Exclusive Interview – Rick Davis

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Rick Davis, current National Executive Director of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). Rick or Ricky Davis is also well known as a former player for the New York Cosmos and U.S. National Team.

Rick explained that when he was a child he was very active in all sports, growing up in Claremont, CA. Amongst his sporting activities was playing soccer in AYSO as it had recently started up in California. One day though in 1966 his world would change as his Dad took him to see the England vs West Germany 1966 World Cup Final on closed circuit television. Watching that game instilled a passion in him about soccer that has remained to this day as it continues to be his life’s work.

Rick went on to play soccer in high school and one year at the collegiate level before joining the New York Cosmos. He also had the opportunity during his formative years to train with A.C. Milan for a period of about six months, which exposed him to the European game at the highest level.

Once Rick joined the Cosmos at the end of 1977, it was a huge leap forward for him. He went from playing college soccer to playing with players who were legends in the game such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Johan Neeskans, Giorgio Chinaglia, and Vladislav Bogićević amongst others. Rick was very explicit in stating that all of the veteran players treated him very well and really looked after him as they knew that he was put in a difficult position. For us as fans, Rick was portrayed as the star American player on a team of stars. There was a tremendous amount of pressure upon him to succeed and the other players according to Rick tried to help him when they could. It still was an awesome experience though for a young man to go from watching Franz Beckenbauer in the 1966 World Cup Final and being so inspired by that game to playing alongside him on championship winning teams with the New York Cosmos. Rick also explained that Pele would come back even after he retired from time to time and practice with the team so he was playing with the player regarded at the time as the best that the world had ever seen. Rick got exposed to other great players of that time through exhibitions and mentioned specifically that Johan Cruyff was very kind to him.

Rick went on to talk a bit about his time spent playing on the U.S. National Team, which included a stint as captain of the team. Rick explained that the setup for the National Team really wasn’t well developed and an example that he cited was that you would get a phone call and find out that you are being asked to play for the team in 2 weeks against Mexico in a World Cup qualifier. A lot of the players that were playing on the team at this time weren’t regular starters for their club teams in the NASL so they wouldn’t be match fit. In addition, there wasn’t a large pool of players to select from so players from college teams that weren’t even professionals yet would be called into the squad.

When it came time for the 1990 World Cup, Rick was trying to overcome some injuries. In addition, the coach Bob Gansler was looking to the next generation of players at that time, which included John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Tony Meola, and Mike Windischmann amongst others. Rick retired from playing professional soccer soon after that.

I asked Rick what he thought was the biggest mistake made in U.S. soccer over the last 20 years, and he explained that there has been a lack of overall organization of developmental leagues similar to programs in other nations where there is a true program for developing young soccer players where they are given more instruction and more of an opportunity to be developed. For the successes that have been achieved in terms of developing American players, Rick listed a few people including Steve Ross and Armet Ertegun from the New York Cosmos, Alan Rothenberg, Sunil Gulati, and organizations such as AYSO just to name a few.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about speaking with Rick was hearing that competitive nature come out in him, the same quality that made him such a great player. Rick had absolutely no doubt that soccer will continue to grow in the United States and that one day this country will be a world power within the game. Rick expressed a little bit of frustration because throughout our more recent history we would look to a period of time say 10 years from now we expect to be at this point, and we haven’t always been able to hit our benchmarks. Rick explained that if you look at each decade individually though you can see that we have made a lot of progress. Rick pointed to the successes of the Women’s National Team and how they are such a power within that world of soccer. Looking at the Men’s National Team, they have qualified for 5 straight World Cups, made it out of the first round twice and made it to the quarterfinals once. Rick also described the increased coverage of soccer including channels such as Fox Soccer Channel that are dedicated exclusively to soccer and the coverage of every game from the recent European Championships. MLS is also developing as it continues to add expansion teams in strong markets and work to have soccer specific stadiums built.

We talked about the best way for young American players to develop their skills and Rick explained that he didn’t think that playing for the college teams really is the best way since its such a short season. Rick also explained that he thinks that it is good for the top 15-20 players to be playing abroad if they get opportunities with clubs in the top European leagues. However, if the players are only getting offers from the 2nd and 3rd tier leagues he felt that they should stay in MLS as that would be the best place for them to develop, and also stay in the picture for a spot on the national team. Rick explained that at various time throughout his own career he had opportunities to play in some of the 2nd and 3rd tier leagues in Europe, but he felt that it was better for him personally to stay in the United States and play in front of the fans here. Rick said that we really need to create a base pool of about 40-50 players playing in either a top European league or MLS that can be called upon for the national team so that our team has the same depth as other countries.

In closing I asked Rick what his future goals are, and he feels that he has had his day in the sun and now he would like to focus on his work with AYSO and the development of the young American players. He explained that he coached the Los Angeles Salsa in the A-League and he learned that coaching at the professional level really isn’t what he wants to do. Rick also has had opportunities to work in the media for ABC and ESPN amongst others, but he feels that its now time for others to take advantage of those opportunities. His real passion as it relates to soccer is working with young kids, trying to reach them at a young age so that hopefully they continue to develop their skills, but at least they start with a solid foundation upon which to build.

Personally, it was a real honor to have the opportunity to speak with Rick Davis as he was someone I watched closely while I was young and starting out as a soccer player. He was always a favorite player of mine and I of course was greatly disappointed that he wasn’t able to play on the 1990 World Cup team. The main thing that I found out about Rick is that he really is a nice person and has a terrific outlook on soccer within the United States. He was one of the people upon whom the foundation of American soccer has been built and he still has so much more to give. He is definitely someone that should be consulted on any major decision involving soccer within the U.S. because he has his finger on the pulse of the game and knows what needs to be done to make soccer a major sport in this country. He has so many fascinating stories to tell and I only wish that I could have talked to him in more detail about his experiences. I hope that one day he sits down and writes a book about these experiences and I would hope that the title would be something to the effect of “Rick Davis, the First American Star”.