Friday was a special day for Jordan Harvey – personally and professionally.
On a professional level, Harvey played his 250th Major League Soccer regular season game in a 1-0 win over Colorado Rapids – the team that gave him his first opportunity in MLS back in 2008.
And as Harvey said this week, he’s “happy to have been here for the majority of those.”
Over 150 of Harvey’s games have come as a member of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He is the club’s all-time leader in games, starts, and minutes played in the MLS era, 2,000 minutes more than the next closest player (David Ousted), in fact. Unsurprisingly, he has become a fan favourite in Vancouver – mostly, as he would tell you, for his workmanlike mentality.
“Jordan’s a fantastic professional,” Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson said this week. “He’s loved around the city and he’s loved on the field. I laugh at people when they say give 110 per cent. You can only give 100 per cent. That’s your maximum. But he always tells me he gives 110 per cent. And he does. He leaves it all out there … and we’re lucky to have him.”
And if you ask Harvey, he feels lucky to be here.
When the Mission Viejo, California native was traded to Whitecaps FC in 2011, it was his third different team in four years. Admittedly, he “almost had one foot out the door” in that first year.
Oh, how times have changed.
Harvey is now in his seventh season with Whitecaps FC. Coincidentally, Friday was also Harvey’s seven-year anniversary with wife Kimberly Caldwell. As they spoke about in a TSN halftime feature shown during Friday night’s match, they have truly built a life here in Vancouver, making this home with their daughter Harlow and becoming deeply committed to a number of community intiatives.
For that reason and more, Harvey decided he wanted a “Tribute to Van City,” as he called it.
We told you all about his tattoos last year, but Harvey revealed an update to his sleeve on Instagram this week, featuring depictions of his wife and daughter at English Bay and, wait for it, BC Place. Seriously, how cool is that?
They say home is where the heart is. And, in Harvey's case, he wears his heart on his sleeve.
