TORONTO — General manager Ali Curtis is happy to stay in the background as the MLS Cup final spotlight shines on Toronto FC.
Curtis found himself reacting to new, unexpected situations, digging deep into his experience"in trying to navigate in the moment."Born in Philadelphia, Curtis grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., where his father earned his doctorate at the University of Michigan. His mother worked as a nurse. Within a week, he found himself with a new club — Vardar — some 30 to 40 minutes away."And that's kind of where things became more accelerated. Better team, better club, more competitive. And things kind of took off."
"Duke meant that for me, from an academic perspective in terms of what I wanted to do post-soccer. But then also it gave me the platform to see if I could cut it as a soccer player." Curtis was honoured with the Hermann Trophy Award in 1999 and the MAC Player of the Year Award in 2000 . The awards merged in 2002 with one honour — the MAC Hermann Trophy — going to the best NCAA soccer player.
In the off-season, he would go to New York and re-connect with people he had worked with at Merrill Lynch, some of whom had moved on to J.P. Morgan and other companies. At J.P. Morgan, he learned to appreciate that"there is a real financial cost to every single decision."Curtis, who has long realized the value of networking, had reached out to Don Garber and kept in contact with the MLS commissioner. It turned into a job in 2007.
"As my career grows, I need to remember that," he added."To give people a seat at the table that may not necessarily deserve to be at the table." But the job clearly consumed him. It also meant a lot to his family — the Red Bulls jersey was the first for his young kids.
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