Perry Van der Beck
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| Perry Van der Beck | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Perry Van der Beck | |
| Date of birth | November 6, 1959 (age 47) | |
| Place of birth | St. Louis, Illinois, United States | |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1978-1982 1983 1984 1984-1987 1987 1990-1992 1991-1993 |
Tampa Bay Rowdies Team America Tampa Bay Rowdies Dallas Sidekicks St. Louis Steamers Wichita Wings Tampa Bay Rowdies Tampa Bay Terror |
73 (6) 28 (1) 24 (15) 57 (15) 58 (4) |
| National team | ||
| 1979-1985 | United States | 23 (2) |
| Teams managed | ||
2001 |
Tampa Bay Terror Tampa Bay Mutiny |
|
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Perry Van der Beck is a retired U.S. soccer midfielder and coach.
In 1978, the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League (NASL) drafted Perry Van der Beck out of high school. At the time he was the youngest native born American playing professional soccer. He was also the first American drafted out of high school. Despite his youth and relative inexperience when he joined the Rowdies, he gradually worked himself into becoming a significant contributer to the team. At the time, the Rowdies were a major team in the NASL. In both 1978 and 1979, they made it to the championship game.
In 1979, Van der Beck played his first game with the U.S. national team. He would go on to earn 23 caps, scoring 2 goals with the team. He was an integral part in the U.S. failed attempts to qualify for the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups.
In 1980, he would have been the captain of the U.S. soccer team at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Despite qualifying for the tournament, the U.S. did not send a team to Moscow when President Carter organized a boycott of the games in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1983, Van der Beck played with Team America during its dismal single season. USSF wanted to combine all the dominant U.S. players in NASL onto one team to give them an opportunity to develop, as well as to create publicity for the national team. While the concept attracted the support of Van der Beck and some other U.S. players, it was viewed with suspicion by many others, such as Rick Davis. Team America went 10-20 and folded after the 1983 season. Van der Beck then returned to the Rowdies for a single season.
During his time with the Rowdies, the NASL had played both an indoor as well as its more well known outdoor seasons. However, the NASL was at heart an outdoor league and when the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) began operation, it quickly took over the indoor soccer market. By the time Van der Beck had returned to the Rowdies in 1984, the NASL was on its last legs and in 1985, Van Der Beck left the team to follow former Rowdies coach Gordon Jago to the Dallas Sidekicks of the MISL.
In 1985, Van der Beck was selected the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year.
Van der Beck remained with the Sidekicks for three seasons, caping his time with the team by winning the MISL championship in 1987. On July 4, 1987, the Sidekicks announced they would not renew Van der Beck's contract and he became a free agent. On August 11, 1987, he signed with the St. Louis Steamers. He then moved, sometime later, to the Wichita Wings.
He served as the player/coach with the Tampa Bay Terror of the National Professional Soccer League during the 1996-1997 season.
At the end of the season, he retired from playing and joined the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer (MLS) as an assistant coach for the 1998 season. In 2001, he became the head coach of the Mutiny for its last 11 games of the team's existence when then head coach, Alfonso Mondelo was fired. While assistant coach of the Mutiny, he also coached the Northdale Rangers of the Florida Youth Soccer Association to three State Cups and the 1998 Region III Cup. After MLS shut down the Mutiny at the end of the 2001 season, Van Der Beck replace Peter Vermes as the the Super Y-League Olympic Development Program National Camp Technical Director.
Van der Beck served on the US Soccer Board of Directors from 1986-93.
He has also worked as a loan officer for Harborside Mortgage in Clearwater, Florida.
| Preceded by Rick Davis |
U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 1985 |
Succeeded by Paul Caligiuri |
Categories: 1959 births | Living people | People from Illinois | NASL players | Tampa Bay Rowdies players | Tampa Bay Rowdies (NASL) players | Team America (NASL) players | Indoor soccer players | American soccer coaches | American soccer players | United States men's international soccer players | Tampa Bay Mutiny coaches
