Raymon "Ray" Gaddis (born January 13, 1990) is an American former professional

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.

College career

Gaddis grew up in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, attended North Central High School, and played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

from 2009 to 2011. Gaddis received second team all-

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

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 the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

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

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, 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 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 a total of 38 ...

. Gaddis made his MLS Debut on April 14 against the

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league. ...

when

Danny Califf Daniel Benjamin Califf (born March 17, 1980) is an American retired professional soccer player who played as a defender. Youth and college career Califf (pronounced kāl'ĭ-f) was born in Orange, California. He started his youth career in socce ...

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. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

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 Australia and 26 September in the ...

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 are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

. 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 Patrick John Noonan (born August 2, 1980) is an American soccer coach and former 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 ...

and general manager

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

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

Personal life

Gaddis is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. 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 199 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

runner-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

FC Cincinnati *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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 women's or men'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 soccer players American men's soccer players Men's association football fullbacks Major League Soccer players Philadelphia Union players FC Cincinnati players Soccer players from Indianapolis West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer players Reading United AC players USL League Two players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen