Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984)
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| Full name | Tulsa Roughnecks |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Roughnecks, Necks |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Stadium | outdoor: Skelly Stadium (40,000) indoor: Tulsa Assembly Center (8,900) Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion (6,311) |
| League | NASL |
The Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) were a North American Soccer League (NASL) team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It played its home games at Skelly Stadium on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The team moved to Tulsa from Hawaii before the 1978 season and went out of business after the 1984 season when the NASL became defunct. According to former General Manager Noel Lemon, the team was a relative success compared to other NASL franchises. When Tulsa joined the league, there were 24 teams compared to just four teams when the league went out of business. Lemon said that none of the teams were profitable.
The Roughnecks were a regular in the NASL playoffs and won the NASL title in Soccer Bowl '83, defeating the Toronto Blizzard at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver) by a score of 2–0 before a paid attendance of 60,051. The teams all-time win-loss record was 104–106. The Roughnecks' home games consistently drew better-than-league-average attendance with the annual record occurring during the 1980 season when the team averaged 19,787 spectators over 16 games for a total attendance that year of 316,593 (placing the Roughnecks at No. 5 between the Seattle Sounders and the Washington Diplomats). The largest home game attendance for Tulsa occurred on April 26, 1980 when 30,822 fans watched the Roughnecks' 2–1 victory over the New York Cosmos at Skelly Stadium. The highest attendance for any Roughneck game occurred on August 26, 1979 when Tulsa met the Cosmos in New York for a NASL playoff game before a crowd of 76,031.
Famous Roughneck players include Iraj Danaeifard, Charlie Mitchell, Billy Caskey, Victor Moreland,Barry Wallace, Alan Woodward, Zeljko Bilecki, Carmelo D'Anzi, Winston DuBose, Njego Pesa, Laurie Abrams, Chance Fry, Terry Moore and David McCreery.
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