Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–84)

This article is about the original Tulsa Roughnecks of the NASL. For other teams to use the name, see Tulsa Roughnecks (disambiguation).
Tulsa Roughnecks
Full name Tulsa Roughnecks
Nickname(s) Roughnecks, Necks
Founded 1978
Stadium outdoor:
Skelly Stadium (40,000)
indoor:
Tulsa Assembly Center[1] (8,900)
Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion (6,311)
League NASL

The Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) were a North American Soccer League (NASL) team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It played its home games at Skelly Stadium on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The team moved to Tulsa from Hawaii before the 1978 season and went out of business after the 1984 season when the NASL became defunct. According to former General Manager Noel Lemon, the team was a relative success compared to other NASL franchises. When Tulsa joined the league, there were 24 teams compared to just four teams when the league went out of business. Lemon said that none of the teams were profitable.[2]

Highlights

The Roughnecks were a regular in the NASL playoffs and won the NASL title in Soccer Bowl '83, defeating the Toronto Blizzard at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver) by a score of 2–0 before a paid attendance of 60,051.[3] The teams all-time win-loss record was 104–106. The Roughnecks' home games consistently drew better-than-league-average attendance with the annual record occurring during the 1980 season when the team averaged 19,787 spectators over 16 games for a total attendance that year of 316,593 (placing the Roughnecks at No. 5 between the Seattle Sounders and the Washington Diplomats). The largest home game attendance for Tulsa occurred on April 26, 1980 when 30,822 fans watched the Roughnecks' 2–1 victory over the New York Cosmos at Skelly Stadium. The highest attendance for any Roughneck game occurred on August 26, 1979 when Tulsa met the Cosmos in New York for a NASL playoff game before a crowd of 76,031.[3]

Famous Roughneck players include Iraj Danaeifard, Charlie Mitchell, Billy Caskey, Victor Moreland,[4] Barry Wallace, Alan Woodward, Zeljko Bilecki, Carmelo D'Anzi, Winston DuBose, Njego Pesa, Laurie Abrams, Chance Fry, Terry Moore and David McCreery.

Year-by-year

Year League W L Pts Reg. Season Playoffs Avg. Attendance
1978 NASL 15 15 132 2nd, National Conference, Central Division Lost 1st Round (Minnesota) 11,256
1979 NASL indoor 0 2 — N/A 3rd Place, Budweiser Invitational[5] 6,340
1979 NASL 14 16 139 3rd, National Conference, Central Division Won Conference Quarterfinal (Minnesota)
Lost Conference Semifinal (New York)		 16,426
1979–80 NASL Indoor 7 5 — 3rd, Western Lost 1st Round (Minnesota) 4,657
1980 NASL 15 17 139 3rd, National Conference, Central Division Lost 1st Round (New York) 19,787
1980–81 NASL Indoor 9 9 — 2nd, Southern Division Did not qualify 5,288
1981 NASL 17 15 154 3rd, Central Division Lost 1st Round (Minnesota) 17,188
1981–82 NASL Indoor 10 8 — 3rd, American Conference, Central Division Won 1st Round (Chicago)
Lost Semifinal (Tampa Bay)		 5,308
1982 NASL 16 16 112 2nd, Southern Division Lost 1st Round (New York) 14,554
1983 NASL Indoor Grand Prix 4 4 — 3rd in Grand Prix preliminary rounds Lost Semifinal (Tampa Bay)
Won 3rd place match (Ft. Lauderdale)		 3,293
1983 NASL 17 13 145 1st, Southern Division Won 1st Round (Ft. Lauderdale)
Won Semifinals (Montreal)
Won Soccer Bowl '83 (Toronto)		 12,415
1983–84 NASL Indoor 11 21 — 6th Did not qualify 3,707
1984 NASL 10 14 98 4th, Western Division Did not qualify 7,797

Honors

NASL Championships (1)

Division Champions (1)

  • 1983 Southern Division

Rookie of the Year

Soccer Bowl MVP

Indoor Leading Goal Scorer[6]

Indoor Leading Scorer[6]

Indoor Tournament Offensive MVP

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame

Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame[7]

All-Star First Team Selections

All-Star Second Team Selections

All-Star Honorable Mentions

Indoor All-Stars

Ownership & Staff

Players

Many former players have found employment as paid trainers of youth soccer teams for clubs such as the Tulsa United, Tulsa Soccer Club (TSC), Tornado Soccer Club, and Hurricane Football Club (HFC).

Coaches

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19780214&id=R4JIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tlkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6781,4725398&hl=en
  2. ↑ Krehbiel, Randy. "Soccer team's success wasn't easy." Tulsa World. September 15, 2002. Updated April 9, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  3. 1 2 http://tulsaroughnecks.com/Scores___Crowds_1978-84.html
  4. ↑ Brucculeri, Jeff (January 30, 2014). "Soccer great Victor Moreland liked what he discovered in Tulsa in 1978". Tulsa Beacon. Tulsa, OK: Biggs Communications. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  5. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rsEwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3VgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6654,3317860&dq=rowdies+had+to+do+more&hl=en
  6. 1 2 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qcJaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HFkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2106,1706476&dq=championship+effort+carried+rowdies&hl=en
  7. ↑ http://www.indoorsoccerhall.com/hall-of-fame-classes
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