Across State Lines: Former KC Defender, Scott Vermillion Passes Away

Photo by Matthew Ashton/EMPICS via Getty ImagesSporting Kansas City and the Kansas City soccer community lost one of their own this past week as former Kansas City Wizards defender and local youth soccer coach, Scott Vermillion passed away on Christmas at the age of 44. Vermillion had joined the Wizards in 1998 as a Project 40 (the precursor to Generation Adidas) allocation out of the University of Virginia. Vermillion, an Olathe, Kansas native, had been the first player born in the KC area to make the Wizards roster (players like Diego Gutierrez and Kevin Koetters had moved to KC or played collegiately in KC but were not born in KC). That factor alone was enough for me to personally want him to be successful because he was “one of our own.” In two seasons with the Wizards, Vermillion made 46 appearances in league play, 44 of them starts, and scored one goal for the club. He also added one appearance in the US Open Cup in 1998. After the 1999 season, Vermillion was traded to the Colorado Rapids in a trade that brought Peter Vermes and Matt McKeon to Kansas City. He spent part of two seasons with the Rapids before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Mutiny as part of a trade that sent Carlos Valderrama to the Rapids. A day later, Vermillion was sent to DC United for Eric Denton. Vermillion finished the 2001 season and retired due to injury.

…