Randy Garber 1975, 1976; 1975 (id), 1976 (id)

Randy Garber was born August 19th, 1952 in Abington, Pennsylvania. Randy attended Abington Senior High School, graduating in 1971. He was inducted into the Abington Hall of Fame in 1998. After graduating High School, he attended Mercer County Community College where he was an All American both years. He then attended Penn State University where he played on the men’s soccer team in 1973 and 1974. He was recruited by coach Herb Schmidt to play soccer at PSU. He was named a 1974 honorable mention (third team) All American.

In 1975, He signed with the Rowdies. During one of his games, he played head to head against Pele and actually traded jerseys with him. He appeared in 13 games, scoring 1 goal and 1 assists. After 4 games, he was traded in the middle of the 1976 season to the Los Angeles Aztecs. At the end of the season, the Aztecs sold his contract to the Washington Diplomats. During the 1978-1979 off season, the Dips played a series of exhibition indoor games in which Randy was the team’s second leading scorer. The Dips released him in January 1979.

When released by the Dips, Garber joined the Cleveland Force of the MISL. Halfway through the season he injured his knee and was in rehab the rest of the season. He was later traded to the Detroit Lightning. The following 1980 season he played for the Philadelphia Fever, then retired.

He earned his single cap with the U.S. national team in a 4-0 loss to Poland on June 24th, 1975. He came off for Tim Logush in the 40th minute.

Randy has coached extensively at the youth level, but he gained his start at his alma mater when he was an assistant to Penn State head coach Walter Bahr. Since retiring from playing, he has spent most of his career coaching youth in Roslyn, Pennsylvania where he was the 1996 NSCAA youth soccer coach of the year, and the 1997 Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association Coach of the Year. Today, he also coaches the Abington Senior High School boys soccer team, where he has been coaching fot the past fifteen years. After the 2007 soccer season he was awarded the High School Coach of the Year by the Southeast Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association. Also, in the 2007 season his team reached the state playoffs.

His daughter Randee did contact me saying she would obtain her Dad's autograph for me, but she never did.