Major:Â Biology
Hometown:Â Morgan Hill, CA
Career Highlights:Â Two-time letter winner at USF; Participated in the 1971 National Semifinals
Biography: DeLeon played soccer for your years under legendary coach Steve Negoesco. He was a high scoring forward at the junior varsity level but was unable to achieve the same results on the varsity level. The highlight of his career was the invitation to join the varsity team on their 1971 trip to Miami for the NCAA finals. At that tournament he received a Semi-Finalist medal. After graduating from USF, DeLeon became a high school biology teacher and coached soccer.Â
Why DeLeon Chose USF: "I chose USF because of the reputation it had as a well respected Jesuit university, strong academics, and USF was well known for its sports programs, especially soccer and basketball. It wasn't too big and was not too far away from home, in case I needed to get back home. I liked the idea that it was the city of San Francisco. It was the late 1960s and a lot had been made of the feelings generated by the city. I had been coming to San Francisco for a year to attend musical concerts and enjoyed the excitement the city generated."
Favorite USF Memories: "One of my strongest memories is when I was a freshman at USF, was the march on the City when we mounted cable cars and made our way downtown and marched through Broadway, the Fairmont, Chinatown and other parts of the City. It was a great night."
The USF Student-Athlete Experience:Â "Being a student-athlete at USF gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of people from all over the world."
Life After USF: DeLeon taught high school biology for 38 years at Santa Teresa High School, and coached the boys varsity soccer team for 28 of those years. DeLeon continued to play competitive soccer until he was 58 and even still manages to play occasionally in the mornings in pickup games in Fremont. Presently he is still involved with soccer working as a referee for both club and high school soccer. DeLeon met his wife Janet, at USF when they were both sophomores and they have two adult children. His hobbies include travel, golf, mountain biking, fishing, kayaking and birding.Â
