Don "Mad Hatter" Ebert is a retired 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who spent most of his career with two indoor clubs, the St. Louis Steamers and the

Los Angeles Lazers The Los Angeles Lazers were an indoor soccer team that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1982 to 1989. History Jerry Buss, the owner of California Sports, the parent company of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and Strings of Tea ...

Youth

Ebert attended Rosary High School in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1976, Ebert and his teammates went to the state high school championship game where they lost to Oakville High School, which was coached by Jim Bokern. Following high school, Ebert attended

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

(SIU-E) where he played on the men’s soccer team from 1977 to 1979. Ebert quickly became a mainstay of the Cougers offense, leading the team in goals all three seasons. In 1977, he scored fourteen goals and was tied for the team lead in assists with six. In 1978, he scored sixteen and in 1979 he upped his total once more, to twenty-two. That season he also led the team in assists, with ten. SIU-E also won the

NCAA championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

, defeating Clemson 3-2. Ebert chose to leave college after only three years in order to pursue a professional career. In 2006, SIU-E inducted the entire 1979 men’s soccer team into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional

The

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

of 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 ...

selected Ebert with the first pick in the 1980 College Draft. Ebert, unhappy with his lack of playing time, and stubborn coach, asked for his release in June in order to go back to his home town and play for the St. Louis Steamers of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), whom he signed with in August 1980. That season, he led the team with 46 goals and 64 points. This extraordinary output by a rookie led to his selection as the 1980-1981 MISL Rookie of the Year.Ebert is Top M.I.S.L. Rookie
/ref> He remained with the Steamers into the 1986-1987 season. That year, the Steamers began poorly and head coach

Pat McBride Patrick "Pat" McBride (born November 13, 1943) is an American retired soccer midfielder and indoor soccer coach. He earned five caps with the U.S. national team and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. College and professional As a ...

was fired to be replaced by

Tony Glavin Tony Glavin (born 29 April 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder in both Scotland and the United States, making over 300 career appearances. His elder brother Ronnie was also a footballer. Playing career ...

. Glavin promptly traded Ebert to the

where Ebert finished his career.

International career

Ebert was selected for the

1979 Pan American Games The 1979 Pan American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Panamericanos de 1979''), officially the VIII Pan American Games were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15 ...

held in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. Ebert made an immediate splash in the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

when he scored four goals in a 6-0 victory over the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. He was the captain of the U.S. team which qualified for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. During qualification for the Olympic games the United States easily qualified as Ebert scored three goals in four games. Unfortunately for the Americans,

President Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

chose to boycott the games after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Coaching

After retiring from soccer, Ebert became a youth soccer coach. He is currently the Technical Director and Director of

USSDA The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's missio ...

club Strikers FC in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, as well as the head coach of NISA club

California United Strikers FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Orange County, California. History The club was founded by Bronwyn & Pete Capriotti and Michael Collins (soccer), Michael Collins, who have had connections to the adult ama ...

. From 2001 to 2008, Ebert was head coach of the Concordia University Irvine soccer program. He left in 2008 with a lifetime record of 111 wins, 50 losses, and 7 ties (.660 win pct).

Other ventures

Ebert has been the Director of Marketing and Operations for Forum Boxing, Inc. He was the president and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the defunct indoor club

Anaheim Splash The Anaheim Splash was a U.S. indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). It was founded in 1992 as the Los Angeles United, but was sold after the season. The new ownership moved the team to Anaheim, Californ ...

of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

during the 1996 season.

References

External links

Ebert's Irvine Strikers profile

California United Strikers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebert, Don Living people Soccer players from St. Louis American soccer players Footballers at the 1979 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players New York Cosmos players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players St. Louis Steamers (original MISL) players Los Angeles Lazers players American soccer coaches SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer players 1959 births Association football forwards Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) commentators Concordia Eagles men's soccer coaches National Independent Soccer Association coaches