Winston DuBose

Infobox Football biography
playername= Winston DuBose
fullname = Winston DuBose
dateofbirth =
cityofbirth = Orlando, Florida
countryofbirth = United States
height =
currentclub =
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears = 1973-1976
youthclubs = Florida Technical University
years = 1977-1982
1982-1984
1985-1988
1988-1989
1990-1991
clubs = Tampa Bay Rowdies
Tulsa Roughnecks
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Oldham Athletic
Tampa Bay Rowdies
caps(goals) = 90 (0)
93 (0)
0? (0)
0? (0)
18 "(1991)" (0)
nationalyears = 1979-1985
nationalteam = United States
nationalcaps(goals) = 14 (0)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Winston DuBose is a former American soccer goalkeeper. He spent eight seasons in the North American Soccer League

Youth and college

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.

United States

DuBose began his professional career in 1977 with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the NASL. 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 1986, the Rowdies entered the American Indoor Soccer Association for a single season before spending the 1957-1988 season as an independent team. In 1988, a new, east-coast based league came into existence. 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, now Championship, Oldham Athletic. 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). DuBose continued to play for the Rowdies in the APSL until he retired following the 1991 season.

During his years in the ASL, he was he was an All-Star in both 1988 and 1989. [ [http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1989.html The Year in American Soccer - 1988] ] [ [http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1988.html The Year in American Soccer - 1989] ]

Europe

DuBose 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.

He was unable to get a work permit again until 1988, when he moved to Oldham Athletic 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. People helped me out and cashed in favors." [ [http://ussoccerplayers.com/latest_soccer_news/529392.html USSoccerPlayers 2002 Interview] ]

When DuBose was trying his hand at European soccer in 1989, he was one of only a handful of American pioneers then playing professionally on the continent: only Chris Sullivan (Le Touquet AC), Frank Klopas (AEK Athens), Paul Caligiuri (Meppen), Bruce Murray (FC Lucerne), and Peter Vermes (Raba Eto) were also eking out a living there at the time.

National team

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 as his greatest footballing memory, though the USA lost the match, 5-1. [ [http://ussoccerplayers.com/latest_soccer_news/529392.html Interview with DuBose at USSoccerPlayers.com] ] He played his final, and 14th, game for the national team in 1985.

Post soccer career

DuBose 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 until the team's closure after the 2001 season. [ [http://www.btfl.com/subpages/Winstons_Bio.asp Winston's Bio at Bayshore Technologies] ]

DuBose has been inducted into the University of Central Florida Athletic Hall of Fame

References