By Paul Fairchild
Tulsa’s first professional soccer team may have folded in the ‘80s, but its legacy has fueled a continued drive for more of the sport.
Blaine Gonsalves demonstrates why the Tulsa Athletics ended the season with only one loss PHOTO BY JOHN O’CONNOR/ MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY
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Hardcore Tulsa soccer fans pine for the glory days of the Tulsa Roughnecks. The team, imported from Hawaii, regularly ended its seasons with playoff berths in the North American Soccer League’s Soccer Bowl. The team had talent, including Charlie Mitchell, Iraj Danaeifard and Victor Moreland. It also had fans. Lots of fans. At its peak of popularity, 20,000 fans filled the stands for games at The University of Tulsa’s Skelly Stadium. The Roughnecks rarely failed, but the North American Soccer League did in 1984, ending professional soccer in America until Major League Soccer debuted in 1993. Soccer in Tulsa didn’t disappear during those lean nine years. If anything, the soccer scene exploded. Tulsa is home to the Athletics, one of the top five of nearly 50 semi-pro teams in the National Premier Soccer League. It’s about to be joined by a new indoor team, the Tulsa Revolution. Tulsans take their soccer very seriously. Soccer is so prevalent in Tulsa that it’s become a self-sustaining engine of sorts. “We started something with the Roughnecks. Soccer’s grown tremendously in Tulsa over the last 25 years,” says exRoughneck Charlie Mitchell. “We now have a young bunch of elite athletes here that have reached the highest levels of competitive programs. The University of Tulsa, a Division I program, among the top five in the country, is here. We’ve got coaches that worked with some of the most competitive teams in the country. They have high standards and a love of the game that they’re passing along to Tulsa’s younger players.” In the 1980s, the NASL represented the best of the best soccer, not just in the U.S., but around the world. The great Pelé played for the New York Cosmos. A handful of Roughnecks came over from the United Kingdom. The Roughnecks were right up there at the top of the league, competing twice for the NASL championship and bringing it home to Tulsa in 1983. The team was rewarded with a ticker tape parade, and its success left an indelible mark on the community. They were winners. They were exciting. They attracted both dedicated and casual fans. Soccer became the sport to watch in Tulsa. SEPTEMBER 2013 | WWW.OKMAG.COM
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