Freddy Adu: Young Greatness?

[00:00:00] On November 18, 2003, soccer player Freddy Adu becomes the youngest professional team sport athlete in America at the age of 14 when he signs a contract with DC United of Major League Soccer, making news coverage across America and attracting even more eyes to the MLS, a league that is starting to grow more and more.

[00:00:24] Today we're going to dive into how this all happened and what all happened to Freddy Adu today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:40] Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide. As you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge.

[00:00:48] And today we're going to learn even more about Freddy Adu. And today's trivia question to listen out for is who beat Freddy Adu's record to be the youngest professional team sport athlete in America?

[00:01:01] Now, pro sports in America has always been something everyone looks up to. And as many of us being kids, our dream is to make it one day to these leagues.

[00:01:10] And for a select few, we're able to do that younger than anyone else. In the NFL, the youngest player ever drafted was Omoibe Okoye, who was 19 years old, who actually entered college at the age of 16 and had graduated by the age of 19 before joining the NFL.

[00:01:26] In the NBA, the youngest player was Andrew Bynum, who played in his first game six days after his 18th birthday.

[00:01:34] In the NHL, their youngest player was Ahmed Beep Godelain, who made his debut at the age of 16 in 1942.

[00:01:44] In Major League Baseball, Joe Knox Hall made his debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 1944 at just the age of 15.

[00:01:54] Now, those are considered the four major sports groups in America.

[00:01:59] But growing sports leagues in America is the MLS, Major League Soccer.

[00:02:05] They started in 1993 and had quickly grown to become the fifth largest professional league in the United States and are continuing to grow with the popularity of soccer growing across America, catching up with the rest of the world.

[00:02:20] But 10 years after their exception in 2003, they made a big splash to get headlines across America when they signed Freddie Adu at the age of 14.

[00:02:31] But who was Freddie? See, he was born in Ghana, where he grew up playing soccer all the time, as it is a natural pastime there.

[00:02:39] And he was playing with teenagers and men until he was eight years old.

[00:02:44] And then his mother won a green card and a visa lottery and was able to move her and Freddie to America.

[00:02:52] And they moved to Maryland. And of course, he quickly got into playing soccer again.

[00:02:57] But it was a culture shock, of course, at this age when he knew nothing else.

[00:03:01] And soccer wasn't the biggest sport here, but it's what he loved to do.

[00:03:05] And he would play against boys that were several years older.

[00:03:08] And at the age of 11, he actually attended the IMG Academy, where he's facing off against high schoolers because he was just that skilled.

[00:03:16] And he continued to increase his skill so much so that in the 2004 MLS Superdraft, the Dallas Burn had the number one pick.

[00:03:26] And Freddie was being talked about as being the consensus number one pick.

[00:03:31] But the MLS actually worked out a deal where the D.C. United team would actually be able to pick him so he could stay closer to home as he was so young.

[00:03:40] And this allowed him to play for his local team, D.C. United.

[00:03:44] There were actually two other players in Bobby Convey and Santino Cuaranta, who both played at the age of 16 in the MLS.

[00:03:53] But it wasn't until 2004 when he actually played his first game against the San Jose Earthquakes, where he was a second-half substitution.

[00:04:01] And once he made his appearance, he officially became the youngest player to appear in a United States professional sports team.

[00:04:07] And just two weeks later, he would go on to score his first goal.

[00:04:11] And again, being the youngest to do that as well.

[00:04:14] And in his first season, he finished with five goals and three assists in 30 regular season games.

[00:04:19] Although he did start a few times, he was mainly in a backup role, which is understandable for how young he was.

[00:04:25] And this happens with rookies across all sports.

[00:04:28] You don't always just make a big splash right away.

[00:04:30] Now, before his first season, he signed his contract that was estimated to be $500,000 a year.

[00:04:38] And he offered an additional $500,000 in marketing deals, making it a million-dollar contract.

[00:04:45] And making him the highest-paid player in MLS history, which definitely made everyone in the league kind of upset at Freddie.

[00:04:53] You had men who had been playing for years, working their way up with this upstart league.

[00:04:58] And this kid, who's not even starting, is making more than you.

[00:05:02] It's a challenge that a lot of us deal with in our regular lives.

[00:05:05] And it's very frustrating.

[00:05:07] And you can understand why other players would be frustrated with him.

[00:05:10] And it definitely stunted his growth as he didn't have complete support from a lot of players and teammates.

[00:05:16] So it definitely caused Freddie to be kind of introverted and kind of a loner.

[00:05:21] And this stunted his growth developed physically and mentally as he didn't have people to work out with,

[00:05:27] people to teach him other than coaches.

[00:05:29] And he didn't have the support of a team.

[00:05:32] And that was definitely a challenge.

[00:05:33] And in his second season, he was actually suspended one game after he complained about playing time to the media.

[00:05:39] But he really struggled his first three seasons.

[00:05:41] And mind you, even after three seasons, he was only 17.

[00:05:45] But during that time, he only scored 11 goals in 87 matches.

[00:05:49] He wasn't the savior for the league that everyone thought he would be.

[00:05:53] Despite his challenges, he was selected as an MLS All-Star two times.

[00:05:57] But on December of 2006, he would get traded to Real Salt Lake,

[00:06:02] where he would play just one season scoring one goal in 11 games.

[00:06:07] And after this, he opted out of his contract and decided to join Benficia of the Portugal League

[00:06:13] and started playing in Europe.

[00:06:14] And he would play for them and get loaned out to multiple teams during that time.

[00:06:19] Now, if you don't know, and loaned out means you kind of get to play with a few teams here and there,

[00:06:24] but you still belong to your original team.

[00:06:26] And he would play there until 2011, when he would come back to MLS and join the Philadelphia Union,

[00:06:33] where he'd play there for two years, scoring a total of seven goals in 35 contests.

[00:06:38] And again, he would bounce around to some other leagues across the world before coming back

[00:06:42] to the North American Soccer League, which is kind of like a minor league for soccer,

[00:06:46] and play with the Tampa Bay Rowdies for a couple years.

[00:06:49] Then play with the Las Vegas Lights of the United States League before joining,

[00:06:54] although he would be released at the end of the season.

[00:06:57] And he wouldn't sign again to a team until 2020, when he signed with the Swiss football team.

[00:07:03] And that would be the last team he would play for.

[00:07:05] And he finished with a career, 29 goals in league play.

[00:07:10] Many say that Freddie on the field was an adequate player.

[00:07:14] He wasn't the best player.

[00:07:16] He was an adequate, a guy that could make the roster, but no one that was an all-star.

[00:07:20] And the only reason he made all-star appearances was fan votes.

[00:07:24] But he didn't live up to his potential.

[00:07:26] And there's many reasons for that.

[00:07:28] You know, it's probably because he started too young.

[00:07:30] When he didn't have the mental development that many youngsters get.

[00:07:33] A lot of players, when they start so young, they're not fully developed.

[00:07:37] At the age of 14, you're not fully developed.

[00:07:39] You're still going through puberty.

[00:07:40] You're still learning what it's like to be a person, let alone play on a major league soccer level.

[00:07:46] And it didn't help that many resented him in the league for how much he was being paid

[00:07:51] and being touted as a savior of the league.

[00:07:52] And he didn't seem to be any better than they were.

[00:07:55] Though he could play on the field, and he was good enough to be in the league,

[00:07:59] he wasn't a savior, and he wasn't an all-star.

[00:08:01] And many label him a failure for that.

[00:08:03] But he got to live out his dream.

[00:08:05] He played professional in America and overseas.

[00:08:08] And he got to play soccer for over 15 years, which for many of us would be great.

[00:08:13] And it's crazy to think that he is out of soccer now, and he played 15 years of professional soccer.

[00:08:19] He's only 35 years old.

[00:08:21] He grew up a lot.

[00:08:23] He grew up fast.

[00:08:23] And sometimes that's not the best thing.

[00:08:25] And it really depends on the people.

[00:08:27] But a lot of times, the youngest players take time to develop.

[00:08:30] And Freddie really wasn't given the time to develop.

[00:08:33] Teams didn't nurture him.

[00:08:34] He got bounced around a lot of times.

[00:08:36] And if you look at the success stories of young players in other sports, usually they're supported.

[00:08:43] Wayne Gretzky was really young when he played his first professional game.

[00:08:47] But he was nurtured by the team.

[00:08:49] And they slowly worked their way up with him.

[00:08:51] You look at others like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, who were fresh out of high school, joining the NBA.

[00:08:56] And they also were nurtured and took time.

[00:08:59] The teams took time to develop them.

[00:09:01] And sometimes, even though you get them early, they're not going to save your franchise right away.

[00:09:05] You got to develop them and hope your team and your development can bring out the greatness in them.

[00:09:12] And in 2023, the Sacramento Republic signed 13-year-old Devon Kimbrough to a professional contract, beating Freddie's record, making him the youngest in U.S. history.

[00:09:24] As they are part of the USL.

[00:09:26] And hopefully, they will learn from the challenges that they had with Freddie.

[00:09:30] And he can become even more successful and look to Freddie as a guiding light.

[00:09:36] And if you want to dive into more MLS content, check out the Designated Players and MLS podcast, where your hosts, Andrew and Connor, go through all things in the MLS past, present, and future.

[00:09:49] So you don't miss out on all your soccer needs.

[00:09:53] And if you enjoyed today's episode of Daily Sports History, please tell a friend about it.

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[00:10:00] And if you tell a friend how much you're learning on Daily Sports History, they'll want to learn it too.

[00:10:05] And come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.

[00:10:09] And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question?

[00:10:11] The youngest player to beat Freddie Adu's record to be the youngest player in North American team sports history was Devon Kimbrough,

[00:10:21] who signed a professional contract with the Sacramento Republic at the age of 13 games.