Dan Counce
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| Dan Counce | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Daniel Counce | |
| Date of birth | October 22, 1951 (age 55) | |
| Place of birth | St. Louis, Missouri, United States | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) | |
| Playing position | Forward | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1970-1973 | St. Louis University | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1974 1975 1975-1976 1977 1978 1978-1979 1979 1979-1980 1980-1984 |
Boston Minutemen San Jose Earthquakes San Antonio Thunder Team Hawaii California Surf Philadelphia Fever Toronto Blizzard St. Louis Steamers Baltimore Blast |
11 (1) 6 (0) 30 (8) 22 (2) 23 (4) 14 (6) 8 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1974-1976 | United States | 5 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Dan Counce is a retired U.S. soccer forward and current professional soccer executive.
Counce attended St. Louis University where he played on the men’s soccer team. He was a member of the 1970, 1972 and 1973 NCAA soccer championship teams. In 1973, he won the Hermann Trophy as the outstanding collegiate soccer player.
He earned his first cap with the U.S. national team in a September 8, 1974 loss to Mexico. In 1975, he played only one of the five national team games, a 7-0 thumping by Poland in March. It was over a year and a half later before he was called up again, this time for a November 12, 1976 tie with Haiti. His last game with the national team came a month later when he came on for fellow St. Louis University alumnus Al Trost in a 3-0 loss to Canada.
Through these years, Counce had established himself as a journeyman soccer player. After finishing his career at St. Louis, he joined the Boston Minutemen of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He bounced from team to team, six total, over the next six years, finishing his NASL career with eight games for the Toronto Blizzard in 1979.
By this time, however, he had already begun to move towards indoor soccer. In 1978, he signed with the Philadelphia Fever of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The 1978-1979 MISL season was the first for both the team and the league. That year, the Fever went to the MISL championship series, losing to the New York Arrows, despite goals from Counce. Counce continued to play in the MISL, but moved to the St. Louis Steamers for the 1979-1980 season. That year, Counce was named the team’s MVP. However, he moved again in the off season to the Baltimore Blast. He was the Blast’s team MVP in the 1980-1981 season. Counce remained with the Blast through the end of the 1983-1984 season when he retired from playing professionally.
Counce has been active in managing professional soccer teams even before retiring from playing. He was either a General Manager or Assistant General Manager for the St. Louis Steamers in 1979-1980, the Baltimore Blast from 1986-1990 and the St. Louis Storm, also of MISL, from 1990-1991.
From 1987-1991, Counce served on the United States Soccer Federation Executive Committee and the MISL Board of Directors from 1986-1991.
On January 15, 1997, the Rapids hired Counce as the team’s General Manager after its first season in Major League Soccer. In 2002, MLS named Counce the league’s Executive of the Year. However, just two years later, the Rapids fired Counce in November 2004.[1]
