Ricky Davis 1977 (Guest)

I have recently found out that Cosmos star Ricky Davis (9) made a guest appearance for the Rowdies against China, in an Exhibition Game in 1977.

Richard Dean (Rick or Ricky) Davis was born November 24th, 1958 in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Claremont, California.

Ricky began playing soccer at the age of 7 for an AYSO soccer team in Claremont, California. He was an All American high school player at Damien High School in La Verne, California. In 1977, he played a single season of college soccer at Santa Clara University before going pro with the New York Cosmos. While at Santa Clara, he was a member of the Broncos team which took the U-19 National Open Championship (McGuire Cup). An American on a team of international superstars with the Cosmos, he helped the team to three league titles in 1978, 1980 and 1982. He began playing with the team during the 1978 season and was selected as the 1979 North American Player of the Year in his second season.

Ricky became an integral part of the U.S. national team in 1977, first with the U.S. Olympic team and U20 teams, then the senior national team. Between September 11 and October 4, 1976, the U.S. U-20 national team played the qualifying games for the 1977 FIFA World U-20 Championship. While the team went 5-2, it failed to qualify for the games. He led the team scoring with 8 goals. When he was 17 years old, he made his senior national team debut in a September 15th, 1977 match against El Salvador. Even more, he scored his first international goal in that game. He became a regular on the team, playing in all 8 U.S. matches in 1977. He would continue to play for the Olympic team which qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics. However, President Carter's boycott of those games, held in Moscow, stopped the team from competing. Ricky played for the U.S. in the 1984 Olympics where he scored 2 goals in the U.S. victory over Costa Rica. In 1984, he was also named the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, the first year of the award. He played again at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Davis' experience and leadership led him to being named captain of the U.S. national team. In this capacity, he led the team during 1988 and was looking forward to the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying games in 1989. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in January 1989. Although he tried to work himself back into shape in order to make the World Cup roster, U.S. coach Bob Gansler never called him back to the team. He therefore retired from playing. Overall, he earned 36 caps (a record at the time), scoring seven goals for the senior national team.

After his retirement from playing, he became the head coach and general manager of the Los Angeles Salsa of the APSL.
Today, Ricky is the National Executive Director of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), in Hawthorne, CA. a post that he has held since 2006.

Ricky Davis was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001.