Jay DeMerit lived The American Dream. The defender from Green Bay, Wisconsin defied all odds to do what he loved, and proceeded to do it at the highest level possible. DeMerit rose from a Chicago Fire Reserves reject to captain of a Barclays Premier League side and representing his country in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Today, the Vancouver Whitecaps lose a great player and an inspirational captain, and the extended family of US Soccer says "thank you" to a hero.
Jay DeMerit was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin and from birth was like all Green Bay residents. A massive Packers fan. Yet, DeMerit's greatest sporting love wasn't American football. No, he fell in love with another game, one not from these shores. DeMerit fell in love with soccer and played it all of the time. Well, except for when he was watching the Packers.
In high school, he starred as a player and earned a scholarship to the University of Illinois-Chicago. There, he met a teammate and lifelong friend, Kieron. Kieron was an Englishman and had grown up loving the beautiful game.
After the pair graduated, they decided to try and make it as professional soccer players. Logically, they decided to try and play for the Chicago Fire. Same city as where they played their college ball, coaches may have heard of them. The two were soon playing for the Chicago Fire Reserves while dreaming of making an MLS debut in the not too distant future.
Unfortunately, it was not to be in Chicago. The coaches came to the pair and told them that while they were certainly good players, there just wasn't space in the first team for them at this point in time.
So, it was decision time. They'd been told no by the Fire, who play in a supposedly inferior league. Would they give up and go off to get jobs doing something else?
No.
DeMerit showed the fighting American spirit that the national team so often displays. If they weren't going to make it in MLS, they might as well try a different league. Therefore, it was off to Europe.
The two left Chicago and decided to go to London where they would move into Kieron's parents’ house and go around asking clubs for tryouts. As DeMerit said about it in his farewell letter to the Whitecaps faithful, "I sat at O’Hare Airport in Chicago with about $1200, a full backpack that my parents had just bought me as a present for graduating from college, and a plane ticket to London."
They went to London, riding bikes around Europe showing up at clubs and asking for tryouts while living in Kieron's parents' attic, working odd jobs. "I think about those first years in England, sleeping in the attic of my friend Kieron’s house in London, broke, sharing bath water, and all alone trying to find a wall to kick my soccer ball against in my neighborhood so I could work on my touch and footwork."
Eventually, DeMerit found himself playing pub league football on Sundays, receiving meager payouts just hoping to get noticed by a big club, always knowing he had what it took to play at a high level and just needing the chance. Finally, said chance presented itself.
The chance came at Watford, at that time sitting in the Championship, in the second tier of English football. It took little time for DeMerit to star for his new team, and he played an integral role in their run to the FA Cup Semifinal in 2004 and then their promotion to the Premier League.
In the 2005-06 Championship season, Watford finished in third place, just outside of the zone for automatic promotion to the Premiership and were forced to qualify through the playoffs. In the Championship Playoff Final against Leeds United, DeMerit scored the opening goal and Watford won 3-0, sending them into the Premiership.
DeMerit made his Premier League debut in the fall of 2006, but was unable to stave off relegation. He remained at the club until June 2010. While unable to bring them back to the Premier League he was named club captain in December 2007.
It was during 2007 that the next step in DeMerit's career was to unfold: that of an international player. DeMerit won his first cap on March 28, 2007 against Guatemala, and was part of the United States squad that won the 2007 Gold Cup, thus qualifying for the 2009 Confederations Cup. At the Confederations Cup, he started at central defender in one the most famous wins in the history of US Soccer: the 2-0 victory over Spain. Spanish sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo called his performance: "superb".
Because of his string of fantastic performances for both club and country, DeMerit was named to Bob Bradley's 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. In South Africa, DeMerit was crucial for the American backline, starting all four games. His was a vital role in keeping the clean sheet in the famous 1-0 victory over Algeria.
After the World Cup, DeMerit changed clubs. He transferred from Watford to the Vancouver Whitecaps, becoming the first signing in the history of the expansion franchise. DeMerit went on to lead the defense for the Whitecaps, captaining the side over his four years there. He appeared for Vancouver 70 times over his four injury-shortened years, and in 2012 enjoyed his best season in a Whitecaps jersey. DeMerit was healthy throughout the year and through a run of stellar performances was named a member of the 23 man MLS All-Star squad that beat Chelsea 3-2.
While DeMerit was in Vancouver, a documentary about his life came out. The documentary very nearly never aired because the cost to air footage from Premier League and World Cup games was so astronomical. $215,000 short, the film's directors were forced to start a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to try and make up the difference. Remarkably, they did by raising $223,422 which included donations from DeMerit's international teammate Stuart Holden, Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo and comedian Judah Friedlander. Once people inside of FIFA saw the film, they were persuaded to allow use of their footage at a marked down price.
This writer was lucky enough to see "Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story" in theaters. This writer came away inspired by what DeMerit has done in his career, and struck by just how American his story is. He went to Europe with next to nothing, and then proceeded to carve out one of the most remarkable careers in American soccer history. Today a titan of the American game retires, and for US Soccer fans, MLS fans, and fans of the American game in general, it is our loss that we will never see number 6 play again.