Tab Ramos, Midfielder
Arguably the most talented and creative U.S. player of all-time and definitely of his generation, Ramos was a driving force on whatever team he played for. That included leading St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J) to the state championship while being named Parade Magazine's Player of the Year, the U.S. U-20 team, the 1988 Olympic Team and the 1989 Futsal National Team at the Five-A-Side World Championship. He was drafted as the 10th overall pick in the 1984 NASL Draft but decided to attend North Carolina State instead.
His two best known international goals were scored against Costa Rica in 1-0 results eight years apart. In 1989, Ramos found the net in a home win in St. Louis, and in 1997 he added a long-range strike for another one-goal victory in Portland.
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay on Sept. 21, 1966, Ramos went on to take part in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and made 82 international appearances while tallying eight times. A hot property after Italia '90, the third part of the Kearny, N.J. triumvirate, signed with Real Betis (Spain) before moving to Tigres. He returned to the U.S. in 1996 to finish out his career with his "hometown" team, the MetroStars, playing seven years before retiring in 2002.
Ramos moved into coaching with the U.S. U-20 MNT, directing the side to four consecutive U-20 World Cups and also served as an assistant coach under Jurgen Klinsmann with the USMNT. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Ramos' is currently the head coach of the Houston Dynamo.
