Steve Pecher (born

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

) is an American former soccer defender who is currently the Missouri Girls Director of St Louis Scott Gallagher.

Youth and college

Pecher began playing soccer with the youth club, Florissant Cougars, then with his high school team at Normandy High School in St. Louis. He was part of the team which took the Missouri state championship in 1974, his senior year. He was also All State both his junior and senior years. The next year attended Florissant Valley Community College where he played on the national junior college championship team in 1975. He was a junior college All American both years at Florissant.

Professional

In 1976, the Dallas Tornado 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 ...

(NASL) signed Pecher. That season he was named the 1976 NASL Rookie of the Year. He remained with the club through the 1980 season. By 1980, Pecher had begun a transition to indoor soccer when he joined the St. Louis Steamers of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the 1979–1980 season. He was a 1980 MISL All Star with the Steamers. He remained with the Steamers through the 1983–1984 season. Pecher became a free agent in August 1984 and on September 11, 1984, he signed with the Kansas City Comets. He began the 1985–1986 season in Kansas City, but the Comets traded him to the Steamers for Stuart Lee in December 1985. He would remain with the Steamers until they traded him and

Don Ebert Don "Mad Hatter" Ebert is a retired U.S. soccer forward who spent most of his career with two indoor clubs, the St. Louis Steamers and the Los Angeles Lazers. Youth Ebert attended Rosary High School in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1976, Ebert and h ...

on February 20, 1987 to 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 ...

in exchange for

Poli Garcia Jose “Poli” Garcia (born in San Diego, California) is an American former soccer player. He spent at least four seasons in the American Soccer League, three in the North American Soccer League and four in the Major Indoor Soccer League. H ...

and

Jim Kavanaugh James P. "Jim" Kavanaugh (born 1963) is an American businessman. He is known as the CEO and co-founder of World Wide Technology. Early life Kavanaugh received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from Saint Louis University in 19 ...

. He retired at the end of the 1987–1988 season.

National team

Pecher earned 17

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 from 1976 to 1980. He made his first appearance with the national team in a September 24, 1976, 1–1 tie with

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where he received a red card. He received another red card in 0–3 loss to Canada in Port-au-Prince on December 22, 1976. He played his last game with the U.S. national team in a November 9, 1980 1–5 loss to

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 ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and was U.S. captain from 1978 to 1980.

Post-playing career

After retiring from playing, Pecher joined Marriott, where he became the director of retail sales. In September 2002, he was hired as the director of the former Busch Soccer Club then St. Louis Soccer Club and now the St. Louis Scott Gallagher. He had spent time with the team as a coach and continues to coach the younger girls teams.

References

External links

Interview with Pecher

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecher, Steve Living people 1956 births American soccer coaches American soccer players Dallas Tornado players Kansas City Comets (original MISL) players Los Angeles Lazers players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Soccer players from St. Louis St. Louis Steamers (original MISL) players United States men's international soccer players Association football defenders St. Louis Community College alumni