JACK BLAKE made his professional soccer debut in England when he was 19 years old.
He had come up in the Nottingham Forest system, a team he still follows, but by the time he was 21, he had been released by the club and took a job working construction.
He was out of the professional game for almost a year, but something in him told him he wasn’t quite done.
“I just felt inside that I just didn’t feel like I had any other … ,” he tries to explain, “I felt like I was destined to play football. Like I didn’t have any other passion, and I know a lot of people don’t go to work every day and love it, but I felt like my belonging was in the world of football.”
Blake had grandparents in Phoenix whom he’d visited once a year since he was 6 or 7 years old, and he’d noticed guys like David Beckham and Frank Lampard signing soccer contracts in the United States. The trouble was, Blake didn’t have a contract and he could only get a visa that would last him 90 days in the States.
“I bought a one-way ticket,” he says, “I flew out to stay with my grandpa and contacted teams on the fly and sent them a few clips and said, ‘Hey, I’m here for an opportunity. I’ve been at Nottingham Forest since I can remember, and I’ve got a pedigree of an English Academy, and I’d love for you to take a look at me.’”
Minnesota United, then in the North American Soccer League, would offer Blake his first tryout and then contract before the deadline expired. This became the first of five U.S. teams throughout seven seasons that Blake played for before signing with Indy Eleven in January of 2023.
A midfielder or forward at times, Blake currently leads the Eleven with five goals in USL Championship League play and is second on the team with four assists. Last season, he tied for more goals in a season with 10 after helping the team finish in fourth place.
Blake may have proven himself as a professional soccer player by now, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t ever have a bad night on the pitch. After starting in their recent home game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, he got replaced by teammate Elliot Collier early in the second half of a 3-1 loss.
“He wasn’t playing well,” Eleven head coach Sean McAuley admits. “I said to him at halftime, ‘Try and dominate the ball.’ It just wasn’t working.”
Maybe not, but chances are strong Blake will be back on the pitch for his team soon, as the Eleven currently sit in seventh place and well in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Outside of professional soccer, Blake, whose wife is also from England, has two kids and helps coach his son’s U-8 Indy Eleven Academy team on occasion.
He also has good things to say about his family’s current home.
”I think probably the fondest memories have been with the kids. … The Children’s Museum is probably the best museum I’ve ever been to, and the kids love it there. Then, you go to the Carmel area and now in the summer you’ve got the swimming pools, which is just not so common in England.”
