David Charles "Dino" Vanole (February 6, 1963 – January 15, 2007) was an 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. He spent his professional career in the

Western Soccer Alliance Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

and its successor league, the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

. He also earned 14

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 Ja ...

with the U.S. national team including appearances at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

and was a squad member at the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

Youth and college

He attended Aviation High School in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...

, where he was a three-sport letterman and a four-time All-Ocean League goalkeeper. Vanole played for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

from 1981 to 1985. As a junior, he backstopped

to the

NCAA Men's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champ ...

. In that game, UCLA defeated

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was cha ...

in eight overtimes.

Professional

After graduating from

, Vanole played for the

Los Angeles Heat Los Angeles Heat joined the Western Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance in 1986. They joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the WSL merged with the American Soccer League (1988-1989), American Soccer League, then folded in ...

from 1986 to 1990. In 1988, he also played for 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 ...

. He played for the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

during the 1987–1988 Major Indoor Soccer League season. In 1991, he finished his professional career with the

San Francisco Bay Blackhawks San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interreg ...

which won the

championship that season.

National team

Vanole earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

with the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in a February 5, 1986 0–0 tie with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. He would go on to appear a total of 18 times for the U.S. national team; however, only 14 are counted as full internationals. Vanole played 4 games with the U.S. Olympic team, including the

. While the U.S. national team at the time doubled as the U.S. Olympic in 1988,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

does not count Olympic matches as full internationals. Vanole was also on the U.S. team at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the America ...

. Vanole started 4 of the 5 games played by the national team in 1986 and 1987. However, he shared duties with a string of other goalkeepers in 1988. On April 30, 1989, he made one of the biggest saves of his career: preserving a 1–0 U.S. victory against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in a critical World Cup qualifier by saving a penalty kick in injury time. He had regained the position of the top U.S. goalkeeper, but was unable to control his weight and later that year he lost his starting position to

Tony Meola Antonio Michael "Tony" Meola (; ; born February 21, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the United States national team at the 1990, 1994, and 2002 World Cups. From 1996 to 2006, he ...

. The clinching moment came in a U.S. game against Italian club A. S. Roma. While the U.S. won 4–3, Vanole's poor performance convinced Gansler to give the starting job to Meola. In January, 1990, Vanole, under contract to the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

, sat out the national team's training camp with a contract dispute. However, he was selected as the backup

at the

. Here he gained worldwide attention, as he sat the bench during the matches and wore a cap with a Stars & Stripes-flag. Ultimately, however, he was ordered by coach

Bob Gansler Bob Gansler (born July 1, 1941) is a Hungarian-born American soccer player and coach of German descent. He coached the U.S. National Team at the 1990 World Cup, the team's first appearance at the tournament since 1950. Playing career As a pla ...

to stop wearing it, as Gansler felt the look was unprofessional and not in keeping with the image the U.S. team wished to present. Since Vanole did not play in this tournament, his last official cap came in 1989. Vanole played on the Pro Beach Soccer tour for four years and was twice voted the best goalkeeper on the beach. He also played at the

1989 FIFA Futsal World Cup The 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the first ever FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 5 and 15 ...

finals.

Coaching career

Vanole spent six years as an assistant coach for goalkeepers for both the men and women's teams at UCLA; U.S. Women's Olympic and National Teams; and the Men's U-20 team. He also served as the goalkeeper coach for D.C. United of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

(MLS) as well as the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Unite ...

of the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Un ...

(WUSA). On May 25, 2000, Vanole became the goalkeeper coach for the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

. He was the goalkeeper coach for the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

of MLS from 2004 to 2006.

Death

Vanole, who lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, died on January 15, 2007, in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

of a heart attack during a family skiing vacation. He is survived by his wife, Kerry Tatlock, the NBA's senior director of global marketing partnerships, as well as by his mother, siblings, and large extended family.

References

External links

David Vanole and the esophagus that saved U.S. soccer (ESPN)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanole, David 1963 births 2007 deaths American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American Professional Soccer League players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Los Angeles Heat players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Olympic soccer players for the United States Pan American Games competitors for the United States Footballers at the 1987 Pan American Games Soccer players from New York City Sportspeople from Greater Los Angeles San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players Soccer players from California UCLA Bruins men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Western Soccer Alliance players Wichita Wings (MISL) players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Sportspeople from Redondo Beach, California UCLA Bruins women's soccer coaches D.C. United non-playing staff New England Revolution non-playing staff United States women's national soccer team non-playing staff