UNLV soccer star Danny Musovski named to MAC Hermann list again

So who is MAC Hermann, and why are people with the UNLV soccer programs saying such nice things about him/it again?

The second question is easy. Danny Musovski, a Rebels senior forward from Henderson, has been named to the MAC Hermann Watch List for the second straight year. Chidera Akubuilo, a senior defender for the UNLV women’s side from California, is on the distaff list for the MAC Hermann, college soccer’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

The first question, based on a conversation with UNLV men’s coach Rich Ryerson, probably will require a solid Wi-Fi connection and a Google account.

“MAC Hermann? It’s Mr. Hermann, and he was a player in the past, and they liked him a lot,” Ryerson said with a soccer-ball-eating grin on Rebels Photo Day.

So what does the MAC Hermann Trophy look like?

“It’s a goalkeeper with a ball under his hand, and he’s kind of fading a little bit,” said Ryerson, doing a quick impression of the award named for former New York Downtown Athletic Club director John W. Heisman.

In reality, college soccer’s Heisman Trophy is made of crystal, not bronze. And MAC is not the name of a former goalkeeper. It stands for Missouri Athletic Conference. Bob Hermann was the former president of the National Professional Soccer League, whose idea it was in 1967 to award a trophy to the nation’s best college soccer player.

In 1986, the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC ) began awarding a trophy of its own, and in 1996, the National Soccer Coaches Association started doing the same. In 2002, the three trophies were forged into one, and they called it MAC Howard.

And now Danny Musovski is being watched for it a second time, which is a first-time occurrence for a UNLV player.

“It’s an honor to be named among the top 30 or 31 male soccer players in the country,” the former Liberty High standout said.“I’m feeling a little deja vu saying this for the second time. But hopefully this year, with a strong team behind me, good things will happen.”

If UNLV ultimately is successful in gaining Division I status for its men’s club hockey team, one of the Rebels could someday be nominated for the Hobey Baker Award. Which, indeed, looks a lot like the Heisman Trophy. But that’s a story for another day.

0:03

— It has been a week to remember for Basic High graduate and College of Southern Nevada product Mikey York. Not only did he improve his scoreless innings streak for the Short Season Class A Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League to 30 and lower his ERA to 0.82, but York proposed to girlfriend Shayle Stewart at the ballpark. She said yes. York, a right-handed pitcher, was a 2016 fifth-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays.

— Email of the week, from Summerlin resident Jim Brush, who writes to say he played trombone in Northwestern’s marching band when Ara Parseghian was Wildcats coach. “Ara Parseghian used to come into the band staff room in the back of Dyche Stadium to say ‘hello’ to some of us, or to thank the band for its contribution to the team’s success. We appreciated that. Don’t recall another coach ever doing that.” Parseghian, who went on to become a coaching legend at Notre Dame, was 94 when he died Aug. 2.

— The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open is holding a fundraiser in which golf fans are invited to guess the number of birdies in this year’s PGA Tour stop from Nov. 2 to 5 at TPC Summerlin. For details, go here: http://tinyurl.com/y87reeg9. For a point of reference, there were 1,701 birdies in 2016. Rod Pampling, last year’s winner, made a 30-footer for birdie on the tournament’s final hole. The guy who guessed 1,700 birdies was none too pleased.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.