Dallas Tornado
 |
|
| Full name | Dallas Tornado |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Tornado |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Dissolved | 1981 |
| Stadium |
Cotton Bowl Capacity: 70,000 Turnpike Stadium Capacity: 20,000 P.C. Cobb Stadium Capacity: 22,000 Franklin Field Capacity: 8,500 Texas Stadium Capacity: 65,000 Ownby Stadium Capacity: 20,000 Indoor soccer: Fair Park Coliseum Capacity: 7,513 (1975) Reunion Arena Capacity: 16,626 (1980–81) |
| Chairman | Lamar Hunt |
| League |
USA (1967) NASL (1968–1981) |
Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the USA 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),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.
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. They hired Bob Kap, a Serbian born soccer coach who had escaped with his family during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Kap had studied with Ferenc Puskás at the Soccor Academy in Hungary. Kap was recruited from Toronto, Canada, where he had relocated after the 1956 Revolution. During the first 6 months as coach, Kap traveled throughout Europe to form the new Dallas Tornado, hiring young players from England to Turkey.
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