Waad Hirmez

In 1979, Hirmez, an Assyrian Catholic native of Iraq, moved to San Diego to live with an uncle while he attended high school.

Two weeks after his graduation, he signed with the San Diego Sockers of the North American Soccer League for $18,000.

He did not play professionally in 1984 after a series of unsuccessful trials with the Tacoma Stars, Phoenix Inferno and Wichita Wings.

[2] In February 1985, the Sockers signed Hirmez to a ten-day contract after the team captain, Kaz Deyna, suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury.

After retiring from playing, Hirmez became the boys' varsity soccer coach at St Augustine Private Catholic School in San Diego in 1997–1998.

In 2002 his Boys U16 team won the Cal South State Cup Championship defeating PQ Premier Red.

In 2014 Hirmez rejoined Southwest Soccer Club,[15] taking over a team with a previous losing record, and coaching the Boys U12 team in the Coast League - Bronze East, finishing with a winning record of 6-5-1 [16] and making a Cal South State Cup Championship appearance.