Hall of Fame
Midfielder
Three-time All-American - 1975, 1976, 1977
Scored Winning Goal in NCAA Championship Game, 1976
Named MVP in NCAA Tournament - 1975 and 1976
USF Career Years: 1974-1977
Birthdate: February 4, 1949
Hometown: Jos, Nigeria
High School: Bubendorff Memorial
“Amazing” Andy Atuegbu was born on February 4, 1949 in Jos, Nigeria. He came from a soccer family: his father was a former soccer player, his three brothers all played soccer, and his eldest brother also coached. All four were intensely involved in youth competitions as children, and Andy told The Nation magazine that he "hated losing in anything, especially football games and academics.” He attended a local high school and played in the Mighty Jets squad in Nigeria, which won the National Football League Championship in 1972 and 1973. With all four brothers playing on the team, they also defeated the Green Eagles, the Nigerian National Team. He turned down an offer to play with the AFCON 80 club, in order to attend USF, where he played soccer for the Dons from 1974 to 1977.
As a freshman at USF, he led with eight goals, but excelled in his sophomore year, scoring 14 goals in 21 games. He was the West Coast Intercollegiate Soccer Conference scoring leader, earning All-WCISC honors, and was named MVP of the 1975 NCAA tournament and Second-Team All-American Forward. The following year Atuegbu was critical in bringing the Dons to Philadelphia for the NCAA Championships, and the Dons won 1-0 against Indiana in the finals. He was named MVP for the second consecutive year as a junior. In his senior year, he was named All-American, but USF was beaten by Harwick in the finals 1-2. He finished his USF career with 87 points, and 43 goals.
Atuegbu played for the Green Eagles from 1972 to 1976, which won the United States Open Cup Championships in 1975, 1976 and in 1985, and he played on the 1976 Nigerian Olympic team. He was chosen in Round 1 of the 1978 North American Soccer League (NSAL) Draft by the Oakland Stompers. He went on to play with the Edmonton Drillers, San Francisco Fog, Hartford Hellions and the Greek-American AC. Soccer Magazine named Atuegbu to their College Team of the Century.
Atuegbu graduated from USF with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry in 1979 and a Master’s in Chemistry in 1987. Atuegbu worked as a research scientist for Syntex, an international pharmaceutical company in the Bay Area for 25 years and then retired.
