‘I am so excited.’ Why a UK sports legend is coming back to Kentucky.

London: After each of the five times Arin (Gilliland) Wright played professional women’s soccer for the Chicago Red Stars at Louisville’s Lynn Family Stadium, the former Kentucky Wildcats star noticed something.

“Every time I came back, it was just electric for me,” Wright says. “Every time I came back, I would leave thinking ‘Man, I feel like I was a better version of myself out there on the field.’”

From the time the National Women’s Soccer League’s Racing Louisville FC franchise came on line in 2021, Wright, a former West Jessamine High School star, couldn’t help but wonder what would it be like to play matches all the time in her home state.

This offseason, Wright felt the call of home intensify. Her dad, Bruce Gilliland, still lives in Jessamine County. The reality that her grandparents, Cynthia and Kenneth Walton in Garrard County, are both in their 80s and not getting younger became more urgent in her thoughts.

Now a mom herself, Wright knew several of her best friends in Kentucky will be adding to their families this year, too, and she wanted to share in their experiences.

To all that, add that Wright is 31 now and is aware that “puts a clock” on how many years of professional soccer she has left

“There were just a collection of things that just kind of spoke to me,” Wright says. “I knew (Kentucky) was where I needed to be right now. I just felt it in my bones.”

Former Kentucky Wildcats and West Jessamine High School star Arin Wright, who prior to getting married was known as Arin Gilliland, has been traded from the Chicago Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League to Racing Louisville. “I’m so excited,” Wright says of the chance to play major-league, professional soccer in her homestate. “I never thought it would happen.”

Dialing up her resolve, Wright went to the Red Stars front office with a request: Let me go home by trading me to Racing Louisville.

That was not a small ask. Over her eight-year NWSL career, Wright had become a pillar of the Chicago franchise. No one has started more games wearing a Chicago Red Stars uniform than Arin Wright’s 143.

Twice, she earned first or second Best XI recognition from the league. In 2016, she was a finalist for NWSL Defender of the Year. On two occasions, Wright helped Chicago reach the NWSL championship match.

“It was a very sensitive conversation with Chicago to see how we could work together to get Arin back home,” says Racing Louisville General Manager Ryan Dell. “(A deal) had to make sense for both clubs.”

Ultimately, Racing Louisville sent Chicago the No. 15 pick in the 2024 NWSL draft and $125,000 in “allocation money” in exchange for Wright.

“I am so excited,” Wright says.

For Wright, the emotion that surrounds being traded back to her home state is enhanced by the date on which the transaction went down.

The first story I wrote about the former Arin Gilliland appeared in print on Sept. 15, 2010. She was in the final year of a legendary soccer career at West Jessamine that saw her earn high school All-America designation and the Kentucky Miss Soccer honor.

In what was a Tim Couch-level recruiting coup for UK women’s soccer, the Wildcats had earned a commitment from Arin over more traditionally successful, out-of-state programs.

The story Arian had to share was that her mom, Letita Gilliland, had been given a dire cancer diagnosis. In response, Arin was planning to start college at mid-semester of her high school senior year so she could play in spring exhibition matches — and ensure that her mom would get to see her play in a UK uniform.

The plan worked, as Letita did see her daughter start her career as a Kentucky Wildcat. She did not see Arin become, arguably, the greatest women’s soccer player in UK history.

On April 16, 2012, Letita died at age 51.

At the time, Arin was 19.

“It 100 percent made me more independent,” Arin says of losing her mom at such a young age. “It made me grow up really fast.”

Letita Gilliland watched her daughter, Arin, play soccer for West Jessamine High School against Henry Clay on Sept. 9, 2010. Not two full years later, cancer took Letita’s life at age 51.

Today, Arin and her husband, Evan Wright, are the parents of a little boy, Grady, who is 3. Being a mom, Arin says, has changed how she looks back on her relationship with her own mother.

“I wish I wasn’t so stubborn when I was young,” she says. “I gave her hell. I truly wish I was able to get to an age to be able to tell her, ‘Hey, listen, the way I acted when I got home late that night because you told me to get back at 10 and I was back at 10:30, I wish I didn’t act that way and I understand why you felt the way you did.’

“You don’t understand those things when you are young. You do understand when you are a mom, too. I wish I could go back and tell her ‘I was dumb. And I’m sorry.’”

This year, it was Jan. 12 when Wright received word she had been traded to Racing Louisville.

That was her mom’s birthday.

“Even thinking about that makes me really emotional,” Wright said Monday, her voice cracking, via the phone. “To find out on Jan. 12, to get a call that I am coming home, it really felt like (Letita) was kind of guiding me and kind of putting me where I needed to be.”

In acquiring Arin Wright, Racing Louisville envisions deploying a proven veteran to enhance a defensive backline that lacked depth a season ago, Dell says. In what will be the franchise’s fourth season of play and first under new head coach Beverly Yanez, the hope is that Wright can help produce Racing Louisville’s first playoffs appearance.

“She can play outside back or she can play in the middle,” Dell says. “We are excited to get her here and see where she fits in best on our roster.”

Racing Louisville FC also expects Wright’s popularity in Central Kentucky to enhance the NWSL franchise’s appeal in the Bluegrass region. The NWSL is the “major leagues” of women’s professional soccer. Racing Louisville is the first top-level pro team in the commonwealth since the Kentucky Colonels of the defunct American Basketball Association folded in 1976.

“We are planning to put a billboard in the city of Lexington to welcome Arin,” Dell says. “We are working on that as we speak. Not only that, we think (having Wright) can expand our reach into the commonwealth a bit. We are the only ‘top-tier’ professional sports team in Kentucky. We want to be a draw for the entire state.”

After a legendary career as a Kentucky Wildcat, Arin Wright (nee Gilliland), right, stands third all-time at UK in both career assists and games played and fourth in goals. She is Kentucky’s all-time leader in game-winning scores and led UK to its first trip to the NCAA Tournament round of 16.

Since the trade was announced, Wright says she has “been getting blown up with texts. Everyone is so excited.”

First on that list of people enthused about having Arin Wright back in Kentucky playing major-league professional soccer is Arin Wright.

“I am so excited to finally give back to the (soccer) community that, basically, raised me as a talent,” Wright says. “Be able to show, ‘Listen, guys. you helped develop me. Now it’s my turn to give back and show all the kids in Kentucky that they can be me. They can be on this field in Louisville. They can play at the highest level. And they can do all that from right here in Kentucky.’”