Dennis Wit is a retired American

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 spent one season in the American Soccer League and nine 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 ...

. He also earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. national team.

College

Wit attended Loyola College where he played on the men’s soccer team from 1969 to 1972. He finished his career with 53 goals, placing him in second on the college’s all time goals list.
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Professional

In 1973, Wit began his professional career with the Baltimore Bays (1972–73), Baltimore Bays of the American Soccer League. In 1974, he moved up to the

Baltimore Comets The Baltimore Comets were a professional soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1974, the Comets were an expansion team that played two seasons in the North American Soccer League. The team originally played its home matches a ...

of the

(NASL). He spent the 1974 and 1975 seasons with the Comets, then moved with the team when it left Baltimore to become the

San Diego Jaws The San Diego Jaws were a professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, playing their home games at the Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego State University. Founded in 1976, the team was a member of the North American Soccer Leag ...

. Wit began the 1976 season in San Diego, but was traded to the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

after fourteen games. He finished the 1976 season in Tampa Bay, then played all of 1977 there before moving back north to the

New England Tea Men The New England Tea Men were an American professional soccer team based in Greater Boston. They played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1980. Their home venues for outdoor play were Schaefer Stadium (shared with the NFL's ...

for the 1978 season. The Tea Men moved to Jacksonville before the 1981 season. Wit moved with the team and played the 1981 and 1982 seasons in Jacksonville.

National team

Wit was on the American team at the

1975 Pan American Games The 1975 Pan American Games were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games were held there. It was the third major sporting event held in the Mexican capital in seve ...

and earned four

with the U.S. national team. His first game came in a scoreless tie with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on October 3, 1976. This game was the second U.S. qualification game for the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

. Wit’s second game with the national team did not go so well as the U.S. fell 3-0 to Mexico twelve days later. He played one more game in 1976, a scoreless tie with

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

on November 10. His last game with the national team came in a 3-1 loss to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

on February 3, 1979. In that game, Wit was a second half substitute for

Gary Etherington Gary Etherington (born April 22, 1958 in England) is a retired soccer player who began his professional career in the North American Soccer League before moving to the Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned seven caps with the U.S. national tea ...

. Wit is now a toy sales manager in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

.Jacksonville Could Net a Major Soccer League for the New Arena
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wit, Dennis 1951 births Living people Soccer players from Baltimore American Soccer League (1933–1983) players American men's soccer players Baltimore Bays (1972–73) players Baltimore Comets players Loyola Greyhounds men's soccer players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players San Diego Jaws players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players New England Tea Men players Jacksonville Tea Men players Pan American Games competitors for the United States Footballers at the 1975 Pan American Games United States men's international soccer players Men's association football midfielders