Portland's latest 'Kiki' hits the pitch running

Timber midfielder Ricardo Lara’s first word was ‘ball,’ and soccer is all in the family

By steve brandon

The Portland Tribune, May 1, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Ricardo “Kiki” Lara spent three years with the Minnesota Thunder before signing with the Timbers. The New Mexican’s soccer education began at 4, with his mom as coach.

©2007 WILL CREW

It’s been two decades since Portland cheered wildly for a pro athlete named “Kiki.”

“Kiki Vandeweghe,” says Ricardo “Kiki” Lara, a new midfielder for the Portland Timbers.

Lara, 25, was getting ready for kindergarten when Vandeweghe began his run of high-scoring seasons with the Trail Blazers.

“I hope to become the second-most popular Kiki to play here,” Lara says, with a laugh.

A native of Las Cruces, N.M., Lara smiles and laughs easily and often.

“Tremendous attitude,” Timber coach Gavin Wilkinson says. “A fantastic player. Probably the fittest player on the team right now.”

Lara’s personality and his soccer abilities can be traced to his close-knit family. His grandmother gave him the nickname Kiki. “She called him Kiki Biki a lot,” says Linda Lara, Kiki’s mother.

Kiki’s first word was “ball,” his mom recalls. “He would be bring me a piece of paper and a crayon and say, ‘Ball, ball.’ I would draw a soccer ball, a baseball, a football … and he would stop crying and name them.”

But soccer was a foreign concept to the Laras until the oldest boy, Chico, came home from school with a YMCA flier and said he wanted to play.

Kiki was 4 at the time, and the league said it didn’t have a team for his age group because no one was available to coach.

“Kiki looked at me,” his mom says. “I was pregnant and the coaches of that age group had to run on the field with the kids, but I told them I’d do it. We all learned the sport, little by little.”

The Laras went on to launch their own soccer program, Strikers Futbol Club. One of their former players, Patrick Jurney, is a starting defender for the University of Portland. Another is playing in the Mexican First Division.

All the Lara boys played for the club, and Sam, the second-oldest, now coaches with Linda. Kiki’s younger brother, Bingy (another nickname), plays soccer for the University of Kentucky.

Kiki was the third of four children, all boys, and he always was on the smallish side.

“I’ve been playing catch-up my whole life,” says Lara, 5-10, 165 pounds.

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