Keith Van Eron is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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.

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. In 1977, Van Eron turned professional with the

New York Apollo The New York Greeks was an American soccer club based in New York City that was a member of the American Soccer League. The team began as the amateur Greek-Americans. The club played lower Premier Division of the German American Soccer League wh ...

in the American Soccer League. He immediately proved his worth by being named a first team all star. The Apollos sold his contract to the Houston Hurricane, coached by Liekoski, of the North American Soccer League, two games into the 1978 season. 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 The Cincinnati Kids were a soccer team based out of Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati that played in the original Major Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League. They played only in the 1978–79 MISL season and were partially owned by Pete Rose. Thei ...

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 The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

. 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 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

computer, was called ''Keith Van Eron's Pro Soccer''Keith Van Eron's Pro Soccer
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Yearly Awards

* ASL First Team All Star: 1977 * MISL Goalkeeper of the Year: 1986

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Eron, Keith 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Brooklyn American soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Baltimore Blast (original MISL) players Cincinnati Kids players Hartwick Hawks men's soccer players Houston Hurricane players Las Vegas Americans players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players New York United players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Philadelphia Fever (MISL) players Philadelphia Fury (1978–1980) players Soccer players from New York (state) Wichita Wings (MISL) players Association football goalkeepers New York Apollo players