Wichita Wings
 |
|
| Founded | 1979–2001 |
|---|---|
| Stadium | Kansas Coliseum |
| Capacity | 9,681 |
The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979. They played in the Kansas Coliseum, a venue that featured a 200-by-85-foot field and seating for 9,681 fans.
When the MISL (which had since been renamed the Major Soccer League) folded in 1992, the Wings moved to the National Professional Soccer League. At the time the Wings folded, after the 2000–2001 season, they were the oldest professional soccer franchise in the United States. Despite having some of the best records in US indoor soccer, the Wings never won a league championship or reached the league finals.
A new team named after the Wichita Wings began play in the 2011–12 season and shut down after the 2012–2013 season. They were in turn replaced by a new team called the Wichita B-52s who play in the Major Arena Soccer League.
The team hosted the NPSL All-Star Game in 1996 and 1999.
In 1978, Tom Marshall, a local youth soccer promoter with the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), convinced the North American Soccer League's (NASL) Dallas Tornado to come to Wichita to play an exhibition game. Proceeds from the event would benefit the local AYSO organization. On December 1, the Tornado squared off against the Houston Hurricane at the Kansas Coliseum. It was Roy Turner’s last game as a professional. Over the next year, Marshall and other soccer enthusiasts, including Jackie Knapp, worked to find investors and bring a professional soccer team to Wichita. Bob Becker, the owner of Great Plains Corporation, an oil marketing operation, agreed to fund the new team. The newly-christened Wichita Wings joined the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) in 1979, the league’s second year of operation.
...
Wikipedia