Mike Flater (born January 22, 1951, in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

) 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 six 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 ...

. He was also a member of the 1972 U.S.Olympic soccer team and earned fifteen caps with the U.S. national soccer team between 1975 and 1977.

College

Flater attended the Colorado School of Mines. In addition to playing

, he also played as a

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

on the school's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. In 1973, he scored a 63-yard field goal. The

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

drafted Flater in the ninth round of the

1974 NFL Draft The 1974 NFL draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks. Many experts consider the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers to have h ...

NASL

The

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

of the

(NASL) drafted Flater in the 1974 NASL college draft. He did not sign with the Earthquakes, but in 1975 signed with the

Denver Dynamos The Denver Dynamos were a soccer team based in Denver that played in the NASL from 1974 to 1975. Their home field was Mile High Stadium. After the 1975 season, they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Kicks. History Between the 1973 and ...

. That season, Flater scored ten goals in fifteen games with the Dynamos. At the end of the 1975 season, the Dynamos moved to Minnesota where the team was renamed the

Minnesota Kicks The Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initiall ...

. Flater made the move with the team and spent the next two seasons in Minnesota. However, his scoring pace dropped to one goal in twelve games in 1977 and he moved to the

Oakland Stompers The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with ...

for the start of the 1978 season. He saw time in only four games with Oakland before being traded to the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

. In twenty-two games with the Timbers, he scored seven goals as Portland went to the NASL semifinals. However, Flater suffered a major knee injury which put him out of the 1979 season. He attempted a comeback in 1980, but played only three games with the Timbers before retiring.

National and Olympic Teams

In 1971, Flater joined the

U.S. Olympic team United States of America (USA) has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern era Olympic Games, except for the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American athletes have w ...

as it began qualification for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. A tie with El Salvador on September 18, 1971, put the U.S. into the games. However, the team tied once and lost twice, eliminating it from the tournament. Flater made his debut with the U.S. national team in 1975. His first game came when he started a June 24, 1975, loss to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. His next game did not come until September 24, 1976. He then became a regular through the rest of the games in 1976 and 1977. His last match came on October 10, 1977, in a win over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In fifteen matches with the U.S., Flater never scored a goal.

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flater, Mike 1951 births Living people Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Soccer players from Cook County, Illinois American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Denver Dynamos players Minnesota Kicks players Oakland Stompers players Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players Players of American football from Illinois Colorado Mines Orediggers men's soccer players Colorado Mines Orediggers football players Men's association football forwards