Alan Mayer

Infobox Football biography
playername= Alan Mayer
fullname = Alan Mayer
nickname = The Cat


dateofbirth =
cityofbirth = Islip, New York
countryofbirth = United States
height =
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears = 1970-1973
youthclubs = James Madison University
years = 1974-1975 1976 1977 1978-1979 1979-1980 1980 1980-1981 1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1984-1985 1985-1992
clubs = Baltimore Comets San Diego Jaws Las Vegas Quicksilver San Diego Sockers Pittsburgh Spirit California Surf New Jersey Rockets ("indoor") California Surf New Jersey Rockets ("indoor") San Diego Sockers ("indoor") Las Vegas Americans ("indoor") Kansas City Comets ("indoor")
caps(goals) = 27 (0) 23 (0) 22 (0) 51 (0) 17 (0) 17 (0) 27 (0) 26 (0) 27 (0) 43 (0) 30 (0) 75 (0)
nationalyears = 1976-1977
nationalteam = United States
nationalcaps(goals) = 6 (0)
manageryears =
managerclubs = Kansas City Wizards (assistant)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Alan Mayer, a native of Islip, New York is a retired soccer goalkeeper from the United States.

After graduating from West Islip High School high school, Mayer attended James Madison University (JMU) where he played collegiate soccer for four seasons. He was the JMU soccer team MVP all four years while setting school records for career and season shutouts.

After graduating in 1974, he was drafted by the Baltimore Comets of the North American Soccer League (NASL). In 1976, the Comets moved to San Diego and renamed their franchise, the Jaws. The team moved again in 1977 after only one season in San Diego, this time to Las Vegas, becoming the Quicksilver. That year, Mayer earned NASL Second Team All Star honors. In 1978, the team moved again, back to San Diego where they gained the name Sockers. Mayer remained with the team through all these moves and was named the 1978 NASL North American Player of the Year.

Beginning in 1979, Mayer began bouncing between indoor and outdoor soccer for several years. While on contract with the Sockers for the outdoor season, he joined the Pittsburgh Spirit of the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the 1979-1980 MISL season. He was selected as second team All MISL with the Spirit.

In 1980, the Sockers traded Mayer to the California Surf. He played two seasons with the Surf, but retired from outdoor soccer when the Surf folded after the 1981 season. Between the 1980 and 1981 outdoor season, Mayer also played with the New Jersey Rockets of the MISL. After the Surf folded, Mayer concentrated on playing indoor soccer for the remainder of his career. He returned to the Rockets for the 1981-1982 season before moving back to the San Diego Sockers which, while still officially part of the NASL, was playing in the MISL during the indoor season. While the Sockers had been a poor outdoor team, they quickly became the dominant U.S.indoor franchise, winning the MISL 1982-1983 championship. Mayer was the named the MISL MVP and was the MISL All Star team goalkeeper that year as well. Mayer played a single season with the Las Vegas Americans during the 1984-1985 MISL season before moving to the Kansas City Comets. He made the MISL All Star team for a second time during the 1985-1986 season. When that team folded in 1992, Mayer retired from playing.

He earned 6 caps, gaining 2 shutouts, with the United States men's national soccer team from 1976 and 1977. During that period, he and Arnie Mausser traded duties as the starting goalkeeper on the national team.

During his career, he was known for wearing a hockey style helmet. ^{[http://www.soundercentral.com/museum/1979updates/socking_san_diego.htm]}

He was selected to the James Madison University Hall of Fame in 1988.

After retiring from playing, Mayer served as an assistant coach to the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer. He currently works as a sales manager for Assurant in Kansas City.

External links

* [http://ussoccerplayers.com/players/alan_mayer/ U.S.SoccerPlayers.com bio]
* [http://www.assurantemployeebenefits.com/wps/portal/OurCompany/PressRoom?pageLocation=/xhtml_clip/ourcompany/pr/2004/alanmayer.html Mayer's Assurant corporate bio]