Dan O’Keefe is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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) ** Smal ...

who played over ten seasons in the U.S. indoor leagues. He led the

American Indoor Soccer Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in scoring in 1989.

Youth

O’Keefe grew up in St. Louis where he attended

McCluer High School McCluer High School is a high school located in Florissant, Missouri. It is a part of the Ferguson-Florissant School District. The principal is Isaiah Melendez, and the school is the home of the McCluer Comets. Pre-history When McCluer open ...

and then attended

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. Located within the Metro East of Greater St. Louis, SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Ca ...

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1980 to 1983. In 1982, he led the team in scoring with thirteen goals and finished his four-year career ranked twelfth on the school's career goals list with twenty-seven.

Professional

In October 1983, the Kansas City Comets selected O’Keefe in the second round of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Draft. In 1986, he played for the Bridgeton Soccer Club of St. Louis"SPIRITS FALL 14-6 AT SOCCER WORLD" ''State Journal-Register'' (Springfield, Illinois) Sunday, March 23, 1986 Played with the Fort Wayne Flames of the

(AISA) from 1986 to 1988. O'Keefe briefly retired from playing following the 1988 season to coach in

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

. He returned in 1989 to lead the AISA in goal scoring with the

Indiana Kick The New York Kick was a professional indoor soccer team based in Albany, New York playing at the Knickerbocker Arena and competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001). The team was previously known as the Indiana Kick in 1989� ...

. In 1990, he moved from the Kick to the

Detroit Rockers The Detroit Rockers were an indoor soccer team in the National Professional Soccer League from 1990 to 2001. They played in Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit, Michigan, as well as The Palace of Auburn Hills and Compuware Sports ...

. That year, the AISA renamed itself the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). He was selected as a first team NPSL All Star for the 1991–1992 season. In 1992, he signed with the St. Louis Ambush. On June 18, 1993, the Ambush traded O’Keefe to the

Baltimore Spirit The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Including one championship victory as the original Baltimore Blast, the team has won 10 cha ...

for Steve Boardman. He played one season in Baltimore before returning to the Rockers in 1994. He played only eight games in 1994–1995. After that, there is no further record of him until an Ambush reunion game in 2005.

Fort Wayne Flames career stats

Regular season

*Games Played – 65 *Goals – 49 *Assists – 18 *Points – 67 *Blocked Shots – 9 *Fouls – 70 *Penalty Minutes – 2

Playoffs

*Games Played – 11 *Goals – 14* *Assists – 7 *Points – 21* *Shots on Goal – 59* Fouls – 8 *Penalty Minutes – 2. (* = career franchise leader)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeefe, Dan Soccer players from St. Louis Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Kansas City Comets (1979–1991) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Fort Wayne Flames players Indiana Kick players Detroit Rockers players St. Louis Ambush (1992–2000) players Baltimore Spirit players SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer players Living people Men's association football forwards Year of birth missing (living people) American men's soccer players