John "Sonny" Askew was born April 17th, 1957 in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended and played soccer at Essex Community College. Led Essex to 1976 NJCAA Championship Tournament held in Miami, he was selected as Junior College All-American in 1976, and was also a High School All-American in Baltimore at Patterson High School.
Sonny was signed by the Washington Diplomats as a free agent prior to the 1977 season. He made his NASL debut against the Toronto Metros-Croatia, in a 0-2 loss on April 10th, 1977. He saw limited action in his first season, 11 games and had 1 assist.
Saw no game action in 1978, he spent the fall of 1979 playing in Scotland. He then went on to play in 29 games, scored 8 goals with 6 assists for 22 points during the 1979 season. In 1979, he earned his first cap for the U.S. national team. He would play a total of 4 times for the national team, his last two in 1984.
He spent one season with the Baltimore Blast of the MISL, most probably the team's inaugural 1980-1981 season.
In 1981, he joined the Montreal Manic, where he would make his first appearance against his old team, the Diplomats in Washington on April 11th, in 0-1 loss. He would make a total of 23 appearances, scoring 1 goal with 4 assists.
In 1982, he moved to the Georgia Generals of the American Soccer League, but was back in the NASL for the short lived Team America in 1983. Played in 14 games.
In 1984, the last year of the NASL's existence, he joined the Rowdies, making his debut as a substitute against the Toronto Blizzard, and scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win, on June 22nd. In total he would appear in 7 games for the Rowdies.
He played two seasons with the Washington Stars of the ASL in 1988 and 1989. He was named to the ASL All Star team for the 1988 season. In 2005, he was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Hall of Fame for his time playing for Essex.
Today, Sonny coaches the Essex Community College men's soccer team.
He was inducted into Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame.
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