User:Mikelld/Mike Davey (soccer)

Michael (Mike) Davey, former Jamaican soccer player new article content ...

Michael (Mike) Davey (born February 9th., 1952) is a former Jamaican soccer player and licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) (registered to practice in the state of Texas since 1990) who was the defensive “gauntlet bearer” on the all-conquering Howard University Bisons 1974 Division 1 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion soccer team which set a perfect 19-0-0 season record, a record which still stands unbeaten and unmatched after over 35 years. Mike was selected, while still a teenager, among the top 31 Jamaican footballers to prepare for a game against the world’s greatest player, Pele, and his Santos Football Club of Brazil in 1971 less than a year after Pele had led his Brazil National team to the 1970 World Cup title in Mexico.

Mike was featured (quite a rarity for a soccer defenseman) on the cover of the Soccer America (SA) magazine (volume 7, Number 24 December 10, 1974) which reported on that historic championship season finale in that 1974 final game against St. Louis University (who were gunning for their third consecutive title).

In 1975, Mike again led the Howard University defensive back four as the team earned a “return” trip back to the NCAA soccer Final Four (National Semi-finals). After losing a tough semi-final, Howard U. soccer coach – the legendary Lincoln “Tiger” Phillips prompted a reporter and was quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Sunday, December 7, 1975) insisting that “…. It might have been different had Mike Davey been able to play but he was out with an ankle injury….”.

Mike’s legendary “exploits” on the soccer field continue to attract media attention even more than thirty years after the fact as in 2004, as the 30th. anniversary of that unmatched 19-0-0 feat approached, Wil Kuhns (a Soccer America reporter) tracked down and interviewed Mike seeking to explore the training “secrets” employed by the Bisons in 1974 which led to this record enduring for such a long time. The resultant article “That Last Perfect Season” was published in the 2004 NCAA Men’s College Cup magazine with detailed, insightful quotes of Mike’s insights regarding the Bisons’ 1974 training methods.