TUKWILA, Wash. - Zach Scott’s 15 seasons and 349 games as a Seattle Sounder will be celebrated Sunday, even if Scott doesn’t fully understand why.
“I have an appreciation for the people who have helped me along the way and that the organization is doing this,” the veteran defender said. “But again, I’m trying to teach my kids that doing your job isn’t something that needs to be celebrated. And that’s the way I’ve felt my entire career: that I was asked to do a job when I was signed to the Sounders, and I’ve made sure that every day I’ve come out here and done that job.”
And that’s exactly what the club wants to honor.
“I think that there are very few people in society who perform in their jobs the way an Obafemi Martins performs in his job. There are way more people who can relate to someone who works hard, is a good team player, who works for the greater good,” Sounders Owner Adrian Hanauer said. “And I think those more relatable characters have a lot of appeal. People admire those who get the most out of themselves.”
- INFOGRAPHIC: Looking back at Scott's 15-year Sounders career
Giving full effort at work might seem a modest enough accomplishment. At least until most people actually try to do it.
“Everybody works hard,” Sounders interim coach Brian Schmetzer said after training Thursday. “I could ask any of the players out on the field, ‘Hey, did you work hard today?’ And they’d say ‘Yeah, we worked hard today.’ But you know what? You can always work a little harder. You can always work a little smarter. And that’s what Zach did.”
And that’s part of what the club will celebrate Sunday, when the Sounders play their final game of this Major League Soccer regular season. Scott will receive the honorary Golden Scarf during a pregame ceremony and the first 20,000 fans through the gates of CenturyLink Field for the 1 p.m. match with Real Salt Lake will receive a Zach Scott bobblehead.
If Scott plays, it will mark his 350th appearance as a Sounder in a career that dates to 2002, when the little-known player from Gonzaga opened eyes in a tryout with what then was a USL club.
“The game was terrible because it’s a bunch of trialists,” Schmetzer said. “It’s in Memorial Stadium on the old turf and it’s narrow. And Zach is crushing every single header. And Chance Fry is whispering over my shoulder, ‘Dude, you’ve got to sign that guy. He’s winning every single header.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, we’re going to sign that guy.’ That’s the story, that’s the truth.”
Scott went on to play 139 games with the USL Sounders, contributing to league championships in 2005 and 2007.
When the club jumped to MLS in 2009, he jumped with it. Scott started in the club’s inaugural MLS game and appeared in nine matches in that first season. He went on to be part of the club’s four U.S. Open Cups and the Supporters’ Shield run of 2014. From 2012 to 2015, he appeared in more than half the club’s regular season games, including a career-high 21 appearances and 16 starts in 2013.
This season, Scott has 14 appearances. Schmetzer would like to send him on for his 15th on Sunday, but made no promises given that playoff seeding – possibly even playoff qualification – could hang on the result.
“(Scott) would say ‘Make sure the team wins: I don’t care if I play,’” Schmetzer said. “That’s what a good soldier Zach is, and that’s my intent. I mean if the game goes well, certainly there’s that option, but we can’t predict that.”
As Schmetzer predicted, Scott understands.
“I think mentally I’ve been preparing myself for this since last November when I wasn’t sure that I was going to be back for another year,” Scott said. “Every extra day or extra game day to put on the game jersey has been a good one. So I’ve got no regrets or no real expectations of what’s going to happen after this Sunday. If there’s another opportunity to do it, then great.”
If not, then he seems ready for what comes next: a job with Slalom Consulting that means less travel, more predictable hours, more time for family.
Scott and wife Alana have three children, and Scott has said he wanted to play long enough for his kids to understand the special occupation their dad has. With that accomplished, he believes this is the time to walk away – again with his family in mind.
“I wanted a more consistent schedule that didn’t have to revolve around many weekends missed or lost because of soccer,” he said. “Not that it’s a bad thing, but I’m at a point where I get more joy watching them play and finding their passions than me chasing mine.”
