William Bruce Savage is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a defender. He played four seasons in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

, nine in Major Indoor Soccer League and earned sixteen

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. national team between 1983 and 1992. On March 12, 2014, it was announced that he would be a 2014 inductee into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame. He currently coaches youth soccer in Florida.

Player

Youth

Savage grew up in Florida and graduated from

Miami Norland High School Miami Norland Senior High School is a public high school in the Norland neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida. It opened in 1958 and was segregated, serving only white students until 1962. Its student body is approximately 95 percent African Am ...

in 1978. He attended Miami-Dade North Junior College where he played soccer in 1978 and 1979.

Professional

He joined the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

of the

in 1980 and played two seasons with the team. The Chiefs folded at the end of the 1981 season and the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

purchased Savage's contract from the Chiefs. However, the Timbers traded Savage to the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

where he played the 1982 season. In 1983, the

U.S. Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer at ...

attempted to create a more successful U.S. national team by entering the team into the NASL as a franchise. As a result, the Strikers loaned Savage to Team America for the 1983 season. However, the team stumbled to a 10–20 record and the bottom of the league standings in 1983 and USSF pulled it from the NASL at the end of the year. Savage returned to the Strikers who sold his contract to the Phoenix Pride of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In July 1984, the Pride sold Savage's contract to the

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Including one championship victory as the original Baltimore Blast, the team has won 10 c ...

of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). Savage remained with the team through the 1991–1992 season when the MISL folded and the Blast moved to the National Professional Soccer League. Since Savage joined the Blast in 1981, he bounced between the outdoor NASL and indoor MISL until the end of the 1983 season when he devoted himself to the indoor game. Savage became a regular in the All Star games, being named the 1986-1987 MISL Defender of the Year and was a first team MISL All Star in 1986-1987 and 1988–1989. In February 2005, the Baltimore Blast inducted Savage into the team's Hall of Fame.

National team

In 1983, Savage earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

with the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in the team's only game that year, a 2–0 victory over Haiti. In 1984, Savage was an integral part of the

U.S. Olympic team The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United ...

which competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles. He played all three games as the team ran to a 1-1-1 record and failed to qualify for the second round. In 1991,

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record al ...

, recently hired as the national team coach, called Savage back into the team for the first time since 1984. Savage then played most of the national team games through the end of 1992. He earned a total of 16 caps.

Coach

He coaches the

Gulf Breeze High School Gulf Breeze High School is a public secondary school located at 675 Gulf Breeze Parkway in Gulf Breeze, Florida. It is one of eleven high schools of the Santa Rosa County School District and the only high school in the city of Gulf Breeze. For ...

boys team. In February 2008, Savage led Gulf Breeze to the FHSAA State Final Four for the fifth time in the school's history. In the semi-finals the Dolphins defeated top-ranked Meritt Island 1–0 in overtime from a goal by Brad Parrish, marking the first time GBHS has ever played in a state championship game. In the finals, they lost to Nease (Ponte Vedra Beach) 2–1. This 4A state runner-up team produced three all-state players from the Class of 2008. He is also a coach at Bayside Soccer Club. His son,

Keith Savage Keith Savage (born August 9, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies USL Academy team. Career College and amateur Savage attended Gulf Breeze High School in Gulf Breeze, Florida, ...

, was drafted by Chivas USA in 2008.Five questions with boys soccer coach Bruce Savage
/ref> Keith played for the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savage, Bruce 1960 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Soccer players from Florida Atlanta Chiefs players Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Miami Dade College alumni North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Olympic soccer players for the United States Team America (NASL) players United States men's international soccer players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players Men's association football defenders Miami Norland Senior High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen