Raymon "Ray" Gaddis (born January 13, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for

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 ...

club

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

College career

Gaddis grew up in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

, attended North Central High School, and played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

from 2009–2011. Gaddis received second team all-

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

honors in his junior and senior seasons respectively. Gaddis was also one of two players to play every minute during the 2010 campaign. Gaddis ended his college career with 6 assists in 73 career games. Gaddis also played for

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

PDL PDL is an initialism for: Politics * Democratic Liberal Party (''Partidul Democrat Liberal''), a former political party in Romania * Labour Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico del Lavoro''), a former political party in Italy * Pole of Freed ...

affiliate Reading United in 2010 and 2011. During his tenure at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, he scored a goal and registered 8 assists.

Club career

Gaddis was drafted in the second round (35th overall) of the

2012 MLS SuperDraft The 2012 MLS SuperDraft was the thirteenth annual MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). The draft was reduced from three rounds to two with the 19 MLS clubs selecting ...

. Gaddis made his MLS Debut on April 14 against the

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as o ...

when

Danny Califf Daniel Benjamin Califf (born March 17, 1980 in Orange, California) is an American retired soccer player. Career Youth and College Califf (pronounced kāl'ĭ-f) started his youth career in soccer for Canyon Hills Soccer Association, playing on ...

was a late scratch. On June 23, he recorded his first MLS assist in the Union’s 4–0 win over Sporting Kansas City. Gaddis's rookie season finished with 18 appearances, including 17 starts, earning him recognition in the Soccer By Ives 2012 MLS All-Rookie Best XI. His rookie season was further recognized by earning the 2012 NAACP Image Award for Male Athlete of the Year. During the 2014 season, the Union signed Gaddis to a contract extension through the 2016 season on September 10. Through the 2014 season, Gaddis became a mainstay of the Union's defense, often deployed as a left-back (as opposed to his natural right-sided position). He would finish the season with 34 starts and contributed to the Union's first

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

final. Gaddis was also recognized in 2014 with the team specific

FIFA 15 ''FIFA 15'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released on 23 September 2014 in North America, 25 September in Europe and 26 September in the United Kin ...

MLS covers where it was reveal Gaddis was chosen as the cover man to represent the Union. In August 2018, Gaddis became the Union's all time leader in minutes played after a home win against

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 ...

. Gaddis re-signed with the Union in January 2019, keeping in Philadelphia for an eighth season. On March 4, 2021, Gaddis announced his retirement from professional soccer, after appearing in 227 matches for Philadelphia. On January 5, 2022, he came out of retirement to sign for FC Cincinnati on a contract that runs through 2023 with an option for the 2024 season. The move reunited him with both Cincinnati head coach and former Union assistant

Pat Noonan Pat Noonan (born August 2, 1980) is an American soccer coach and former soccer player. He is the head coach of FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer. Playing career College and amateur Noonan attended De Smet Jesuit High School, and played c ...

and general manager

Chris Albright Christopher John Albright (born January 14, 1979) is an American former soccer player and current general manager for FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer. Youth and college Albright attended William Penn Charter School. A forward early in his ...

, his former Union teammate and later the club's technical director.

Personal life

Gaddis is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Gaddis is active in giving back to the community. On January 7, 2013, Gaddis represented the Philadelphia Union in Newtown, Connecticut for the "Soccer for Newtown" event. In March 2013, Gaddis and fellow Union members participated in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. In 2020, Gaddis took up an instrumental role in the creation of Black Players for Change, an organization of MLS players and coaches intended to help spur political action with peaceful protests and to amplify black voices and black communities.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

Philadelphia Union *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

Individual *

Jerry Yeagley Award The Jerry Yeagley Award (Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Service Award) is an award given to a former college soccer player, either men's or women's, that has demonstrated exceptional personal achievements either on or off the soccer ...

: 2020

References

External links

* *
West Virginia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaddis, Ray 1990 births Living people African-American men's soccer players American soccer players Association football defenders Major League Soccer players Philadelphia Union players FC Cincinnati players Soccer players from Indianapolis West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer players Reading United A.C. players USL League Two players 21st-century African-American sportspeople