Zach Thornton named to Ring of Fire
In a surprise announcement on Saturday, February 10th, the Chicago Fire announced that Zach Thornton, currently the team’s goalkeeper coach will be inducted to the Ring of Fire, the team’s official Hall of Fame, in a ceremony at Soldier Field before the team’s match against Atlanta United on Saturday, April 27th.
Thornton is the team’s all-time leader in virtually every goalkeeping category, including games played (215), starts (212), minutes (19,205), wins (109), winning percentage (.600), saves (801) and clean sheets (57 – notedly, MLS did not allow draws during Thornton’s first years with the team), and was on the squad as the team won every major trophy in its history, including the 1998 MLS Cup and 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006 (though he was injured for much of the 2006 Open Cup campaign, including the final).
Thornton joins six of his former teammates – Piotr Nowak, Frank Klopas, Lubos Kubik, Chris Armas, C.J. Brown and Ante Razov, and his former coach (Bob Bradley) and general manager (Peter Wilt) on the Ring Of Fire, which was created in 2003, as the first official team hall of fame in Major League Soccer. Notedly, every member of the Ring of Fire was involved in the team’s inaugural season in 1998 when the team won the domestic double, the first (and to date, only) team in the league to do so in their first year.
Thornton is one of four inductees currently coaching in MLS, alongside Klopas, Armas, the current head coach of the Colorado Rapids, and Ante Razov, currently an assistant with Los Angeles FC.
The move to induct Thornton to the Ring of Fire comes against the backdrop of a Fire leadership team that has made a conscientious effort to reconnect with Fire alumni – Thornton is one of three inductees currently employed by the team alongside Head Coach Frank Klopas and C.J. Brown, who served as an assistant coach before stepping into a front office role this past offseason, and other notable former players, including fellow inductee Chris Armas as well as Jesse Marsch and DaMarcus Beasley, have appeared at team events in recent years.
After inducting a new member annually in its first few years, Ring of Fire inductions became occasional before stopping entirely after the induction of 2015, when Razov was inducted. Reinvigorating the Ring of Fire is one of a number of moves the team has made to revive traditions and and celebrate the team’s history since Joe Mansueto assumed ownership of the club: In 2022 Lauren Bovis was added to The Wall of Honor, a memorial wall for supporters created in conjunction with Section 8, the first new addition since 2011.
When Thornton is officially inducted in late April, he will join the other two players who were part of all six of the team’s domestic championships to date – Chris Armas and C.J. Brown – on the Ring of Fire.
