Jeff Stock

Infobox Football biography
playername= Jeff Stock
fullname = Jeff Stock
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|8|1
cityofbirth = Baltimore, Maryland
countryofbirth = United States
height = height|ft=6|in=1
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Defender
youthyears =
youthclubs = Norpoint Royals
years = 1980-1983
1984
1984-1986
1987-1988
clubs = Seattle Sounders
Vancouver Whitecaps
Tacoma Stars "(indoor)"
Seattle Storm
caps(goals) = 98 (5)
20 (0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1989-1990
managerclubs = Seattle Storm "(assistant)"
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Jeff Stock (born August 1, 1960 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a retired U.S. soccer defender who spent five seasons in the North American Soccer League and two in the Western Soccer Alliance. He also played in the Major Indoor Soccer League with the Tacoma Stars.

Youth

Stock, son of major league baseball pitcher Wes Stock, attended Stadium High School, graduating in 1978. While in high school, he played baseball. However, he also played with future Sounders team mate Mark Peterson on the Norpoint Royals youth club. UCLA offered Stock an athletic scholarship, but he elected to sign a professional soccer contract instead.

North American Soccer League

Stock signed with the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1978. He spent both that season and the next on the reserve team under Jimmy Gabriel before breaking into the first team in 1980. That season, he became a regular left back in the Sounders’ defensive scheme, seeing time in 23 games and scoring one goal. This put him in competition for Rookie of the Year against team mate Mark Peterson and fellow Seattle area youth defender Jeff Durgan, now playing with the New York Cosmos. While Durgan won the award, Stock continued to excel with the Sounders, playing 35 games in both the 1981 and 1982 seasons. In 1983, Stock saw time in only five games. The Sounders folded at the end of the season and Stock moved to the Vancouver Whitecaps. In 1984, he played in 20 games. That year the Whitecaps also competed in the F.C. Seattle Challenge ‘84. The host team, F.C. Seattle, later change its name to the F.C. Seattle Storm, a team Stock joined in 1987. On October 20, 1984, the Whitecaps released Stock. ^{[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E3DC1439F933A15753C1A962948260]}

Tacoma Stars

With the collapse of the North American Soccer League at the end of the 1984 season and having been released by the Whitecaps in October, Stock moved full time to indoor soccer with the Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League. He spent two seasons with the Stars. By this time knee injuries had begun to hinder Stock and the hard surface of an indoor soccer arena exacerbated the problems.

F.C. Seattle Storm

In 1987, Stock returned to outdoor soccer with the F.C. Seattle Storm of the Western Soccer Alliance (WSA) as a player/assistant coach. The move back to the grass of an outdoor soccer field helped extend his career by a few years. In 1988 he was selected to the WSA All Star team. He also served as an assistant coach in both 1987 and 1988. However, his knees finally gave and in 1989 he retired from playing professionally to devote himself to coaching.

National team

While never called up to the senior national team, Stock saw time with the U.S. U-19 team. He then went on to play for the U.S. Pan American Games team as well as for the U.S. soccer team which qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Unfortunately for Stock and his team mates, President Jimmy Carter chose to boycott the games in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Post soccer career

After retiring from soccer, Stock entered the real estate market, going on to buy two theme parks, Wild Waves and Enchanted Village. Stock purchased the two parks from Byron Betts in 1992 for $8 million. Eight years later, he sold the two parks, now merged into one for $19.2 million. ^{[http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/238101_sixflags26.html]}

Since then Stock has founded the “Coffee Cup” a local college soccer tournament. ^{[http://www.seattlesounders.net/pressrelease.php?ID=117]}

External links

* [http://goalseattle.com/museum/WATN/jeff_stock.htm Newspaper bio with several links]