Billy Gazonas

Billy Gazonas
Personal information
Date of birth	June 8, 1956 (age 68)
Place of birth	Trenton, New Jersey, United States
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
College career
Years	Team
1973–1977	Hartwick College
Senior career*
Years	Team
1978–1980	Tulsa Roughnecks
1979–1980	Tulsa Roughnecks (indoor)
1981	Calgary Boomers
1981–1982	New York Arrows (indoor)
1982–1984	Kansas City Comets (indoor)
Managerial career
1984–	Kansas City Comets (assistant)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Billy Gazonas is a former U.S. soccer midfielder who won the 1977 Hermann Trophy as the top collegiate soccer player of the year. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League and several in Major Indoor Soccer League.

Player

Youth

Gazonas played soccer on the boys' team at St. Anthony High School in Trenton, New Jersey, and graduated from the school in 1973. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1970s.^[1]

He entered Hartwick College that fall where he played on the men's soccer team. Hartwick had a dominant team during Gazonas four years at the school. His freshman year, Hartwick lost to Howard in the NCAA post-season tournament semifinals. In 1976, Hartwick made it to the semifinals before losing to Indiana. However, his senior year, Hartwick made it to the championship game where it defeated the University of San Francisco 2–1 to take the NCAA title. Gazones was team captain. That year, Gazonas was named as a first team All American and won the Hermann Trophy as the best collegiate player of the year. This gave Hartwick its second consecutive Hermann Trophy winner as Glenn Myernick had won it the year prior. Hartwick University inducted Gazonas into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.^[2]

Professional

The Tulsa Roughnecks of the North American Soccer League selected Gazonas with the first pick in the 1977 NASL college draft. He played three seasons as a creative midfielder for the Roughnecks. After the 1980 season, Gazonas moved to the Calgary Boomers for its one season in the NASL. By the end of the 1981 season, the NASL was beginning to contract and Gazonas, who had played in the NASL indoor seasons, jumped to the New York Arrows of Major Indoor Soccer League. That year the Arrows won the MISL championship. Later played with the Kansas City Comets.

Coach

In December 1985, Gazonas became an assistant coach with the Kansas City Comets of ^[3]

References

^ Jandoli, Ron (November 7, 1999). "The Century's Best -- Boys Soccer: Top 10 Players of each decade". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on January 10, 2003.
^ "1995 Inductees". Hartwick. June 13, 2009. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010.
^ "Assistant Coach Signed by MISL's K.C." The Seattle Times. September 29, 1985.

External links

NASL stats
"Sport: Here Come the Americans". Time. May 1, 1978.

[1] Jandoli, Ron (November 7, 1999). "The Century's Best -- Boys Soccer: Top 10 Players of each decade". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on January 10, 2003.

[2] "1995 Inductees". Hartwick. June 13, 2009. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010.

[3] "Assistant Coach Signed by MISL's K.C." The Seattle Times. September 29, 1985.

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