Dallas Tornado
Full name | Dallas Tornado | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Tornado | ||
Founded | 1967 | ||
Dissolved | 1981 | ||
Stadium | List
| ||
Chairman | NASL (1968–1981) | ||
|
The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981.[1] Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons.
Their home fields were Cotton Bowl (1967–1968), P.C. Cobb Stadium (1969), Franklin Field (1970–1971),[2] Texas Stadium (1972–1975, 1980–1981) and Ownby Stadium on the SMU campus (1976–1979). The club played Indoor soccer at Reunion Arena for one season (1980–81), and hosted the two-day 1975 Regionals at Fair Park Coliseum.
History
1967–1971
The franchise was one of the original clubs that played in the United Soccer Association, one of the two precursors to the NASL, in 1967. That year overseas clubs played in U.S. cities as American teams. The team that played as the Dallas Tornado were Dundee United of the Scottish Football League.
The following season when the USA merged with the NPSL, owners
The fledgling Dallas Tornado learned to play as a team on their world tour during seven months in 1967–68, where they played 45 games in 26 countries spanning five continents.[1] Their world tour took them from England to India, from Indonesia to Vietnam during the height of the war. The Tornado consisted 8 players from England, 5 from Norway, 2 each from Sweden and the Netherlands; there was only one American player, Jay Moore.[1] The Tornado played in front of crowds of up to 50,000, and they played several well-established teams, such as a 2–2 draw against Fenerbahçe, as well as playing Spanish second-division side Real Oviedo, and the Japan national team.[1] The tour gave the new Dallas Tornado team an international face at a time when American soccer was relatively unknown; the effort resulted in a record of 10 wins, nine draws and 26 defeats. When the actual 1968 NASL season started, though, the exhausted Tornado quickly blew itself out; they won just two league matches all year, against four ties and 26 losses, easily the worst record in NASL history.
Things turned dark after the season when no fewer than ten NASL franchises folded, with Dallas one of the surviving five clubs. The 1969 season was split into two halves. The first half was called the International Cup, a double round robin tournament in which the remaining NASL clubs were represented by teams imported from the United Kingdom. The Tornado was represented again by Dundee United. The Tornado came in tied for third in the Cup with a 2–4–2 record. For the second half of the 1969 season, the teams returned to their normal rosters and played a 16-game schedule with no playoffs.
Fortunes improved for the club as they won the
1972–1981
Several division titles followed in the years after that league title. The face of the team was
As was the case with most NASL clubs, a drop in attendance contributed to the demise of the club in 1981.[
Lamar Hunt did not give up on soccer in America, however, and was one of the founding owners in Major League Soccer.
Ex-
Year-by-year
Year | Record | Regular Season Finish | Playoffs | Avg. Attend |
---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | 3–6–3 | 6th, Western Division (USA) | Did not qualify | 9,227 |
1968 | 2–26–4 | 4th, Gulf Division | Did not qualify | 2,927 |
1969 | 2–2–4 | 3rd | No Postseason | 2,923 |
1970 | 8–12–4 | 3rd, Southern Division | Did not qualify | 2,228 |
1971 | 10–6–8 | 2nd, Southern Division | Won Semifinals Series vs. Rochester Lancers, 2–1 , 2–1
Won NASL Finals Series vs. Atlanta Chiefs |
3,326 |
1972 | 6–5–3 | 2nd, Southern Division | Lost Semifinal Game vs. New York Cosmos , 0–1
|
4,093 |
1973 | 11–4–4 | 1st, Southern Division | Won Semifinal Game vs. New York Cosmos, 1–0 , 0–2
Lost NASL Championship Game vs. Philadelphia Atoms |
7,474 |
1974 | 9–8–3 | 1st, Central Division | Won Quarterfinal Game vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 3–0 , 1–3
Lost Semifinal Game vs. Miami Toros |
8,469 |
1975 | 9–13 | 4th, Central Division | Did not qualify | 4,630 |
1976 | 13–11 | 2nd, Southern Division, Pacific Conference | Won 1st round Game vs. San Jose Earthquakes , 0–2
|
14,095 |
1977 | 18–8 | 1st, Southern Division, Pacific Conference | Lost Conference Championships vs. Los Angeles Aztecs, 0–2 | 16,511 |
1978 | 14–16 | 3rd, Central Division, National Conference | Did not qualify | 8,981 |
1979 | 17–13 | 2nd, Central Division, National Conference | Lost National Conference Quarterfinals vs. Vancouver Whitecaps , 0–2
|
9,321 |
1980 | 18–14 | 1st, Central Division, National Conference | Won 1st round Series vs. New York Cosmos , 1–2
|
6,752 |
1981 | 5–27 | 4th, Central Division | Did not qualify | 4,670 |
Indoor seasons
In March 1971 the league staged its first ever indoor event, a four-team
Year | Record | Regular Season Finish | Playoffs |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | 2–0 | Hoc-Soc Tournament | 1st place |
1975 | 2–2 | (16 team tournament only) | 3rd place |
1976 | 2–2 | (12 team tournament only) | 4th place |
1979 | 2–0 | Budweiser Invitational | 1st place |
1980–81
|
7–11 | 3rd, Southern Division | Did not qualify |
Honors
NASL championships (1)
NASL Season Premierships (1) NASL Indoor championships (2) Division/Region Titles (5)
Rookie of the Year
League scoring champion
League goal scoring champion
League Leading Goaltender
Indoor MVP
Indoor Scoring Champion
|
Indoor Leading Goaltender
All-Star first team selections
All-Star second team selections
All-Star honorable mentions
Indoor All-Stars
U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame
Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame
|
Players
Notable players
- Koulis Apostolidis (1969–1971)
- Jim Benedek (1970–1973)
- Jeff Bourne (1978–1979)
- Cliff Calvert (1981)
- Len Cantello (1981)
- Dave Chadwick (1974–1975)
- Frank Hason (1970–1973)
- Alan Hinton (1977)
- John Stewart (1967–1969)[14]
- Bobby Hope (1976–1978)
- Tim Huff (1981)
- Bill Irwin (1981)
- Nicky Jennings (1973)
- Brian Kettle (1978)[1]
- Kevin Kewley (1976–1979)[2]
- Willi Lippens (1979)
- Oreco (1970–1971)
- Angel Pichardo (1977–1980)
- Wolfgang Rausch (1979–1981)
- Kyle Rote Jr. (1972–1978)
- Jimmy Ryan (1976–1979)[3]
- Alex Stepney (1979–1980)
- Klaus Toppmöller (1980–1981)
- Gert Trinklein (1979–80)[4]
- Zequinha (1979–1981)
- Stephen L Tatum (1975–1976)
- Charlie Williams (1968)
- Walter Smith (On Loan 1967)
Head coaches
- Jerry Kerr 1967[15]
- Bob Kap 1967 [5]
- Keith Spurgeon 1968
- Ron Newman1969–1975
- Al Miller 1976–1980
- Mike Renshaw 1981
- Peter Short1981
References
- ^ a b c d e Jones, Neil (January 9, 2014). "The forgotten story of … Dallas Tornado's 1967-68 world tour". the Guardian. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ^ "Franklin Stadium – SoccerStats.us". soccerstats.us. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ^ "The Year in American Soccer – 1971". homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Crossley, Drew (December 16, 2011). "Dallas Tornado". Fun While It Lasted. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ISBN 9781449423391. Retrieved January 11, 2014 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". Lakeland Ledger. Retrieved January 11, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
- ^ Flachsbart, Harold (March 20, 1971). "Fans Get A Kick Out Of Hoc-Soc". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 6. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
- ^ "The Evening Independent". Retrieved January 11, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
- ^ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". Lakeland Ledger. Retrieved January 11, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
- ^ a b "History of Indoor Soccer in the USA". RSSSF. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ^ "Kasey Keller, Sigi Schmid and Glenn "Mooch" Myernick Elected to National Soccer Hall of Fame".
- ^ "Hall of Famers". indoorsoccerhall.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ^ "Hall of Famers". indoorsoccerhall.com. September 1, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
- ^ "John Stewart". justsportsstats.com. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ^ "Dundee United And Soccer's Original Texas Derby – The Soccer Observer". thesoccerobserver.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013.
External links
- Dallas Tornado Rosters on NASLJerseys.com
- The Adventures of the Dallas Tornado on BBC World Service