Dallas Tornado

Full name	Dallas Tornado
Nickname(s)	The Tornado
Founded	1967
Dissolved	1981
Ground	Cotton Bowl Turnpike Stadium P.C. Cobb Stadium Texas Stadium Ownby Stadium (Capacity: 70,000 (Cotton Bowl) 20,000 (Turnpike) 65,000 (Texas St.) 20,000 (Owenby))
Chairman	Lamar Hunt
League	North American Soccer League
Home colours Away colours

Dallas Tornado were a soccer team based in Dallas that played in the NASL. They played from 1967 to 1981. Their home fields were Cotton Bowl (1967–1968), P.C. Cobb Stadium (1969), Franklin Field (1970–1971), Texas Stadium (1972–1975, 1980–1981) and Ownby Stadium on the SMU campus (1976–1979). The club played Indoor soccer at Reunion Arena (1980–81).

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. In fact the USA was made up of international clubs playing 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 Lamar Hunt and Bill McNutt had to build a new team from scratch. Their effort resulted in a 2-26-4 record.

Following the 1968 NASL season, the league was in trouble with ten franchises having folded. 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 NASL championship in 1971. Several division titles followed in the years after that league title. Two players, Kyle Rote, Jr. (son of former New York Giants wide receiver Kyle Rote) and Steve Pecher, won the league Rookie of the Year award in 1973 and 1976, respectively. As was the case with most NASL clubs, a drop in attendance contributed to the demise of the club in 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the USA in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest--15 seasons.

Lamar Hunt did not give up on soccer in America, however, and was one of the founding owners in Major League Soccer.

Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper, Alex Stepney played for Dallas.

Contents 1 Year-by-year 2 Indoor Season 3 Honors 4 Players 5 Head Coaches 6 Yearly Average Attendance

[edit] Year-by-year

Year	Record	Regular Season Finish	Playoffs
1967	3-3-6	6th, Western Division, USA	Did Not Qualify
1968	2-4-26	4th, Gulf Division	Did Not Qualify
1969	2-4-2	3rd	no postseason
1970	8-4-12	3rd, Southern Division	Did Not Qualify
1971	10-8-6	2nd, Southern Division	NASL Champions
1972	6-3-5	2nd, Southern Division	Semifinals
1973	11-4-4	1st, Southern Division	Runners-up
1974	9-3-8	1st, Central Division	Semifinals
1975	9-13	4th, Central Division	Did Not Qualify
1976	13-11	2nd, Southern Division, Pacific Conference	Division Championships
1977	18-8	1st, Southern Division, Pacific Conference	Conference Championships
1978	14-16	3rd, Central Division, National Conference	Did Not Qualify
1979	17-13	2nd, Central Division, National Conference	National Conference Quarterfinals
1980	18-14	1st, Central Division, National Conference	National Conference Semifinals
1981	5-27	4th, Central Division	Did Not Qualify

[edit] Indoor Season

Year	Record	Regular Season Finish	Playoffs
1980–81	5 – 27	3rd, Southern Division	Did Not Qualify

[edit] Honors

NASL Championships

• 1971

Division Titles

• 1973 Southern Division
• 1974 Central Division
• 1977 Southern Division, Pacific Conference
• 1980 Central Division, National Conference

Rookie of the Year

• 1973 Kyle Rote, Jr.
• 1976 Steve Pecher

All-Star First Team Selections

• 1969 Kirk Apostolidis, John Best, Ilija Mitic
• 1970 John Best
• 1971 John Best, Dick Hall, Mirko Stojanovic
• 1972 John Best, Ken Cooper
• 1973 John Best, Ken Cooper, Ilija Mitic
• 1974 Dick Hall, Albert Jackson, Ilija Mitic

All-Star Second Team Selections

• 1967 (USA) Doug Smith
• 1970 Kirk Apostolidis, Mike Renshaw, Roy Turner
• 1972 Dick Hall
• 1973 Dick Hall, Rick Reynolds
• 1975 Ken Cooper
• 1976 Jeff Bourne, Bob Hope, George Ley
• 1977 George Ley, Steve Pecher

All-Star Honorable Mentions

• 1971 Momcilio Gavric, Oreco
• 1972 Mike Renshaw
• 1973 John Collins, Nick Jennings, Kyle Rote, Jr., Roy Turner

[edit] Players

• Oreco (1970-71)
• Jeff Bourne (1978-79) [1]
• Cliff Calvert (1981)
• Len Cantello (1981)
• Dave Chadwick (1974-75)
• Alan Hinton (1977)
• Brian Kettle (1978) [2]
• Kevin Kewley (1976-79) [3]
• Alex Stepney (1979-80)
• Klaus Toppmöller (1980-81)
• Gert Trinklein (1979-80) [4]
• Bill Irwin (1981)
• Bobby Hope (1976-78) [5]
• Jimmy Ryan (footballer born 1945) (1976-79) [6]
• Jim Benedek (1970-1973)

[edit] Head Coaches

• Jerry Kerr 1967
• Bob Kap 1968
• Keith Spurgeon 1968
• Ron Newman 1969 - 1975
• Al Miller 1976 - 1980
• Mike Renshaw 1981
• Peter Short 1981

[edit] Yearly Average Attendance

• 1967 - 9,227
• 1968 - 2,927
• 1969 - 2,923
• 1970 - 2,228
• 1971 - 3,326
• 1972 - 4,093
• 1973 - 7,474
• 1974 - 8,469
• 1975 - 4,630
• 1976 - 14,095
• 1977 - 16,511* record average for any Dallas soccer club
• 1978 - 8,981
• 1979 - 9,321
• 1980 - 6,752
• 1981 - 4,670

• Although the Tornado's record season average remains better than any posted by FC Dallas to date, the MLS club's all time average is 5,000 spectators better than the NASL team. At the current yearly growth in attendances at FC Dallas they will set a new record for the city by 2010.