Portland Magazine
Alumni
Athletics
February 10, 2020
We spoke to Rey Ortiz ’19, Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick for FC Cincinnati, the night before he left his home in San Diego for preseason. He hadn’t yet packed his bags, but he wasn’t worried about getting ready. He’d been working toward this next step for a long time. Even back in middle school, he remembers taking the train from San Diego to Los Angeles every day to play with the LA Galaxy, sometimes leaving at 5 in the morning and getting back after 9 at night. He was ready.
But he is quick to say that playing pro was never his only goal. “It’s one of my biggest achievements,” he says, “next to being a first-generation alum of UP. I’m most proud of being the first in my family to be a graduate.” He has two younger siblings he’s hoping to be an example for. [Watch Rey tell his story about being a Dreamer and his path to UP.]
He holds his family and those who have supported him very close. He has always worn custom-made shin guards with images of the people who helped him on his journey. It comes as no surprise that these shin guards took a beating in the 64 games he played for the Pilots. So he’s getting new ones made. This time, he said, he’s including some imagery from the UP part of his journey, where he scored 14 goals, had 26 assists, earned more than one All-West accolade, and graduated with a degree in organizational communication and a social justice minor. He’ll carry all this forward.
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