Winston DuBose, Goalkeeper - born in Orlando, Florida, DuBose attended Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida. After graduating from high school, he played collegiate soccer at Florida Technological University from 1973-1976 where he earned All American honors. Winston began his professional career in 1977 with the Rowdies. In 1982, the Rowdies traded DuBose to the Tulsa Roughnecks where he won the 1983 NASL championship. At the end of the 1984 season, the NASL collapsed leading DuBose back to the Tampa Bay Rowdies which now operated as an independent club playing exhibition games and invitational tournaments.
In 1988 the Rowdies entered the league, known as the American Soccer League for its first season. DuBose showed his class when he led the league with a 0.75 goals against average. At the end of the season, he moved to England to for a single season with Second Division team, Oldham Athletic. Winston, first went to Europe in 1977. He spent six months during the winter of 1977-1978 playing with the Southampton F.C. reserves. In 1979, he spent three months at Ipswich Town.
He was unable to get a work permit again until 1988, when he moved to Oldham at the behest of then manager Rodney Marsh, with whom he had played in Tampa Bay. He later said, "It was unheard of then. Being there was the right fit for me, but I was 34 years old. I would have loved to have gone there back in 1979, not in 1988, but it was the perfect storm, just to even get me there then. In 1989, he returned to the U.S. to rejoin the Rowdies. In 1990, the ASL merged with the west coast based Western Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). He continued to play for the Rowdies in the APSL until he retired following the 1991 season.
He was unable to get a work permit again until 1988, when he moved to Oldham at the behest of then manager Rodney Marsh, with whom he had played in Tampa Bay. He later said, "It was unheard of then. Being there was the right fit for me, but I was 34 years old. I would have loved to have gone there back in 1979, not in 1988, but it was the perfect storm, just to even get me there then. In 1989, he returned to the U.S. to rejoin the Rowdies. In 1990, the ASL merged with the west coast based Western Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). He continued to play for the Rowdies in the APSL until he retired following the 1991 season.
Sporadically throughout his professional career, DuBose also manned the nets for the U.S. national team. His first cap came as a second half substitute against Bermuda on October 7, 1979. He gained his first start for his country against Ireland three weeks later. His first shutout came against Luxembourg, in 1980. He cites playing against national arch-rivals Mexico in front of over 100,000 people at the Azteca Stadium as his greatest footballing memory, though the USA lost the match, 5-1. He played his final, and 14th, game for the national team in 1985.
Today, Winnie now runs a computer business in Florida with his former Rowdies teammate Peter Anderson, and also worked part-time as a commentator for home games of the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer (MLS) until the team's closure after the 2001 season.Winston DuBose has been inducted into the University of Central Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.
He can also be found playing golf around Florida, with former Rowdies' Mark Lindsay, Wes McLeod and Rodney Marsh.
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