August 5, 2006 — Former Creighton All-American soccer player Richard Mulrooney represented Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas side in the MLS All-Star game in Chicago.
This was Mulrooney’s third all-star appearance, and it came one year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. In fact, 2006 saw Mulrooney voted the MLS Comeback Player of the Year.
That’s not the only Player of the Year hardware Mulrooney owns, though. He was the Missouri Valley Conference POY in 1998, and at the time of the 2006 All-Star game he still held the school and conference all-time record for career assists (51). He was voted to the MVC All-Centennial soccer team in 2006, as well.
He was drafted 3rd overall in the 1999 MLS Draft, was a Rookie of the Year finalist in 2000 for the San Jose Earthquakes, and led the Earthquakes to two MLS Cups in three years. In fact, he scored the game-winner in the 2003 MLS Cup final off an assist from Brian Mullan, his former Bluejay teammate and All-American.
Mulrooney’s logged more than a dozen appearances for the U.S. Men’s National team, and in 2008 was inducted (along side Mullan) into the Creighton University Athletic Hall of Fame..