Chris Wondolowski was the No. 41 pick in the 2005 Major League Soccer supplemental draft, among the last batch of leftover prospects to be drafted in the last round. After 48\u00a0superdraft selections and 40 supplemental picks, that overlooked Division II forward from Danville, who would be endearingly known as \u201cWondo\u201d among San Jose Earthquakes fans, turned his opportunity into a Hall of Fame career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wondolowski was ushered into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Friday night at Toyota Stadium in\u00a0Frisco, Texas, as part of a six-person 2026 induction class. Following a 17-year MLS career, Wondolowski retired in 2021 as the league\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer, crushing the previous record of 145 set by American soccer legend Landon Donovan. Wondolowski finished with 171, a figure that remains atop the MLS career list.<\/p>\n
Not bad for a former no-name who signed a rookie contract worth $11,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t a highly recruited athlete,\u201d said Wondolowski, who competed in soccer, track and cross country at De La Salle High School in Concord. \u201cI was actually more recruited for my track and cross country prowess, rather than my soccer, and I ended up at Chico State. Division II school.\u201d<\/p>\n
He spent 14 of his 17 seasons in the MLS with the San Jose Earthquakes, a once floundering and often middling franchise for which its No. 89 overall pick (of 96) in 2005 became a more than memorable face. The Earthquakes became the Houston Cosmos in 2006, and it wasn\u2019t until Wondolowski had been traded back to a revived Quakes franchise under owner John Fisher that Wondolowski\u2019s goals started to come in bunches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His MLS accolades included an MVP award, two Golden Boots for being the league\u2019s top scorer, three Best IX nods that recognize the top players in the league at each position, and five All-Star appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the Quakes \u2026 thank you for drafting me,\u201d Wondolowski said.<\/p>\n
Wondolowski remains with the organization in a player development role that he transitioned into upon retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrateful for John Fisher bringing back the Quakes in 2008, and to have a home team to play for,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not a coincidence that that\u2019s when my career took off. When I was able to play in front of friends and family and people that I love and cared about. And for a team that I supported. I went to the games when they were at Spartan Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a diehard and it meant that much more to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wondolowski also collected 35 caps with the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team, two of which came during the 2014 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Of a caliber that could have led him overseas, he stayed home to star on U.S. soil, helping to build up a young league that has since drawn iconic talents such as Lionel Messi and David Beckham as an increasingly more attractive destination for professional soccer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe care and support, and then the people that believed in me,\u201d Wondolowski said, \u201cis why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Wondolowski was the No. 41 pick in the 2005 Major League Soccer supplemental draft, among the last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89,127],"class_list":["post-296096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}