Keith Van Eron

Keith Van Eron is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who played one season in the American Soccer League and three in the North American Soccer League. He also played the first eleven seasons of Major Indoor Soccer League, winning the 1984 championship with the Baltimore Blast. He was the 1986 MISL Goalkeeper of the Year.

Keith Van Eron
Personal information
Date of birth (1955-11-17) November 17, 1955
Place of birth Brooklyn, New York, United States
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
–1976 Hartwick College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1977–1978 New York Apollo
1978 Houston Hurricane 19 (0)
1978–1979 Cincinnati Kids (indoor) 23 (0)
1979–1980 Philadelphia Fury 22 (0)
1979–1981 Wichita Wings (indoor) 28 (0)
1981 Philadelphia Fever (indoor) 14 (0)
1981–1984 Baltimore Blast (indoor) 96 (0)
1984–1985 Las Vegas Americans (indoor) 18 (0)
1985–1988 Baltimore Blast (indoor) 69 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Player

Van Eron attended Hartwick College where he played soccer under Timo Liekoski. He had originally intended to play basketball at Hartwick, but joined the soccer team. He was a 1976 Honorable Mention (third team) All American.[1] In 1977, Van Eron turned professional with the New York Apollo in the American Soccer League. He immediately proved his worth by being named a first team all star.[2] The Apollos sold his contract to the Houston Hurricane, coached by Liekoski, of the North American Soccer League, two games into the 1978 season.[3] He played nineteen games for an 8–11 record before the Hurricane acquired Paul Hammond from the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The team then benched Van Eron and went 1–8 under Hammond. That fall, he signed with the Cincinnati Kids of the newly established Major Indoor Soccer League. Although he played one last outdoor season, in the fall of 1980, he moved indoors permanently when he signed with the Wichita Wings. In January 1981, the Wings traded him to the Philadelphia Fever. He moved to the Baltimore Blast in the fall of 1981 and would remain with the team until 1988, except for one season with the Las Vegas Americans. In February 2008, he was inducted into the Baltimore Blast Hall of Fame.

Personal

Van Eron currently owns a company which specializes in holding soccer camps for youth players.

The US release of Microprose Soccer (1988), probably the most popular soccer game for the Commodore 64 computer, was called Keith Van Eron's Pro Soccer[4]

Yearly Awards
  • ASL First Team All Star: 1977
  • MISL Goalkeeper of the Year: 1986

References
  1. Hartwick Soccer Awards
  2. "The Year in American Soccer - 1977". Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  3. In Philly, He Fills the Bill
  4. Keith Van Eron's Pro Soccer
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.