If you were in the Members' Stand on Wednesday when Eddie Johnson stepped up to take the Sounders' final penalty kick against Jimmy Nielsen, and you were there when that penalty kick soared over the crossbar making Sporting KC the 2012 U.S. Open Cup Champions, there are probably a lot of things you remember.
You probably remember things like the celebrations and high-fives from the people around you, or the confetti and the team celebrating their win; but what you might not remember is what happened to the ball that missed the net, but made it into Sporting Kansas City history.
Ed Wilken, a three-year Season Ticket Member, went to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final with his son Ryan. While they started out the game sitting closer to the West Stand, once it was obvious the game was going to go into penalty kicks, Ed and Ryan decided to move closer to the action – into the heart of the KC Cauldron, right behind the goal.
“As soon as we saw that ball going up and over, everyone started going crazy,” Ed said. “High-fives, running all over. In the process of jumping up and down I dropped my cell phone. I reached down to catch it before it exploded on the concrete, and this ball comes rolling up. So I’m like, that’s it, that’s the ball. I lifted it up and it just kind of dawned on me that everybody’s still going crazy.”
Ed said he looked around for someone to give it to but everyone was so busy cheering he had no luck.
“I thought it’d be pretty cool to bring it home and call the team the next day,” Ed explained. “It was kind of a memory and a good story for me, actually taking it home, but also making sure it got to the right people. There was so much going on if I had given it to someone else, a security guard, anyone, they may not have known the significance of the ball or maybe thought it was pretty cool themselves. It could have never made it where it needed to go.”
The following day Ed called Sporting Kansas City’s team offices and told them the story. Sporting offered to link up with Ed at his convenience, but Ed said it was no problem and brought the ball in that afternoon.
While dropping off the ball, Ed and his daughter Lauren had the opportunity to hold and take pictures with the U.S. Open Cup trophy.
“It was pretty heavy,” Ed said about the Cup. “It was just a really cool experience.”
And now Sporting Kansas City has one of the key elements from one of the club's most memorable matches, all because Ed Wilken brought the ball home.
“I know some people look at things differently,” Ed said, “but it’s the team's ball, it’s the fans' ball, and to me, it’s a pretty important ball to Sporting Kansas City history.”
