Los Angeles Skyhawks

The Los Angeles Skyhawks was a professional soccer club based in Los Angeles, California, that was a member of the American Soccer League. Founded as part of the American Soccer League's expansion to the west coast in 1976, they were the first professional sports team to be based in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. The ASL, under commissioner Bob Cousy, had expanded in an attempt to compete with the North American Soccer League. Coming into the league with the Skyhawks were the Oakland (later Golden Bay) Buccaneers, Tacoma Tides, Sacramento Spirits, and the Utah Pioneers (later Golden Spikers). These teams formed the Western Division, while the Eastern Division had the established teams New York Apollo, Connecticut Yankees, Rhode Island Oceaneers, Chicago Cats, New Jersey Americans, and Cleveland Cobras.

The Skyhawks played their games at Birmingham High School Stadium for the 1976 and 1977 seasons. At the time, Birmingham was the largest stadium in the valley with a capacity of 10,000, and it was centrally located. Many of the players commented that the field conditions and lighting were better than that at many lower division European stadiums. After 1977, the Skyhawks moved to Shephard Stadium at Los Angeles Pierce Community College.

The Skyhawks managed to obtain the services of the renowned Ron Newman as their head coach, and he assembled a roster consisting of a number of young players from England's second and third divisions. Many of these players also had some limited first division experience; players such as goalkeeper Brian Parkinson (Everton), Midfielder Tony "Wheels" Whelan (Manchester City), Jimmy Rolland (Northwich Victoria), and forward Jimmy "the Price" Hinch (York), were the stars of the team. In addition, U.S. college player of the year Steve Ralbovsky (Brown University) spurned the N.A.S.L. and signed with the Skyhawks. The defense was anchored by 38-year-old sweeper and former Scottish International Ron Yeats ("the Colussus"), a veteran of the English First Division, where he was Liverpool's captain when Liverpool rose to glory in the 1960s. Hinch ended up as the A.S.L.'s leading scorer and Parkinson had the lowest goals against average (0.78) among A.S.L. goalkeepers. Led by these stars and a strong supporting cast, the Skyhawks had the league's best record (13 wins, 6 draws, 2 defeats) and regularly drew upwards of 4,000 fans per game, easily leading the ASL in attendance.

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