People: King & Duggan

With some two billion television viewers worldwide, World Cup soccer is clearly the world's biggest sports event. In 1994 the quadrennial event--consisting of 52 games--will be staged in the United States. Two key players in that massive organizational effort are former Spartan soccer teammates Tom King, '83, and Jim Duggan, '83.

As senior vice president of the Organizing Committee, World Cup USA 1994, King is headquartered in Los Angeles and oversees everything 'inside the fence' that's related to the 15 games scheduled for Detroit, Orlando and Dallas. 'We'll handle everything,' says King, who grew up in England and came to MSU because of the hotel program. 'Hospitality, customs, airport, security, transportation, uniforms, sponsorships, special promotions, and marketing and advertising.'

A phenomenal striker who scored 30 goals in 30 games for MSU, Tom later played professionally for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. 'My MSU years were the happiest times of my life,' he recalls. '(Soccer coach) Joe Baum meant the world to me.'

Duggan, a reserve midfielder Baum describes as 'enthusiastic, conscientious and hard-working,' coached soccer at Detroit Catholic Central and North Farmington before founding the Detroit Rockers and serving as its CEO for two years. Now executive director of the Michigan Host Committee of World Cup USA 1994, Jim handles everything 'outside the fence' in the Detroit venue. 'My biggest job,' he explains, 'is to fullfill all the promises we made to get the bid--such as providing transportation for 100,000 people and making sure we have a viable indoor turfgrass surface.'

The latter problem, of course, was solved a team of MSU researchers whose ingenious solution--hexagonal pieces of specially designed sod--has established a world standard. 'MSU was the best time of my life,' says Jim, who now looks forward to completing perhaps the greatest challenge of his soccer career so far.