Hoffman Estates soccer legend Ken Snow dies
Ken Snow, one of the best soccer players to come from Illinois, died of complications from COVID-19 Sunday, according to reports.
He was 50 years old.
Snow played at Hoffman Estates High School, where he scored 128 goals, the state record at the time. He scored in 47 consecutive matches, second only to his younger brother, Steve, in IHSA history.
“If you played soccer in the Chicagoland area, you knew Ken,” said Brian McBride, who played against Snow when McBride was a freshman at Mid-Suburban League rival Buffalo Grove and Snow was a senior at Hoffman Estates, as well as in club soccer and a little later a men's league.
“You knew Ken, you knew Steve, you knew the Snow brothers, as they were known. Just some extremely talented players.”
McBride said Snow was more than just a goal-scorer.
“Steve was this amazing talent as a forward. Ken could go into midfield and drop down and playmake,” McBride said. “Together they could score goals from anywhere. But Ken could do pretty much anything on the offensive side of the ball.”
After high school Snow went to Indiana University, where he won two Hermann Trophies as the best player in college soccer. He scored 84 goals and assisted on 28 more 1987 through 1990.
He still holds Indiana's record for most points and most goals.
“Ken was the most highly decorated player to ever wear the IU uniform. He is the only player to have earned four first-team All-America selections and two National Player of the Year Awards,” former Indiana men's soccer coach Jerry Yeagley said of Snow in a story on the program website. “He was the finest attacking player that I ever had the privilege of coaching.”
Indiana won the 1988 national championship with Snow, one of two College Cups the Hoosiers reached in his four seasons. The Hoosiers went 73-12-4 while Snow was there.
He played eight seasons of professional indoor soccer, including with the Chicago Power and teams in Philadelphia, Detroit, Tampa and St. Louis. He never played in MLS, which did not begin play until 1996.
He also started the Ken Snow Goalscoring Camp, which had camps scheduled throughout the Midwest this summer, including Schaumburg, Hinsdale, Northbrook, Naperville and Libertyville.