The New York Cosmos are saddened to learn that club legend Barry Mahy, captain of the 1972 NASL championship team (the first league title in the club’s history) and member of the inaugural squad, passed away on Wednesday, September 30th.

The long-term Sayville resident emigrated to the United States in 1967, leaving England’s Scunthorpe United to join the New York Generals for their inaugural season in the NPSL, then making the transition to the NASL in 1968 before the franchise ceased operations, resurfacing with Generals teammate and Cosmos player-coach Gordon Bradley when the Cosmos were born in 1971. Mahy took a job with KLM Airlines when the Generals shut down, playing for their fabled company soccer team and staying with KLM as an employee, even as he resumed his professional career with the Cosmos. The dependable defender remained with the club until his career ended due to injury in 1976, bridging the fledgling days of the club to its glory days – Mahy one of the few players in world football history to captain a team that included Pelé.

Mahy also earned four caps playing for the US Men’s National Team.

When the Cosmos returned to play in August 3, 2013, Barry Mahy was in attendance at Hempstead with family, friends, and fellow teammates, to cheer the club he captained in the 1970s, at the stadium where he led them to their first league title.

Visitation will be Wednesday, October 7, 2020, from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm and from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm, with an 8:00pm chapel service at Raynor & D'Andrea Funeral Home, West Sayville, 245 Main Street, West Sayville, NY 11796. The event will be live-streamed.

Donations in Barry Mahy’s memory may go to Good Shepherd Hospice, 110 Bi-County Blvd Suite 114, Farmingdale NY 11735 (phone 1-631-465-6300).

For more details, to leave a message on his Tribute Wall or plant a tree in his memory, click here.

The New York Cosmos send the Mahy family its deepest condolences.