Hayden Knight

Infobox Football biography
playername= Hayden Knight
fullname = Hayden Knight
nickname = The Black Knight


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1957|3|15
cityofbirth = Port of Spain
countryofbirth = Trinidad
height = height|ft=6|in=1
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Forward / Defender
youthyears = 1977-1979
youthclubs = Marquette University
years = 1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1984-1986
1986-1987
1987-1989
clubs = Edmonton Drillers
Atlanta Chiefs
Montreal Manic
Team America
Golden Bay Earthquakes
Chicago Sting ("indoor")
Dallas Sidekicks ("indoor")
Milwaukee Wave ("indoor")
caps(goals) = 08 (1)
09 (0)
30 (4)
16 (2)
02 (0)
10 (1)
53 (8)
nationalyears = 1984
nationalteam = United States
nationalcaps(goals) = 03 (0)
manageryears = 1989-2005
1989-2008
managerclubs = Cedarburg High School (girls)
Cedarburg High School (boys)
pcupdate = 22:33, 3 january 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 7 December 2006

Hayden Knight (born March 15, 1957 in Port of Spain, Trinidad) is a retired U.S.-Trinidad soccer defender and current high school soccer coach.

Playing career

Youth

Knight, a native of Trinidad, moved to the United States with his family when he was a child. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Marquette University where he played on the men’s soccer team. He holds the team’s career scoring record with 52 goals. He also holds the NCAA record for career assists per game with 42 in 44 games. In college, he also played with the Milwaukee Bavarians.

Professional

In 1980, the Edmonton Drillers drafted Knight. Although he starred in college as a forward, he moved to defense in the pros. He played a single season with the Drillers before moving to the Atlanta Chiefs. While with the Drillers, he received his first taste of indoor soccer when the Drillers won the 1980-1981 NASL indoor championship. ^{[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E7DC1539F93BA35750C0A967948260]} The Chiefs folded after the 1981 season and Knight moved north to the Montreal Manic for the 1982 season.

In 1983, the U.S. Soccer Federation, in coordination with the NASL, entered the U.S. national team, known as Team America, into the NASL as a league franchise. The team drew on U.S. citizens playing in the NASL, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. Knight left the Manic and signed with Team America. When Team America finished the 1983 season with a 10-20 record, the worst in the NASL, USSF withdrew the team from the league. Knight moved to the Golden Bay Earthquakes for the 1984 season, but was traded to the Chicago Sting with Manny Rojas on July 10, 1984 in exchange for Ricardo Alonso and Charlie Fajkus. ^{[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02EFDA1339F933A25754C0A962948260]} He remained with the Sting until August 1986. During his time with the Sting, he was a member of the 1984 NASL championship team

On August 6, 1986, he signed with the Dallas Sidekicks of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)as a free agent. On July 4, 1987, the team announced that they would not renew his contract and he again became a free agent. He signed with the Milwaukee Wave of the American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) where he played as a forward for the next two seasons. At the end of the 1987-1989 AISA season, Knight retired from playing professionally.

National team

In 1984, Knight earned three caps with the U.S. national team. The three games all came within a week as Knight played first on October 11 in a win over Colombia, followed by a loss three days later to Guatemala and another loss three days after that to Mexico.

Coaching

That year Cedarburg High School in Cedarburg, Wisconsin hired Knight to coach the girl’s soccer team as well as teach. Since then, Knight has remained at Cedarburg, teaching history and social studies as well as coaching both the girls and boys teams. In 2005, he resigned form the girls team, after beating prostate cancer, but resigned later from the boys side in 2008 to take a technical directing job at the Mequon Soccer Club. The CHS won the state championships in 1989 and 1991. ^{[http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=236439]} He is also a staff coach at the Mequon Soccer Club. He is looking for his 300th win, then possible retiring from soccer.

Marquette inducted Knight into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

External links

* [http://gomarquette.cstv.com/hallfame/marq-hallfame.html Marquette University bio]
* [http://www.kicksfan.com/players/knight/ Dallas Sidekicks profile]