U.S. international standout Hugo Perez and former U.S. women's national team coach Anson Dorrance have won election to the National Soccer Hall of Fame as the Class of 2008.
Perez was named in the Veteran Player category, while Dorrance was named in the Builder category. The top vote-getter in each category wins election to the Hall of Fame, provided they receive at least 50 percent of all votes cast in the category. Both Dorrance and Perez were elected with unprecedented totals in their respective categories. Dorrance was named on 53.85 percent of the Builder ballots and Perez was named on 58.33 percent of the Veteran Player ballots.
Perez began his professional career with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the NASL, eventually moving to the San Diego Sockers where he had an impressive career outdoors and indoors. He was selected Championship Series MVP in San Diego's 1988 MISL win. He also played professionally in France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and El Salvador.
His U.S. national team debut came against Italy in 1984 and he scored his first international goal against Canada in 1985. In 73 international appearances he scored 13 goals. He played in the 1986 and 1990 World Cup qualifiers, but missed the 1990 FIFA World Cup due to injury. He played in the 1994 World Cup, starting the second-round match against Brazil. His final match for the United States was against England in September 1994.
Since his retirement from playing the game, he has stayed active in soccer in the San Francisco Bay Area, coaching youth and collegiate teams.
Dorrance, a 1974 graduate of the University of North Carolina, began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1976 as head coach of the men's team he played on as an undergraduate. Beginning in 1979 he coached both the men's and women's teams, before becoming exclusively the women's coach after the 1988 season. In his 12-year career as the UNC men's coach, his record was 172-65-21 with an ACC championship and two NCAA Division I tournament selections.
As women's coach at UNC through the 2007 season, his coaching record is an NCAA best in both wins (648-32-19) and winning percentage (.941). The UNC women's team has won the national championship 19 times in 28 seasons, with a string of nine in a row between 1986 and 1994.
In 1986, Dorrance became the head coach of the U.S. women's national team and, over an 8-year career, won 65 games with 22 losses and five ties. The most significant of those victories was in the final of the first Women's World Cup (then titled the World Championship for Women's Football) in 1991.
In the election in the Player category, no individual exceeded the required 75 percent of ballots cast to gain entrance into the Hall of Fame. Top players were current Chivas USA head coach Preki Radosavljevic, with 67.97 percent, and former U.S. women's national team player Joy Fawcett, with 67.19 percent of the vote. Full election results for all categories are available on the Hall of Fame web site, www.soccerhall.org.
