On Tuesday June 7, Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger honored longtime resident Kirk McIntosh with the Mayor’s Award for his years of involvement as the director of the annual Pilot Cup soccer tournament.

“You’re one the people who make our city special,” Mensinger said, noting that the event had 213 teams competing this year. “For Kirk and his legion of volunteers to pull off a tournament of this magnitude every year is extraordinary.”

The Pilot Cup started 17 years ago and was the brainchild of McIntosh, a father of five soccer playing girls. He presented his idea to Daily Pilot editors and publisher Tom Johnson and the rest is history.

McIntosh, who attended the meeting with his wife Sue as well as some of his children and grandchildren, said the event wouldn’t be possible without volunteers.

“As we all know it’s nice to be recognized and I wish I could bring some others up here as this event requires a lot of volunteer participation.,” he said. “But there is a lot of happy kids and happy families. I thank you for this award and I’ll share it with the other folks who should also be up here.”

The Pilot Cup originally started with only 500 players but has grown to 2,500 players from third to sixth grade and every school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District competes as well as local private schools.