 He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team at the 1984 Summer Olympics.Tambi was born in Paterson, New Jersey and attended Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, graduating in 1979.He is Karachay and his family was originally from the North Caucasus region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, which they fled as refugees during World War II to Turkey before settling in Paterson.