Minnesota Kicks

Full name	Minnesota Kicks
Nickname(s)	Kicks
Founded	1976
Dissolved	1981
Ground	Metropolitan Stadium (Capacity: 45,000)
Coach	Freddie Goodwin
League	North American Soccer League
Home colours Away colours

Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The team had relocated to Minnesota in 1976 after having been based in Denver, Colorado as the Denver Dynamos. A group of ten investors from Minnesota bought the Denver team in November 1975 and relocated to Minnesota. The name "Kicks" was selected by a name-the-team contest. The orginial ownership group sold the team in November of 1980 to a group lead by Ralph Sweet.

Stars for the Kicks included US Soccer Hall of Famers Patrick (Ace) Ntsoelengoe and Alan Willey, the league's fifth and third league all-time leading scorers respectively. Ron Futcher, who along with Willey played all six Kicks seasons, went on to become the league's fourth all-time leading scorer.

The team began the 1976 season slowly, however by the end of its first season the team had won its division and had played host to the largest NASL crowd to date. The 1976 finished with a loss to Toronto in the Soccer Bowl. The Kicks became the first team in the NASL to win 4 straight division titles (1976-79). The team reached the playoffs each of its six seasons, but usually lost in the early rounds.

The Minnesota Kicks are remembered for the tailgating in the Metropolitan Stadium parking lot. It became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1970s, with thousands of fans arriving early to socialize and consume beverages. Policemen on horseback soon began to closely patrol the tailgating and game attendance dropped off.

The team had planned to move to the Metrodome for 1982 season, however the team folded a few months after the end of the 1981 season. The team's last regular season game was a home win at Met Stadium 2-1 over the Dallas Tornado on August 19, 1981. The team's last game at the Met was a 1-0 shootout playoff victory against the Tulsa Roughnecks on August 26, 1981. The team's last game was a 3-0 home playoff loss to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on September 6, 1981. The game was moved to the University of Minnesota's Memorial Stadium due to a schedule conflict with the Minnesota Twins. The Strikers relocated to Minnesota in 1984.

Contents 1 NASL indoor 2 Average Attendance at Met Stadium 3 Players 4 Coaches 5 Year-by-year 6 Media coverage 6.1 Radio 6.2 Television 7 See also

[edit] NASL indoor

The NASL began playing indoor soccor in the fall of 1979. The Kicks competed in 2 seasons of indoor soccer, 1979-80 and 1980-81. The team played at their home games at Met Center.

[edit] Average Attendance at Met Stadium

• 1976.....23,121
• 1977.....32,775
• 1978.....30,928
• 1979.....24,580
• 1980.....18,279
• 1981.....16,605

[edit] Players

• Mike Bailey (footballer) (1977-78) [1]
• Geoff Barnett (1976-79)
• Tony Betts (1979) [2]
• Ron Webster (1976-1981?)
• Steve Carter (1981)
• Stan Cummins (1977) [3]
• Ron Futcher (1976-81) 129 apps 73 goals
• Charlie George (1978)
• Ian Hamilton (1978-81) [4]
• Steve Heighway (1981)
• Tino Lettieri (1977-81)
• Stewart Jump (1980-81) [5]
• Patrick (Ace) Ntsoelengoe (1976-81)
• Alan West (1976- )
• Alan Willey (1976-1981)
• Frank Spraggon (1976-??)
• Steve Litt (footballer) (1976-81)
• David Stride (1981) [6]
• Tim Twellman (1977-81)
• Jeff Solem (1976)
• Mike Flater (1976-7)
• Tony Pesznecker (1980-81)

[edit] Coaches

• Freddie Goodwin 1976-78, 1980-81
• Roy McCrohan 1979-80
• Geoff Barnett 1981

[edit] Year-by-year

1976 Alan Willey, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Peter Brine, Alan Merrick (Captain), Ron Webster, Mike Flater, Chaka Ngcobo, Geoff Barnett, Sam Bick, Ron Futcher, Alan West, Doug Brooks, Smith Eggleston, Nick Owcharuk, Ade Coker, Tom Howe, Jeff Solem, Steve Litt, Frank Spraggon, Peter Short. Freddie Goodwin (Coach), Gary Smith (Trainer), Dave Nowicki (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (Team Physician).

1979 Willie Morgan, Gary Vogel, Tony Want, Alan Merrick, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Alan West, Chico Hamilton, Volkmar Gross, Mark Moran, Geoff Barnett, Bjorn Nordqvist (Captain), Alan Willey, Tino Lettieri, Ricardo Alonso, Steve Litt, Greg Villa, Ron Futcher, Mike McLenaghan, Tim Twellman. Roy McCrohan (Head Coach), Gary Smith (Head Trainer), Jim Mulcahy (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (Team Physician), Freddie Goodwin (President).

Year	League	W	L	T	Pts	Reg. Season	Playoffs
1976	NASL	15	9	—	138	1st, Pacific Conference, Western Division	Won Division Championship (Seattle) Won Conference Championship (San Jose) Lost Soccer Bowl '76 (Toronto)
1977	NASL	16	10	—	137	1st, Pacific Conference, Western Division	Lost Conference Championship (Seattle)
1978	NASL	17	13	—	156	1st, National Conference, Central Division	Won 1st Round (Tulsa) Lost Conference Semifinal (Cosmos)
1979	NASL	21	9	—	184	1st, National Conference, Central Division	Lost Conference Quarterfinal (Tulsa)
1979/80	NASL Indoor	8	4	—	—	2nd, Western Division	Won 1st Round (Tulsa Roughnecks) Lost Semifinal (Memphis)
1980	NASL	16	16	—	147	2nd, National Conference, Central Division	Lost 1st Round (Dallas)
1980/81	NASL Indoor	12	6	—	—	2nd, Central Division	Lost 1st Round (Atlanta)
1981	NASL	19	13	—	163	2nd, Central Division	Won 1st Round (Tulsa) Lost Quarterfinal (Ft. Lauderdale)

[edit] Media coverage

[edit] Radio

• 1976 WWTC-AM 1280
• 1977 KSTP-AM 1500
• 1978-79 WWTC-AM 1280
• 1980 KSTP-AM 1500
• 1981 WAYL AM 980

[edit] Television

• 1976-80 KSTP-TV
• 1981 WCCO-TV

[edit] See also

• Minnesota Strikers