Billy Gazonas is a former U.S.

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who won the 1977

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

as the top collegiate soccer player of the year. He played four seasons in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

and several in Major Indoor Soccer League.

Player

Youth

Gazonas played soccer on the boys' team at St. Anthony High School in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'' as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1970s. He entered Hartwick College that fall where he played on the men's soccer team. Hartwick had a dominant team during Gazonas four years at the school. His freshman year, Hartwick lost to

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

in the NCAA post-season tournament semifinals. In 1976, Hartwick made it to the semifinals before losing to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. However, his senior year, Hartwick made it to the championship game where it defeated the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

2–1 to take the NCAA title. Gazones was team captain. That year, Gazonas was named as a first team All American and won the

as the best collegiate player of the year. This gave Hartwick its second consecutive Hermann Trophy winner as

Glenn Myernick Glenn "Mooch" Myernick (December 29, 1954 in Trenton, New Jersey – October 9, 2006 in Thornton, Colorado) was an American soccer player and coach. He won the 1976 Hermann Trophy as that year’s outstanding collegiate player. He then spent eig ...

had won it the year prior. Hartwick University inducted Gazonas into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

Professional

The

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

of the

selected Gazonas with the first pick in the 1977 NASL college draft. He played three seasons as a creative midfielder for the Roughnecks. After the 1980 season, Gazonas moved to the

Calgary Boomers The Calgary Boomers were a Canadian soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1980–81 Indoor and 1981 outdoor seasons. The team was based in Calgary and played their home games at Stampede Corral during t ...

for its one season in the NASL. By the end of the 1981 season, the NASL was beginning to contract and Gazonas, who had played in the NASL indoor seasons, jumped to the

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They won the first four MISL championships. History Preparing for the first season In 1978, the New York Arrows beg ...

of Major Indoor Soccer League. That year the Arrows won the MISL championship. Later played with the Kansas City Comets.

Coach

In December 1985, Gazonas became an assistant coach with the Kansas City Comets of "Assistant Coach Signed by MISL's K.C." ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

''. September 29, 1985.

References

External links

NASL stats

''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. May 1, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazonas, Billy 1956 births American expatriate sportspeople in Canada American expatriate men's soccer players American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Calgary Boomers players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Men's association football midfielders Hartwick Hawks men's soccer players Kansas City Comets (1979–1991) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) coaches Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players New York Arrows players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Soccer players from Trenton, New Jersey Soccer players from Mercer County, New Jersey Trenton Catholic Academy alumni Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Living people All-American college men's soccer players Hermann Trophy men's winners