A longtime Kansas City midfielder announced Sunday his intentions to retire at the end of the 2016 MLS season.
Jack Jewsbury will step away from the game after an excellent 14-year MLS career highlighted by a 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title and a 2015 MLS Cup championship. The 35-year-old has amassed 29 goals and 40 assists over 367 MLS appearances (including playoffs), playing each of the last six seasons with the Portland Timbers after featuring regularly for the Kansas City Wizards from 2003-2010.
A native of Springfield, Missouri and a five-year college player at Saint Louis University, Jewsbury joined Kansas City as the 43rd overall pick in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. He enjoyed a breakthrough second season in 2004, helping the club lift its first U.S. Open Cup and reach the MLS Cup final, and remained a consistent starter for the rest of his time in Kansas City. Jewsbury currently ranks ninth in team history with 218 appearances across all competitions, tallying 15 goals and 22 assists over eight seasons.
Jewsbury scored the lone goal of his MLS postseason career in dramatic fashion — a 92nd-minute series-winner against the San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference semifinals. Kansas City entered the second leg at Arrowhead Stadium trailing 2-0, but Jewsbury’s late heroics gave the Wizards a 3-0 victory and a 3-2 edge on aggregate.
Following a successful stint in Kansas City, Jewsbury joined expansion side Portland in 2011 and became the club’s first captain. He has made 153 regular season appearances for the Timbers since then, becoming just the third player in MLS history to play at least 150 matches with two different clubs in the league.
The veteran midfielder is currently 10th all-time with 348 regular season appearances and is one of just 38 players to log 300 career games. Jewsbury was named Portland’s Player of the Year in 2011 and featured in all six playoff games during the club’s run to the 2015 MLS Cup title. Among Portland’s all-time MLS leaders, Jewsbury ranks third in appearances, starts, minutes and assists. He also ranks seventh in goals scored.
