VANCOUVER, BC – Call him the Energizer Bunny. Jordan Harvey just keeps going and going.
And on Wednesday night at BC Place, the 32-year-old defender became Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s new all-time regular season appearances leader in MLS. Interestingly, Harvey tied the MLS club record with 112 touches on the night.
The Mission Viejo, California native now sits at 134 regular season appearances for Whitecaps FC, surpassing previous record holder Gershon Koffie.
WHITECAPS FC REGULAR SEASON APPEARANCES (MLS)
1. Jordan Harvey: 134
2. Gershon Koffie: 133
3. Russell Teibert: 94
4. Darren Mattocks: 93
T5: Camilo Sanvezzo: 92
T5: David Ousted: 92
“It's a huge honour,” Harvey told reporters in the build-up to Wednesday’s match. “This club has had a lot of great players and to have the most appearances is truly an honour. [I feel] privileged to be here, playing in front of these fans and this organization.”
And the ‘Caps are pretty privileged to have him.
Harvey, a 5-foot-11 left back, has been Mr. Consistent ever since joining the club in 2011 – Whitecaps FC acquired him midway through their inaugural season in a trade with Philadelphia.
He’s never been the flashiest player, though he does have nine goals to his name (the most among Whitecaps FC defenders in MLS). He’s just a steady, calming presence who gives 100 per cent every time he steps onto the pitch.
And, in any league, that goes a long way.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve,” Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson told reporters this week. “If you have 11 or 10 Jordan Harveys on your team with the amount of fight, determination, and work ethic he has, you won't go far wrong."
That’s been Harvey’s M.O. from a young age.
He’s never had anything given to him. He was cut from a regional team at the age of 13. He wasn’t drafted in the main MLS SuperDraft. Then, after finally earning a starter’s spot with Colorado Rapids, he was left exposed in the MLS Expansion Draft.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing in Vancouver, either.
There was that inaugural year, of course, when Whitecaps FC won just six matches. And there’s the fact that Harvey was initially behind Alain Rochat on the depth chart at left back. But the Californian has always found a way to persevere, which he attributes to having a “blue-collar mentality,” and he’s done so in a respectable manner.
“He's been a pleasure since I've taken charge here,” Robinson said. “Even when I was an assistant with [Martin Rennie] and he was behind Alain Rochat, he conducted himself very, very well. People don't see that. They only see the good times and not the difficult times.”
The good times sure outweigh the bad here in Vancouver.
10 THINGS ABOUT JORDAN HARVEY
Get to know Whitecaps FC’s all-time MLS appearances leader.
UNIVERSITY GRAD
In 2014, Harvey took care of some unfinished business at finished off his sociology degree through online courses at UCLA – nearly 10 years after leaving the school to turn pro.
“I was so close after I left,” Harvey told whitecapsfc.com. “I was about two quarters away. Being so close, I just had to it. After soccer, I have to do something and having a degree helps.”
His last class was titled “Sociology of Self and Society.”
“I’ve taken some really cool courses and this last one was a really good one to end on,” he said. “It really focused on people and self, how you encompass yourself, how you portray yourself through different things like social networking, Facebook, Twitter, and all that stuff.”
HOST EXTRAORDINAIRE
Speaking of portraying himself through social media, Harvey is the host of Whitecaps FC’s popular video series: “Roommates on the Road.” Check out one of this year’s episodes below.
SUPER COUPLE
Also in 2014 – on New Year’s Eve, in fact – Harvey tied the knot with Kimberly Caldwell, a popular singer/actress who placed seventh on the second season of American Idol. Their Great Gatsby-themed ceremony was featured in both US Weekly and People Magazine.
NEW FATHER
On October 7, 2015, Harvey and Caldwell welcomed their first child into the world: a baby girl named Harlow Monroe Harvey. Harlow was born just after 9:30 a.m. in Vancouver, meaning she has dual citizenship. Later that evening, Harvey started for Whitecaps FC as they clinched a playoff berth in a scoreless draw with FC Dallas.
Meet the Harvey family below.
SECRET TALENT
OK, it’s not that secret.
But Harvey is quite the guitarist. He has accompanied Caldwell at a number of her shows and the duo have also performed together at various community events in Vancouver. That’s part of the reason why Harvey was named the Whitecaps FC Humanitarian of the Year in 2013.
HEART ON HIS ‘SLEEVE’
Harvey has a number of tattoos on his right arm, including a timepiece representing his aforementioned New Year’s Eve wedding at The Bougainvillea Estate in Palm Springs (thus the bougainvillea right above it). All of Harvey’s tattoos revolve around his family.
Read more about them here.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
On June 19, 2013, Harvey scored the 10,000th goal in MLS history against Chivas USA.
HOME DEBUT FOR THE AGES
Harvey made his home debut for Whitecaps FC in a friendly against Manchester City at Empire Field. It would have been a memorable match regardless considering the occasion and opponent, but it became even more so due to the heavy rain that began to fall the night before the match.
A combination of flood trucks, vacuums, suction, and lawn mowers were used to remove excess water on the pitch to ensure the game wasn’t cancelled.
“The fans were still there in numbers,” Harvey said. “That’s what I remembered watching from a distance in Philly. Just the energy. You could tell even from watching highlights that there was such a great energy in this city surrounding the Whitecaps … the city has gotten more into the Whitecaps every year. It’s helped with the success we’ve had and hopefully we continue to have more success and it’s a Whitecaps city.”
GATORADE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
A soccer standout at Capistrano Valley High School in his hometown of Mission Viejo, California, Harvey was the first player from the state to win America’s Gatorade National High School Boys Soccer Player of the Year award in 2001. Former Whitecaps FC player Lee Nguyen went on to win the accolade in 2004.
IF HE WASN’T A SOCCER PLAYER…
Harvey said he would love to be a professional surfer. He is a Californian after all.
“Growing up, I surfed here and there but I always thought it’d be the ideal profession to travel around to all these exotic locations and surf for a living,” he said.
Be a part of the best sporting atmosphere in Vancouver! Whitecaps FC offer a flexible range of ticket products, including Half-Season Packs, 5-Packs, a Youth Soccer Half-Season Ticket, and single match tickets. For more information, visit whitecapsfc.com/tickets.
