Steve Gay (born September 1, 1947 in

La Paz, Bolivia La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bo ...

) is a former U.S. collegiate soccer player. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and was on the U.S. soccer team at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

. He went on to coach the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

men's soccer team from 1975 to 1979.

Club career

Gay attended NAIA

Westmont College Westmont College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Montecito, California. It was founded in 1937. History Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute i ...

, located in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...

, where he starred on the men’s soccer team from 1966 to 1969. He holds several school scoring records including most points in a season with 80 (30 goals and 8 assists) in 1968. He is also the career points leader with 203. Finally, he scored 88 goals in his four seasons at Westmont. In 1968, Gay was selected as a third team All American. He was inducted into the NAIA Soccer Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Westmont Hall of Fame in 1995. In 1975, he played for the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tourn ...

during the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: * North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league * North American Soccer League (2011–2017), a former Division II league {{disambig ...

's indoor season.

1972 Olympic team

In 1971, the U.S. Olympic soccer team began qualification games for the

. On July 25, 1971, he scored a hat trick in a 3–0 victory over Bermuda. The U.S. qualified for the games and Gay was selected to the U.S. roster. The U.S. went 0–2–1 in group play and did not make the second round. Gay played the second game, a 3–0 loss to Malaysia when he came on for

John Carenza John Carenza (January 3, 1950 – March 17, 2023) was an American soccer player who was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team. He also spent five seasons in the North American Soccer League. College Carenza graduated from St. Mary's High S ...

. In the third game, a 7–0 blow out at the hands of the host West German team, Gay started the game, but came out for Zylker.

Coaching UCLA

In 1975,

hired Gay to coach its men’s soccer team. Over the five seasons Gay spent as head coach, he compiled a 72–34–10 record before handing the team over to former assistant

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American soccer coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his family ...

in 1980.UCLA Bruins – University of California- Los Angeles
/ref> Gay has continued to coach youth soccer after founding the Arizona Soccer Camp in 1978 with Alan Meeder.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, Steve 1947 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Bolivian emigrants to the United States Los Angeles Aztecs players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics UCLA Bruins men's soccer coaches Westmont Warriors men's soccer players Footballers from La Paz Men's association football forwards