Soccer’s roots in Pendleton were planted in 1975 and the game continues to bloom
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, July 1st, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The USA plays Bosnia-Herzegovina in the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup this evening at 5 p.m. Soccer (or football in most of the world) has been played at least since the 12th century. It took its time coming to Pendleton, but it caught on thanks to a boy who wanted to play soccer and a dad who listened.
Pat Kennedy moved to Pendleton in 1975 from Colorado. His son, Brad, had played soccer there, but father thought son would easily make the switch to American football, especially with the legendary Don Requa as the coach for the Buckaroos.
He thought wrong.
Third grade students didn’t play football at that time. Brad told his dad that he wanted to play soccer. Pat knew little about the game, but got busy on the concept. He visited the elementary schools in town and cajoled them into establishing a soccer program at each school. He found coaches and signed up players.
“Then, I had to figure out how to teach something I know nothing about,” Kennedy said.
The first year of soccer saw its unwitting founder ordering T-shirts from Melton Sporting Goods and, with no idea of uniform requirements, baseball stirrup socks. Kennedy grew up in Minnesota and he figured soccer resembled hockey closer than any other sport. He knew about hockey.
He never intended the sport would become an institution.
“I assumed when my son got to sixth grade he would want to play football,” Kennedy said.
But Brad and his friends stuck with soccer through junior high school and wanted to carry it into high school. They played as a club in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade.
“In seventh grade we couldn’t beat anybody,” he said. “By ninth grade they dominated the teams they were playing.”
High school soccer was also played as a club sport with games in Tri-Cities and Walla Walla until, after repeated requests, the Oregon School Activities Association changed its mind and allowed Pendleton, Hermiston, and La Grande to have high school soccer teams. Since the teams in Bend had been playing soccer for a while, it was a tough way to start.
“When they were sophomores, they couldn’t beat anybody,” he said. “As juniors, they played .500 ball. As seniors, they were league leaders.”
Kennedy also made a key phone call to a soccer coach in the Bend area, convincing Rocky Dillenburg to sign on as high school coach. Dillenburg coached soccer and tennis at Pendleton High School for almost 30 years.
When he retired, Dillenburg had a plaque made for Kennedy, lauding him for “starting soccer in Pendleton.”
Kennedy coached and refereed for many more years. And what about his son? Brad Kennedy is still playing soccer in what he calls the “old and slow league.” He played soccer for Skagit Valley College and was selected team captain in 1986. That year, the team won the Northwest Atlantic Athletic Conference championship.
He joined the Air Force in 1988 and played US Air Force soccer at Hahn Air Force Base in Germany. His team was the Europe USAF men’s soccer champions in 1989 and played in a Military World Cup in Holland that same year.
Then, in 2001 he began coaching his daughter’s soccer team in Dallas, Texas. In Megan Kennedy’s senior year of high school in 2014, her Hebron High School 5A team won the state championship.
Third graders wearing stirrup socks. That’s how soccer came to Pendleton. Love of the game is how it stayed.
Photo from Pat Kennedy with the help of AI, since the photograph was faded, shows Pat refereeing a game in which Brad was playing at McKay.
