Extol Sports August 2017 | Page 34

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