Johnny Torres (born April 24, 1976) is a Colombian-American soccer

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and coach who is currently the head coach of his alma mater,

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and underg ...

. Torres has played in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

USL-1 The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

, and also played for the

Omaha Vipers The Omaha Vipers were a professional indoor soccer team that began play in the MISL in the 2010–11 season. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, the Vipers played their home games at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Following their inaugural season, the Vi ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He has also earned caps with the U.S.

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

team.

Youth

Torres was born in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

, Colombia, where his father and several uncles played semi-professional soccer. In 1981, when Torres was five years old, his family moved to Houston, Texas where Torres played for the local club team Houston Texans. In 1986, his family decided to return to Colombia, but Torres' youth soccer coach, Carlos Clarke, a native of Chile, offered to adopt Torres. His family agreed, and Torres was adopted by the Clarkes who lived in

Dickinson, Texas Dickinson is a city in Galveston County, Texas, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The population was 20,847 at the 2020 census. History Dickinson is located on a tract of land granted to John Dickinson in 1824, a ...

. Torres would play soccer at Dickinson High School where he was a three-time ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

'' high school soccer

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

Player

College

After graduating from high school in 1994, Torres attended

. The Bluejays had an excellent four-year run during Torres' time with the team. The school racked up a 62–18–5 record and made four consecutive appearances in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

post-season tournament. He was the 1996 Soccer America Player of the Year (for his junior season). In 1996, Torres' senior year, Creighton reached the NCAA College Cup for the first time in school history. Torres was showered with honors during his time at Creighton. He was selected as a Second Team All

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern United ...

(MVC) player as a freshman. The next three years, he made the All-MVC first team. He was also a first-team All-American his junior and senior years. In 1997, he was the MCV Player of the Year, Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the MCV tournament and the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

winner. He is third on Creighton's career scoring list with 46 goals and is tied for second on the career assists list with 36. In 1996, during his time at Creighton, Torres became a U.S. citizen. In 2004, he was inducted into the Creighton University athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional

In January 1998, the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

of the

(MLS) selected Torres as its top draft pick (fifth overall). The Revolution had high hopes for the talented midfielder. Torres spent four years with the team, never entirely playing up to expectations. He played 88 games, starting 55, scoring only 8 goals and assisting on 14 others. In 2000, the Revolution sent him on loan to the

Connecticut Wolves The Connecticut Wolves were an American soccer club that was founded by the Clifton Onolfo, the Onolfo Family, and several investors including Tony DiCicco. The Club's inaugural match was attended by 5,200 plus fans and competed in the United Soc ...

for one game. On August 16, 2001, the Revolution traded Torres, along with

Shaker Asad Shaker Asad (born August 18, 1979) is a Palestinian former soccer midfielder who spent three seasons in Major League Soccer and one in the USL First Division. He also played for the Palestinian national team. Club career Early career Asad wa ...

, to the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best sea ...

for Leo Cullen and a 2003 first round draft choice. Torres would only play a single season for the Fusion. Miami was one of the 2 teams contracted after the 2001 season. After the Fusion folded in January 2002, Torres moved to the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional soccer team in the United States and are seven-time league champions, ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the 2001–2002 indoor season, which was already in play. Torres' move to MISL came about from his having played for the U.S.

team in 1999 when

Keith Tozer Keith Tozer is a retired American soccer player who played professionally in the Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League and American Indoor Soccer Association. He is currently the commissioner of the Major Arena Soccer League. Pla ...

, coach of the Wave, coached the futsal team. When Tozer heard about the Fusion's collapse, he contacted Torres about moving to the MISL. At the end of the MISL season, Torres briefly returned to the MLS, playing four games with the Chicago Fire when the team was decimated with injuries in 2002.
/sup> However, he left the Fire and moved to the

Minnesota Thunder Minnesota Thunder was an American professional soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. The team played its h ...

of the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

, now known as the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

(USL) First Division. Torres played both the 2002 and 2003 outdoor seasons with the Thunder. While playing outdoor soccer with the Thunder, Torres also played indoor soccer with the

of the MISL. However, in May 2004, he signed with the Wave's parent organization, also known as the Milwaukee Wave. This organization fields two teams, the indoor Milwaukee Wave of the MISL and outdoor Milwaukee Wave United of the USL. This would allow Torres to play both indoor and outdoor soccer with the same organization rather than bouncing between Milwaukee and Minnesota from summer to winter. To sign Torres, the Wave United traded forward

Dan Antoniuk Daniel Antoniuk (born January 23, 1981, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American soccer player who last played for the Tacoma Stars in the Major Arena Soccer League. Career College Antoniuk attended Wheaton College, playing on the men's ...

to the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996), a soccer team in the North American Soccer League *San Diego Sockers (2001–2004), a soccer team in the World Indoor Soccer League and second Major Indoor Soccer League *San Diego S ...

for a 2005 fourth round draft pick. In 2004 Torres was named to USL All-League First Team, having scored 11 goals in 28 games with the Wave United. Torres was a member of the 2005 MISL championship Milwaukee Wave which swept the Cleveland Force in two games. He tore the MCL in his right knee during the 2005–2006 season. In 2010, he made his return to indoor soccer, with the Omaha Vipers of the MISL.

International

In 1997, Torres was a member of the third place team at the 1997

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and " Olympiad". The Universiade is referred ...

. Torres ended the tournament as the U.S. team's leading scorer with 5 goals. Torres has played for the U.S. Futsal team from 1999 to 2006, earning 13

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 Ja ...

and scoring 9 goals. He was the team leader with five goals at the 2004

FIFA Futsal World Championship The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherlan ...

Coaching

Torres returned to Creighton in 2007 as a graduate assistant under then head coach

Bob Warming Bob Warming is an American soccer coach is currently a technical advisor for Union Omaha in USL League One. A veteran college soccer coach, Warming has coached eight other men's college soccer programs across the United States, including Penn St ...

. Torres finished his studies at Creighton that he started during his playing career, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology in May 2008. Torres was promoted to full-time assistant in 2008, and was named interim head coach on January 26, 2011 after Jamie Clark resigned as head coach of Creighton to take the same position at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

. Eventually Creighton hired

Elmar Bolowich Elmar Bolowich (born July 10, 1954) was most recently head coach of the George Mason Patriots men's soccer team at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, United States. He was previously the head coach of the Creighton Bluejays men's soccer ...

, relieving Torres of interim head coach duties.

References

External links

Creighton Bluejays bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Johnny 1976 births Living people American men's soccer players American men's futsal players Colombian emigrants to the United States Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian men's footballers Connecticut Wolves players Creighton Bluejays men's soccer players Creighton Bluejays men's soccer coaches Major League Soccer players New England Revolution players Miami Fusion players Chicago Fire FC players Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) players Milwaukee Wave players Minnesota Thunder players Milwaukee Wave United players Footballers from Medellín A-League (1995–2004) players New England Revolution draft picks American sportspeople of Colombian descent People from Dickinson, Texas Sportspeople from Galveston County, Texas All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Hermann Trophy men's winners American soccer coaches