In the winter of 2004, shortly after Lamar Hunt announced his plans to sell the Kansas City Wizards, the franchise’s potential to remain in the city looked so dire that fans bought ads in the newspaper to grow a grassroots movement. “Save the Wizards,” its slogan read.
Nearly two years later, Cerner Corp. co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig headlined an ownership group that provided the financial commitment to accompany the cause, setting in motion a purchase that the Major League Soccer commissioner calls one of the league’s greatest success stories.
Patterson, a principal owner for the since re-branded Sporting Kansas City, died Sunday morning of unexpected complications from a soft-tissue cancer, Cerner announced.