Fred Hamel is a retired American

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 ...

midfielder who played professionally 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 ...

and

Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

. He is currently a professor at the University of Puget Sound. Hamel was selected for the U.S. National U-17 team in 1977, touring Germany with the team. As a teenager, he also was selected twice to play in the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs. His youth team, the Lake City Hawks, won the Washington State championship seven times in 10 years, and the team also won a West Coast Championship in 1974, defeating state and provincial championship teams from California, Oregon, and British Columbia. In 1980, Hamel captained the Bishop Blanchet High School soccer team to the state championship, and in 2016 was named to Bishop Blanchet's Athletic Hall of Fame. Hamel was drafted by the Seattle Sounders of the

in 1980, along with

Brian Schmetzer Brian Thomas Schmetzer (born August 18, 1962) is an American soccer coach and former professional player. He is the head coach of Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), having been assistant coach for the team until Sigi Schmid's depa ...

. Hamel played with the team for three seasons, from 1980 to 1982, under coaches Alan Hinton and Bobby Howe. He never cracked the first team during the outdoor seasons, but saw several games during two indoor seasons. In 1985, he played for the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

in the Western Alliance Challenge Series. The Earthquakes won the Western Alliance league that year with Hamel as a starting midfielder.Jose 1985 San Jose Earthquakes
/ref> That year Hamel also earned his bachelor's degree from the

University of Santa Clara Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

. Hamel has two master's degrees from the University of Chicago. He completed a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington (Seattle) in 2000. He has coached several youth teams (including his kids' teams), and high school teams in Illinois and Washington State. He is married to Catherine Hamel, and has two children, Tedra and Will.

References

External links

NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamel, Fred 1962 births Living people Soccer players from Seattle American men's soccer players American soccer coaches United States men's youth international soccer players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Western Soccer Alliance players University of Puget Sound faculty Men's association football midfielders 20th-century American sportsmen