The NASL’s first crisis
Posted on February 25, 2013 12:25 am
That the North American Soccer League died an early death, after 17 seasons, is well known. That it nearly died a much earlier one is less famous.
The NASL’s survival of its crisis year of 1969 was due largely to the efforts of three men, Clive Toye, Phil Woosnam and Lamar Hunt. Toye and Woosnam both were British expatriates and both had come to America for supporting roles in this new soccer venture that was starting here. Woosnam, a veteran star with several Football League teams and an extreme rarity among British pro soccer players, a college graduate, had come to be coach of the Atlanta Chiefs (in 1968, he ended up coaching the U.S. national team in World Cup qualifying as well). By this point, he was executive director of the NASL. Toye, who had been the chief soccer writer for the Daily Express, a huge London newspaper, had crossed the Atlantic in 1967 to become general manager of the Baltimore Bays, and by 1969 was Woosnam’s assistant. Hunt (above), the son of legendary Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, was a money man, of whom there had been a number a year or two before, but he was not like the other team owners. Hunt was committed to this venture and didn’t join the scramble for the exit at the end of the 1968 season, particularly impressive considering that his team had won just two games and lost 26 that season.
Toye and Woosnam were crammed into a tiny office in the bowels of Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, and their efforts there became famous among NASL people, but the contribution of Hunt was equally crucial to the NASL’s survival. In addition to owning the Dallas Tornado of the NASL, Hunt also owned the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. The fact that he was willing to stick to his commitment to soccer and invest his time was well as his money in efforts to keep the NASL afloat is a very important factor in why American soccer has the respectability that it does today.
Reporter Alex Yannis, who covered the New York Cosmos for the New York Times throughout their existence, quoted Woosnam on the subject of Hunt’s work in his 1980 book, Inside Soccer: “The main reason we stayed alive was the presence of Lamar Hunt. People knew who Lamar Hunt was and that he would not stay with a league he didn’t believe had a future in the United States.”
Yannis also quoted Hunt: “Phil and everybody else in the league give me too much credit….Phil Woosnam is the guy who really kept it alive. He went out and knocked on doors. I just gave the league a little stability because of my involvement in other sports.”
The NASL started to rise again in 1970 when two American Soccer League teams, the Washington Darts and the Rochester Lancers, jumped leagues. It was a narrow thing according to Toye. Washington agreed to switch to the NASL, but only if Rochester would also. So the negotiations with the Rochester owners, Charlie Schiano and Pat DiNolfo, really were for two teams, not one. Maybe more than two in a sense, considering that the NASL would have folded without them. After considerable back and forth, Schiano and DiNolfo agreed to make the move and the NASL stayed in business (and those Washington and Rochester teams ended up playing for the NASL title in 1970).
The NASL went on to famous things during its flight of 17 seasons, but it came awfully close to crashing on takeoff.
I’ve read now and again that the NASL began in 1968, but the Tornado were part of the USA in 1967, and the USA merged with the NPSL to form the NASL…so does NASL get credit for the extra year, since it was the product of a merger?
The standings and stats of the two leagues that played in 1967 are sometimes listed alongside the NASL ones, but they were not simply an extension of the same league. This is particularly true of the United Soccer Association, the league that the Dallas Tornado played it. For example, the Tornado played under the same name as the NASL team and the franchise had the same owner, but, as was the case with every team in the league, the players came from Rent-a-Roster. The Dallas Tornado were actually Dundee United from Scotland, earning some extra money in the off-season. Every team in the league was a European or South American team in disguise. In the league final, the names on the scoreboard were the Los Angeles Wolves and the Washington Whips, but the teams on the field were Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aberdeen. Because this league had to fit itself into the European off-season, its season was only seven weeks long. Opening day was May 26, and the title game was July 14.
The other league, the National Professional Soccer League (same name as a later indoor league), was a bit better. It signed its own players and played a longer schedule, although it was limited to fielding players who were willing to risk their careers by playing in a league that wasn’t sanctioned by the USSFA or FIFA.
Those two 1967 leagues did have one thing in common — red ink.
And 32 years later, Lamar Hunt was one of three men who kept MLS alive.
Beau Dure says:
“And 32 years later, Lamar Hunt was one of three men who kept MLS alive.”
Wow. I had not made that connection. One man.
amazing how Hunt’s love for the game never died, even when the NASL went belly up, he still wanted to be a major force in MLS. thank god for Lamar Hunt
Amen.
thank god for Lamar Hunt
I just want to say its about time – long past time – you wrote something about the Lancers. The fact that the two teams from the ASL who joined the NASL played each other for the championship the very next year says a good deal about the caliber of the much-maligned ASL.
As for Lamar Hunt, American soccer fans owe him a debt which can never be repaid. In an age when words like “greatness” are used for every clown who is famous for five minutes, the man was a giant.
As was written about Wren so many years ago, so too it can be said about Mr Hunt: if you seek his monument, look around you.
As a founding member of The Dallas Tornado I can confirm that Lamar Hunt was a giant among men. Read ‘Lamer Hunt, A Life in Sports’ by Michael McCambridge for more on Lamar.
It’s fitting they named the Open Cup after him, since it’s been a survivor, after all these years.
Now, if we can only get people and the soccer infrastructure to get excited about the competition, and give it the proper respect that is so deserved by a man as great as Lamar Hunt.
Popular Store Items
Popular Posts
Latest from the Forum
About Big Soccer
Copyright © 2011 Big Internet Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Click here for our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Views expressed by the bloggers and users of BigSoccer do not represent the views of Big Internet Group, LLC.