugural MLS Combine opened another door, however, and Ukrop impressed the Revolution enough to convince the club to draft him with the 65th overall pick (seventh round), two spots ahead of future U.S. National Team stalwart Frankie Hejduk.
That gave Ukrop the chance to earn a spot on New England’s inaugural roster, which already featured a pair of World Cup veterans in Mike Burns and Alexi Lalas. And earn a spot is just what he did.
Ukrop was a fixture in the Revolution’s lineup early in that 1996 campaign, highlighted by that two-goal performance at Tampa Stadium. It all seemed to be working out quite nicely for the young forward.
“The cool part for me was the next day I got a call from one of my buddies who saw it on Sportscenter,” Ukrop said of his brace. “He was like, ‘Man, I saw you on Sportscenter with two goals.’ So that was probably the cool part – a bunch of my college buddies and other friends around the country saw it.”
Ukrop had shown a natural goal scorer’s instinct in that opening game – both goals looked simple, but were decidedly difficult finishes – and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t continue putting the ball in the back of the net at a regular clip. After all, that’s what he’d been brought to New England to do.
“I always dream of scoring goals,” Ukrop said. “Whenever I stepped on the field, my job was to score. I always thought I could do it.”
But for whatever reason – be it tactics, or luck, or form – the goals dried up for Ukrop through April and May. He started the Revolution’s first eight games but managed just one assist without another goal, before a late substitute appearance in a June 6 shootout loss to the LA Galaxy.
He spent the next three games on the bench – with Welton and Paul Keegan taking over forward duties – but it still came as somewhat of a shock when he was released in late June, just before contracts for that season were set to become guaranteed. Suddenly, it was over.
Ukrop’s final stat line in New England: nine games and two of the most important goals in club history.
“How we played and just the personnel, it didn’t work out for me up in New England,” Ukrop said. “They brought me in to score goals and unfortunately the only two goals I scored were in that one game. But it was a really remarkable experience to be part of the Revolution family, even for the short stint.”
A 26-year-old forward with experience in the league and a history of scoring goals likely could’ve found work elsewhere in MLS, but Ukrop wasn’t just looking for work. He was looking for the right situation.
“It wasn’t interesting to me to take the minimum to re-sign with somebody else after I cleared waivers,” Ukrop said. “I talked to my parents and I talked to my agent, and from a selfish standpoint, I didn’t want to just go live in another city just to be on a team. I’d rather go somewhere I could compete.
“The dream is always to get back into MLS and play at the highest level, but the tricky challenge is, what’s best for you? It didn’t matter where I played; I just wanted to play and have a chance to compete, and more importantly make a difference in the community where I was going to live.”
That place turned out to be back home, in Richmond, Virginia.
Ukrop signed with the Richmond Kickers for a third and final time just days after his release from the Revolution, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of his career.
There were short-term benefits to the move. Ukrop remembers playing a friendly against the Italian Olympic team just weeks later – featuring future World Cup winners Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta – providing an experience he’ll never forget.
He also had the opportunity to play alongside future MLS stars, helping to develop their games as they reached for the next level. A young Dwayne De Rosario scored 17 goals in 35 appearances for the Kickers in 1999 and 2000, while future Revolution midfielder Clyde Simms was a teammate during Ukrop’s final season as a professional in 2004.
Oh, and Ukrop himself is a Kickers legend, retiring with the club records for games played (231), goals (70) and assists (30).
“It just kind of works out,” said Ukrop, whose easy-going attitude has served him well.
Upon retiring Ukrop became a motivational speaker, giving approximately 100 talks per year throughout the state of Virginia with the motto “dream high, work harder and keep on smiling.” His charitable work throughout the Richmond community is varied and impactful.
In recent years, however, Ukrop – whose family name has long been associated with a successful supermarket chain which operated stores from 1937 to 2010 – has turned his attention to coaching, saying that he’s “always coached at least two or three teams with the Kickers.”
Ukrop also currently serves as the President of the Richmond Kickers Board of Directors, extending his involvement with the club to the professional level, as well.
And the complex where the Kickers’ youth teams play? It’s called Ukrop Park.
Ukrop’s coaching duties occasionally bring him across paths with some of his former Revolution teammates, saying he’s run into DeBrito, Sawatzky and Tom Lips at soccer fields and tournaments.
And while some of his former teammates – like Burns and Lalas – are involved at a high level with MLS, Ukrop is one of several players from those early years helping to continue develop the American game from the ground up at the youth level.
“Just watching people and following their successes (is cool),” said Ukrop. “It’s really a neat thing to see how many guys that started in MLS now have some kind of interaction in making a difference.”
Rob Ukrop remembers quite vividly the details of April 13, 1996.
He remembers the goals, sure – the first two ever scored by a player wearing a New England Revolution jersey and the strikes which forever etched his name in the club’s history books – but like a true forward, he also remembers the chance he missed.
“I missed a flashing header late in the game that would’ve tied it up, 3-3,” Ukrop said. “That was my big regret. That’s what I remember most.”
But whether he remembers the goals or the near misses, it’s not really what Ukrop remembers that matters. It’s what the fans remember. And sometimes, when you’re building a league, it’s not what happens on the field that makes the biggest impression.
Ukrop recounted a tale from about 10 years ago, when he was playing in a recreational indoor game. The gentleman refereeing the match had just moved to Richmond, and he’d attended the Revolution’s first-ever game in Tampa. He remembered Ukrop, but not because he’d scored two goals.
“This guy came up and introduced himself and said, ‘Hey, you won’t remember me, but the very first Revs game, we were walking through the crowd and you came over. My son asked for an autograph and you signed an autograph and you spoke to us for five minutes. It made a big impact. We appreciate you taking the time,’” Ukrop recalled.
It had been almost 10 years since that brief interaction. And it was still making an impact.
It’s a story that’s not so unique. For the past 20 years, players have been turning casual fans into full-fledged supporters through both their play on the field and their generosity off it. And everyone – from the stars who carried MLS to those whose time in the league was fleeting – had a part to play.
“I was telling [my kids] about going through the airport with Alexi,” Ukrop said. “He was a rock star back then. I guess he kind of still is at times. The amount of people rolling up to him to get an autograph, you just started to see the change in soccer culture for America. I was just glad to be part of it.”
