![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kay-rawlins.png\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Credit: Orlando City Soccer Club <\/p>\n
Kay Rawlins, who helped found the Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer clubs in Orlando, announced Wednesday her upcoming retirement. She will officially retire on March 13.<\/p>\n
She announced the news in a letter posted to the Orlando City website and shared on social media.<\/p>\n
Here is a copy of her letter:<\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
To the City of Orlando and every member of our Purple Family:\u00a0<\/p>\n
After 15 years that have shaped my life in ways I never could have imagined, I want to share that I will be retiring on March 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even writing those words feels surreal. For a decade and a half, this city, this club, and all of you have been\u00a0at\u00a0the center of my world. What began as a dream\u00a0filled with hope, risk, and belief\u00a0has\u00a0grown\u00a0into something far bigger than any of us could have predicted. And because of that, stepping away comes with a heart full of gratitude and emotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I look back, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0just see milestones. I see people. I see moments. I see a community that believed\u00a0in\u00a0a vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think about those early\u00a0days\u00a0at the Citrus\u00a0Bowl\u00a0and it felt like we were building something special with our own hands. I think\u00a0about the\u00a0packed houses\u00a0in 2015 and 2016, where\u00a0tens of thousands of voices proved\u00a0that Orlando was, without question, a soccer city. I remember welcoming the Pride into our family and watching this community embrace them with open arms. I\u00a0think of our U.S. Open Cup memories, not just\u00a0lifting\u00a0the trophy in\u00a02022, but also\u00a0the Running of the Wall, a moment\u00a0of\u00a0pure, unfiltered passion\u00a0that still brings a swell of emotion over me when I think of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remember opening the stadium in 2017, standing there in awe of what we had created together. And I will never forget the magic of the 2024 Pride season,\u00a0lifting both the Shield and the Championship in a way that\u00a0felt like\u00a0destiny fulfilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0just\u00a0club\u00a0achievements. They are chapters in a story we wrote together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And through all of it,\u00a0the victories and heartbreaks, the growth and change,\u00a0what has stayed constant is you. Your belief. Your\u00a0passion. Your voice. Your willingness to show up\u00a0again and again, through every high and every low, with pride in your hearts and purple in your veins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been honored to work alongside extraordinary people, including my two sons in the early years. Those are memories I will carry forever. I am grateful to the Wilf family for their stewardship and the leadership they\u2019ve brought\u2014our teams are in very good hands. And I am endlessly thankful for every colleague, player, supporter, and friend who helped shape this journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m looking forward to spending more time with family and friends, traveling, exploring new interests, and embracing what comes next with gratitude and excitement. As I step into this next chapter, I do so with a heart full of appreciation. I leave proud of what we built, confident in where we\u2019re headed, and overwhelmed by the love this city has shown me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orlando, thank you for embracing a dream and turning it into a legacy. Thank you for filling our stadium, our streets, and our community with passion and\u00a0purple. Thank you for making this club part of the city\u2019s heartbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I will always be part of this family. And I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0wait to stand among you in the stands, cheering for the\u00a0club\u00a0we built together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With all my gratitude,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kay Rawlins
Club Founder<\/p>\n
The Source: Orlando City Founder Kay Rawlins announced her retirement on March 11, 2026 in a letter posted to the Club’s website and shared on the club’s social media accounts.<\/p>\n
Orlando City Soccer Club<\/a>Florida News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Credit: Orlando City Soccer Club Kay Rawlins, who helped found the Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47,5692,115,139,78131,141,140,628],"class_list":["post-187470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-fl","tag-mls","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-soccer","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}