 December 2, 2009 -- Jay Heaps retired Wednesday after having played a team-record 243 games for the New England Revolution.
Heaps, the second pick in the 1999 MLS draft and the league's rookie of the year that season, is moving from soccer defender to a career in finance after 11 seasons (the first 2 with the Miami Fusion).
"I'm a very emotional player, person; that's how I live my life, that's how I played the game," said Heaps. "But today is not about being sad, the emotion is not there for me. It's not sadness. I'm here with absolutely no regret. I can walk away from this game knowing there's a huge love for it in my heart that will always remain in my heart.
"I loved playing Revolution soccer. It meant the world to me. It was an honor to play it for the Kraft family and the Revolution organization. As most of you know I'm from Longmeadow; born and raised in New England. As a kid growing up... I was a big Red Sox fan, big Celtics fan, and big Patriots fan. As a young kid, those are the teams, the colors I bled for. I feel like the luckiest athlete here to have been able to play for my home team. I've been able to bleed for the Revolution."
The Longmeadow, Mass., native played in 314 games, eighth in MLS history, with 17 goals and 34 assists. For the Revolution, he had nine goals and 26 assists in a team record 21,619 minutes.
The 33-year-old Heaps is one of three Revolution players who started in all four of the team's MLS Cup championship games, all losses, in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In July, Heaps made his debut with the U.S. national team against Haiti in the CONCACAF Gold Cup then played three more games with the team.
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