LOUISVILLE CITY FC
Tom Farmer
From Soccer Cynic to Coopers President
BY KEVIN KERNEN | PHOTOS BY EM DASH PHOTOGRAPHY • EMDASHPHOTO.COM
As throngs of new Louisville City fans have
discovered, the atmosphere cultivated at
Louisville Slugger Field when LouCity takes
to the pitch is both captivating and infectious.
Perhaps the most extreme example of this is the
case of the current president of the Louisville
Coopers, Tom Farmer.
Farmer took office in January, but his route to
32 EXTOL SPORTS / AUGUST 2017
the president of Louisville City’s largest supporters
group began just a short 18 months before, when
he attended his first Louisville City game with
Elise, his wife of nine years, which he described
doing “on a lark.” baseball and basketball fan, and was less than
interested in the sport of soccer. He went as far
as to say that he had watched only a handful
of soccer games, usually featuring either a U.S.
national team or UofL.
Having grown up in Powell County, Ky., Tom
– an IT professional for Humana and University
of Louisville graduate – labeled himself as a All of that changed, though, after his first
Louisville City match in 2015.
At that time, the Coopers themselves were only