Topic: Rick Davis

Richard Dean (Rick or Ricky) Davis (born November 24, 1958 in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Claremont, California) is a retired American soccer midfielder, and former captain of the U.S. National Team for much of the 1980s. He is considered by many the best U.S.-born player of the North American Soccer League era.

Davis began playing soccer at the age of seven for an AYSO soccer team in Claremont, California. He was an All American high school player at Damien High School in La Verne, California. In 1977, he played a single season of college soccer at Santa Clara University before going pro with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. While at Santa Clara, he was a member of the Broncos team which took the U-19 National Open Championship (McGuire Cup). An American on a team of international superstars with the Cosmos, he helped the team to three league titles in 1978, 1980 and 1982. He began playing with the team during the 1978 season and was selected as the 1979 North American Player of the Year in his second season.

In 1983, the St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League signed Davis away from the Cosmos. Davis moved just in time to avoid the 1985 collapse of the Cosmos. Despite numerous nagging injuries, Davis led the Steamers in scoring and was an integral part of the team's run to the MISL championship series. The Steamers lost in the championship series to the Baltimore Blast. He played one more season with the Steamers before moving to the New York Express, an MISL expansion team heavily staffed by former Cosmos players. The team lasted until the 1986-1987 All-Star break, when it folded.