Neil Stam (born January 7, 1942, in
) 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 ...
defender who was a member of the
U.S. Olympic soccer team at 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. ...
.
Stam attended
Springfield College
Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...
where he played on the men's soccer team from 1960 to 1963. He graduated in 1964 with a degree in sports physiology. In 1988, Springfield inducted Stam into its Athletic Hall of Fame. His career between 1964 and 1967 is unknown, but that year, he began playing with the U.S. Olympic Soccer Team as it began qualification for the finals. Stam was captain of the team which was unsuccessful in reaching the tournament. He returned to the Olympic team in 1971. This time, it was successful in reaching the
1972 Olympic Tournament where Stam played all three U.S. games. The U.S. went 0–2–1.
FIFA Player Profile
/ref> When he went to the 1972 Olympics, Stam was listed as playing for the German-American Football Club with an unknown league affiliation. He had also played for the Paterson Dovers. He currently lives on Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
where he teaches physical education and coaches the boys' soccer and baseball teams at Centereach High School
Centereach High School is a public high school in the Middle Country Central School District located in Centereach, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. It teaches a college preparatory curriculum for grades nine through twelve. The total mino ...
.
References
American men's soccer players
Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Olympic soccer players for the United States
Sportspeople from Hackensack, New Jersey
Soccer players from Bergen County, New Jersey
Living people
1942 births
Men's association football defenders
{{US-footy-defender-stub