World Cup: What to Know About Team USA Captain Clint Dempsey

— -- If there's one player you should know from Team USA at the 2014 World Cup, it's midfielder Clint Dempsey, the team's captain.

The 31-year-old from Nacogdoches, Texas got his professional start playing in Major League Soccer for the New England Revolution in 2004 -– when he was named “Rookie of the Year” –- after playing for Furman University in South Carolina at the collegiate level.

Dempsey was later signed by the Premier League team Fulham in London, where he was twice voted “Player of the Season” by fans. They sold him to another European team, Tottenham Hotspur, in 2012.

2014 FIFA World Cup TV Schedule and Results

Get to Know Ghana's Andre Ayew

ESPN: Complete Coverage

He has said he grew up in a trailer park in the small East Texas town, where he fell in love with soccer by playing pick-up games in the street with his siblings. After his sister Jennifer died of a brain aneurysm in 1995, he was motivated to succeed in soccer, he said.

But Dempsey is more than a professional athlete.

He's also a rapper who goes by the name Duece, starring in YouTube videos alongside fellow Texas rappers XO and the late Big Hawk.

Snoop Dog is even a fan of the soccer star.

"Shoutout to Clint Dempsey, the No. 1 soccer player in the world, yes sir, and the whole USA soccer team," he recently said in an Instagram video. "Good luck on the World Cup and bring it home."

In addition to leading the national team, Dempsey is also part of the Seattle Sounders. He and wife Bethany Dempsey have three children.

Sign up for occasional World Cup dispatches from Brazil delivered right to your phone -- including the best photos and limited highlights -- by "starring" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here.