Hall of Fame
Pat O’Hare is a former standout men’s soccer player at Slippery Rock that went on to become one of the most decorated junior college coaches in the country.
O’Hare earned co-MVP honors as a member of The Rock’s 1964 soccer team and four years later was the founding father of the first-ever Florida community college men’s soccer program at Miami-Dade Community College.
O’Hare’s Miami-Dade CC program quickly became one of the top programs in the nation, as evidenced by its national runner-up finish in 1969, five regional championships and six state titles in an eight-year period that ran from 1969-76.
Miami-Dade also claimed four state runner-up and one regional runner-up finishes and compiled a 126-43-10 record under O’Hare’s leadership.
In recognition of his efforts, O’Hare, who coached 17 All-Americans and nine future professional players at Miami-Dade, received six regional Coach of the Year honors.
In addition to his work at Miami-Dade CC, O’Hare started the first Dade County high school soccer club program at Coral Park High School in 1967, coached youth soccer teams for many seasons and was the assistant general manager of the Miami Gatos professional soccer team.
A two-year soccer letterman at The Rock and a former elementary school teacher, O’Hare left the coaching ranks in 1983 to pursue his current line of employment as a commercial real estate broker in Miami, but has remained active in soccer projects.
Most recently, O’Hare helped create the James W. Egli men’s soccer scholarship at SRU in memory of his late coach and was a founding member of the SRU men’s soccer alumni association and Ring of Honor program that recognizes outstanding former Rock men’s and women’s soccer student-athletes.
O’Hare himself was inducted into the SRU Soccer Ring of Honor in 2012 and remains an active participant in The Rock Alumni 50 & Over soccer team.
A native of Pittsburgh, O’Hare graduated from North Catholic High School in 1959 and SRU in 1965. He then added a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Miami in 1968.
O’Hare resides in South Florida with his wife Cecilia, sons Evan and Tim and two grandchildren.
