Willy Roy
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Willy Roy | ||
| Date of birth | February 8, 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Treuberg, Germany | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1964–1966 | Hansa, Chicago | ||
| 1967–1968 | Chicago Spurs | 27 | (17) |
| 1968 | Kansas City Spurs | 15 | (6) |
| 1971–1974 | Saint Louis Stars | 43 | (18) |
| 1975 | Chicago Sting | 14 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1965–1973 | United States | 20 | (9) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1977–1986 | Chicago Sting | ||
| 1987–2002 | Northern Illinois University | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 31, 2006. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of June 22, 2006 |
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Willy Roy (born February 8, 1943 in Treuberg, Germany) is a retired U.S. soccer forward and coach. He played for several teams in the National Professional Soccer League and the North American Soccer League in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the United States national team from 1965 to 1973. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
When Roy was six, his family moved to the United States from Germany, settling in Chicago. After attending Reavis High School in what is now Burbank, Illinois, he began playing semi-pro soccer in the Chicago area. In 1964, he joined Hansa of the National Soccer League of Chicago. In 1966, Hansa won the Peter J. Peel Challenge Cup as the Illinois State Champion. The year prior, the team lost to the New York Ukrainians in the National Challenge Cup.
1966 saw a series of events which had a major impact on Roy's future career. Three separate groups decided to form a professional league in the U.S. Through various negotiations, two of the groups merged to form the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). While the USSF and FIFA refused to recognize the NPSL, it gained a television contract with CBS, thereby guaranteeing some element of financial stability.
Up to this point, Roy played almost exclusively with local Chicago minor league teams and the U.S. national team. In 1967, he joined the newly established Chicago Spurs of the NPSL. At the time, Roy was one of only eight U.S. citizens in the league. One of the other U.S. citizens, Bob Gansler, was later a teammate with Roy on the national team and became the future coach of the national team. In his first year with the Spurs, Roy scored 17 goals, assisted 5 others, making him the league's second leading scorer. This led to his selection to the NPSL All Star team and being named Rookie of the Year.
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