Alexi Lalas

Despite his musical ambitions, Alexi Lalas' true claim to fame was as a soccer star — a native of Detroit, his sports career was launched while attending Rutgers University, and during his senior year of 1991 he won both the Hermann Trophy and the Missouri Athletic Club Award as college soccer's top player. A year later he starred on the US Olympic team, and while playing for his country during the 1994 World Cup he became something of a national hero, his flaming red goatee and quick wit making him the most popular member of the team. The first American ever to play in Italy's first division, Lalas returned to the US in 1995 to play for the New England Revolution of the newly-formed Major League Soccer pro circuit. A rock musician in his spare time, he sang and played guitar in the band the Gypsies, issuing the LPs Woodland and Jet Lag; Lalas' solo debut, Ginger, followed in 1998.