Gary Darrell 1980

Sonny Askew

Doug Dugan Passes

Doug Dugan, who spent the 1980 season with the Diplomats, passed away on July 18, 2016.

He attended American University on a full soccer scholarship and was named the teams Most Valuable Player in 1979 and 1980, leading the Eagles to a 1979 East Coast Conference Championship.

Dugan explained how he came to spend the summer of 1980 with the Dips. “In January, 1980, Gordon Bradley invited me to preseason in Jacksonville, Florida for a six week trial. I was on the Dips 1980 pre-season roster and participated in the training camp. We started workouts at RFK a couple of weeks before we were to go down to Jacksonville. Before we came back to DC Gordon asked me to stay on as he and (assistant coach) Joe Mallet wanted to have a longer look at me. They signed me on as an "amateur," paying me for expenses."

Doug with roomie Eric Martin during spring training, 1980.

Doug had a knack for story telling and a fantastic sense of humor. He was featured in three pieces on this site that provided an insiders perspective of the Diplomats 1980 campaign:

http://washingtondiplomats.blogspot.com/2014/04/from-inside-1980-pre-season.html  

http://washingtondiplomats.blogspot.com/2014/11/never-dull-moment.html

http://washingtondiplomats.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-gordon-bradley-practice.html

The Dugan family will be establishing a Doug Dugan Memorial Soccer Scholarship Fund at his alma mater American University. Please stay posted for more information about donating to help worthy high school soccer players with their tuition so that they can follow in Doug’s footsteps, playing for American University’s Eagles.