Although Gold will no longer be present in an official capacity at Leland, he will not be soon forgotten, and the legacy he leaves behind will live on.

Gold first arrived at Leland in the fall of 1985, but he was already coaching youth soccer in the Almaden Valley, which was instrumental in steering him Leland's way. He was coaching several Leland players on his district team and they knew that their current coach at Leland would not be returning. So, they encouraged Gold to apply for the position. He was coaching girls soccer at Gunn High School in Palo Alto at the time and, besides being interested in giving boys soccer a try, he was tired of the commute. Gold decided to interview for the Leland position and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

In his rookie year at Leland, Gold gave folks a glimpse of what was to become a standard in Leland soccer in the years ahead under his tutelage. He led that first team to an undefeated 20-0-1 season and right to the 1986 Central Coast Section championship. It was the first time Leland had won a CCS soccer championship and it was before the CCS adopted the division format.

That was just the beginning of many good times to come. Gold would lead the Chargers to three additional CCS Division I championships in 1988, 1989, and 1998. He would also accumulate 14 league championship along the way.

One of his fondest memories, though, is the three-season stretch between the fall of 1987 and the winter of 1990 when Leland set the national public school unbeaten streak record of 65-0-10, which still stands today.

"That effort was especially tough on the third-year team who had all of the pressure to break the record," Gold said. "And everyone we played came with their 'A' game because they wanted to be the one who stopped us."

The previous record was 60 and, as luck would have it, Leland had to beat rival Pioneer to match the old record. The Chargers came through with a 4-0 win and then went on to beat Lincoln for their 6lst win to break the record. The streak would stop at 65 when Bellarmine defeated Leland 3-0 in the 1990 CCS semi-finals. The irony of that is it was Bellarmine that Leland beat three years earlier to begin the streak.

Anyone around high school sports knows that it can become a grind at times for coaches, and to be around for 20 years is especially unique. When asked what kept him around for so long Gold responded by saying, "Well, you don't coach high school sports for the money, but for me it was really fun," he said. "I enjoyed building teams and I never lost my appetite for that.

"You have players for four years and, while you are building that team, you are working on building another one to take its place. I got to build a new team every couple of years and I like that challenge."

Gold grew up in England where "soccer is not a sport but a way of life" and began kicking around a soccer ball at the age of 7, developing a love of the game. He made his way to the United States and the San Jose area in 1980. His heart has been in teaching youth the game of soccer and developing the talent of young players in the Almaden Valley ever since. Many of the kids that played for him at Leland came through his youth soccer programs, which only served to deepen the talent he had available on his high school teams.

Gold is not burned out or tired of coaching but in fact will continue to run his Go 4 Gold Soccer School and coach youth soccer programs and plans on continuing to send quality players Leland's way. So, exactly what is the reason he is leaving high school coaching behind?

"I'm not stopping coaching all together but just high school coaching and I guess you could say it's more for my wife than for anything else. We've been married for 17 years and I want to have a lot more time to spend with her. Plus, I learned to snow ski last year and would like to have more time to enjoy that," he said.

When you spend 20 years in one place, you have the opportunity to create a number of lasting memories and sometimes even a legacy.

"I hope people remember that we built a tradition of excellence at Leland and a quality program with a style of play that demonstrated that you would not have an easy game when you came to play Leland," he said.

"I also hope that I had a positive influence in the lives of my players. I was a disciplinarian and I tried to teach them lessons about life and not just soccer. I would like to believe that I helped make some guys better men who had good character and were responsible."

Dave Gold, the person, may not be present in Leland soccer in the years to come, but his influence will definitely remain as a result of his presence in years past.