Background
Peterson was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington where he attended Wilson High School.
Peterson was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington where he attended Wilson High School.
Foreign the photographer see Mark Peterson (photographer)
He also earned six caps, scoring one goal, with the United States men"s national soccer team He played soccer at Wilson, as well as for the Norpoint Royals Soccer Club. Peterson elected to forgo college and joined the Seattle Sounders development program in 1979.
This was the Sounders" sixth season in the North American Soccer League (NASL).
In 1980, he was called up to the first team where he had an immediate impact. In 34 games that year, he scored 18 goals.
In 1983, he continued his excellent work with the Sounders, but experienced a difficult playing situation. The United States. Soccer Federation (USSF) had placed the national team, known as Team America into the NASL as one of the league’s franchises.
They did this in order to create a more unified and successful team
However, several top United States. players, Peterson included, chose not to join Team America. This sparked considerable consternation and bitterness within the national team as players with Team America criticized those who remained with their NASL teams. The pressure on USSF and Team America mounted as the national team performed poorly.
Finally, USSF negotiated an agreement with the other NASL teams to allow them to loan United States. players to Team America when they were not needed.
This resulted in Peterson playing 21 games in 1983 for the Sounders and 7 games for Team America. Unfortunately for Peterson, both the Sounders and Team America folded at the end of the 1983 season.
On October 2, 1983, he was selected by the New York Cosmos in the Sounders’ dispersal draft. He never played for the Cosmos as the NASL began to collapse.
On November 24, 1983 he signed a two year contract with Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League.
He led the team in scoring during the 1983–1984 season. In March 1987, he signed with F.C. Seattle in the Western Soccer Alliance. Despite his proven scoring ability, Peterson earned only six caps with the United States men"s national soccer team between 1980 and 1985.
In 1980, he was still a young player and had difficulty breaking into the United States. front line of Boris Bandov, Steve Moyers and Angelo DiBernardo.
In 1981 and 1982, the national team played only a single game each year, Peterson had no part in either one. His last game was a 1–1 World Cup Qualifier tie with Costa Rica on May 26, 1985.
Peterson coached the North Tacoma Soccer Club until his death on July 7, 2011.