Built For This

BUILTFOR By Joshua Doering THIS

RAY GADDIS HELPED LEAD THE PHILADELPHIA UNION IN 2020 TO THE BEST SEASON IN CLUB HISTORY, BUT THE SUCCESS ON THE FIELD WAS SECONDARY TO THE IMPACT HE WAS ABLE TO HAVE OFF THE FIELD THROUGH HIS FAITH-INSPIRED SERVICE TO HIS COMMUNITIES.

When Philadelphia Union team chaplain Andy Young met Ray Gaddis, it quickly became apparent to him how serious the veteran defender was about his faith. He could tell it was more than just something Gaddis talked about. It was something he lived out on a daily basis.

“One of my buddies said, ‘Drug dealers don’t smoke what they sell, but pastors should,’” Young recently told Sports Spectrum. “You knew that Ray was smoking what he was selling.”

Gaddis has seen a little bit of everything in his nine years with the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. He is the club’s all-time leader in appearances (221) and minutes played (18,702). He has played at left back and right back, depending on who else was on the roster in a given season. He has started and lost three U.S. Open Cup finals, converting a penalty in a 2015 shootout defeat to Sporting Kansas City.

He made 114 regular-season starts and logged 10,142 minutes before reaching the postseason for the first time in 2016. He played all 120 minutes of the Union’s 4-3 comeback win in extra time against the New York Red Bulls in 2019, the club’s first playoff victory.

And he ranked seventh among the team’s outfield players in minutes in 2020, as the Union won the Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the best regular-season team in MLS each year. It marked the first trophy in the club’s 11-year history.

“For me, it was a tremendous blessing,” Gaddis recently told Sports Spectrum. “I think over the last nine years, a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the organization from a player standpoint. But to finally lift some silverware for the team, it was a little bit of a weight off the shoulders for not only myself, but for the organization first and foremost. I just think it’s a remarkable blessing.”

“RAY HAS MORE SCRIPTURE MEMORIZED THAN ANYONE I’VE EVER MET OR HEARD OF IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, AND THAT IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION. IT’S UNBELIEVABLE. AND IT’S KING JAMES, AND IT’S WORD

FOR WORD.”– CHAPLAIN ANDY YOUNG

Chaplain Andy Young

As thrilled as Gaddis, 31, was to see all his hard work translate into team success, there was something he was even more proud of that took place during the 2020 season: the start of MLS Connect.

It began in the Orlando “bubble” for the MLS is Back Tournament — an isolated 24-team competition set up to prevent any spread of COVID-19, taking place over 35 days in July and August. It crowned one tournament champion, and then the 2020 season resumed in home markets after the tournament.

When none of the team chaplains were allowed into the bubble, they began thinking about creative ways to minister to the players. The result was players and chaplains from around the league — including Gaddis and Young — joining forces to organize a virtual time of fellowship, worship and prayer available to all MLS players.

“We wanted to introduce the Lord in some capacity, especially with us all being in one place,” Gaddis said. “That’s what made it even more powerful. There were no other events in my career where all the teams were in one place.”

The “MLS Connect” name came from a desire for the players to connect with each other, connect with Jesus and connect with mission. The goal was to create a safe space for people to share the spiritual and emotional challenges they faced while being isolated from their families.

“They were sharing real things, real struggles, real sins and praying for each other,” Young said. “It was really cool.”

MLS Connect was so popular with players it turned into a monthly virtual meeting complete with worship and short sermons when teams returned home. Plans are already in the works to get it back up and running once the 2021 season begins.

For those who know Gaddis well, his involvement in helping establish a league-wide movement so players can grow together in their faith is not surprising at all. Born into a family of devout church-goers, God has always been a part of the Indianapolis native’s life. And it shows.

“Ray has more Scripture memorized than anyone I’ve ever met or heard of in my entire life, and that is not an exaggeration,” Young said. “It’s unbelievable. And it’s King James, and it’s word for word.”

Gaddis’ reasoning for making God his main focus and reading the Bible every day is pretty straightforward.

“God’s always made time for me, so I must make time for Him,” he said while referencing Matthew 6:33 (“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”). “He is my priority. I know that I’m able to do all the things that I’ve been able to do because of the great I Am.”

BUILT

“WHEN I CONTINUE TO SEEK HIM FIRST, HE BEGINS TO GIVE ME ENERGY. HE GIVES ME THE WISDOM, THE KNOWLEDGE. HE BEGINS TO GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT TO DO IN THE PLACES THAT HE HAS PUT ME. I DON’T BELIEVE IT WAS BY COINCIDENCE THAT I ENDED UP IN PHILADELPHIA OR IN MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER.”

– RAY GADDIS

Gaddis’ faith is a driving force in other initiatives as well. Since being drafted by the Union out of the University of West Virginia in the second round of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, Gaddis has worked with a variety of organizations, in both Philadelphia and his home state of Indiana, to make a positive impact in local communities.

Those contributions were recognized in an official capacity by United Soccer Coaches, as the organization named him the recipient of the 2020 Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement. It is given to a former college soccer student-athlete “who has demonstrated exceptional personal achievement and extraordinary accomplishment that transcends normal expectation, and who was an example and inspiration to his/ her teammates and university.”

One area Gaddis is heavily involved in is the fight against racial injustice, which took center stage in 2020 following the death of George Floyd. Gaddis is one of the 12 original board members of Black Players for Change, an organization formed by MLS players in 2020 to promote racial justice and work toward providing equal opportunities in the sport of soccer for everyone, regardless of race or gender.

“I think it’s my obligation for the next generation of people who look like me to be a wealth of knowledge, but also give my experiences of how people who don’t look like me can be advocates too,” Gaddis said. “In this whole realm of the social justice thing, one thing that I’ve always said is that it’s going to take people who don’t look like me to be advocates to create the change that we want to see collectively in society.”

On the local level, Gaddis has worked with a group called Faith in Indiana in an effort to reform legislation regarding police protocols and the way police officers interact with citizens. His role as one of the leading MLS voices in the social justice movement has allowed him to present a Christ-centered message on varying platforms.

“It gave me the opportunity to pray for peace worldwide, but also to begin to understand the different backgrounds of people to try to create resolutions, but also insert and inject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is the true solution,” Gaddis said. “That is the true Waymaker and Miracle Worker. That is the Person who can bring peace to His land.”

Gaddis was encouraged by many of the conversations he had and the way people responded to his message.

“There are people that actually do have the right heart posture and the right mindset to be able to fellowship and understand and be able to have a listening ear,” Gaddis said. “I think that’s been remarkable — some of the amazing people I’ve got to meet that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have met if it hadn’t been for the Lord.”

The Union gained attention during the MLS is Back Tournament when players put the names of victims of police brutality on the back of their jerseys for the team’s first game, a 1-0 victory over NYCFC. Gaddis paid tribute to Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her apartment by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department on March 13, 2020.

As the team’s chaplain, Young appreciated Gaddis’ willingness to bring a Christian perspective to the difficult conversations surrounding racism.

“[Gaddis’] voice in the justice conversation was really helpful, and just his Christian lens to that: ‘I’m a Black player. I’m a Christian. This conversation matters and is meaningful,’” Young said.

Like many veteran athletes, Gaddis has also served as a mentor for younger teammates, something even more valuable at a club with such a strong emphasis on youth development.

“THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST … THAT IS THE TRUE SOLUTION. THAT IS THE TRUE WAYMAKER AND MIRACLE WORKER. THAT IS THE PERSON WHO CAN BRING PEACE TO HIS LAND.” – RAY GADDIS

Ray Gaddis and Andy Young (left) at the Union’s Faith Night in 2019. For example, he helped disciple fellow defender Mark McKenzie, a Union academy graduate and regular starter last season at the age of 21, who is now playing in Belgium.

The Union hopes Gaddis can help it grow even more in 2021, coming off its immensely successful season. The club did fall short in the MLS playoffs, losing at home in the first round to the New England Revolution, but that defeat figures to fuel the Union as it adjusts to being viewed as one of the favorites heading into the 2021 season.

Meanwhile, Gaddis’ focus will remain on his ultimate objective: keeping God at the center of his life and spreading the love of Christ. “When I continue to seek Him first, He begins to give me energy. He gives me the wisdom, the knowledge,” Gaddis said. “He begins to give me understanding of what to do in the places that He has put me. I don’t believe it was by coincidence that I ended up in Philadelphia or in Major League Soccer.”