American Indoor Soccer Association (1984-1990)
National Professional Soccer League (1990-1996)
Tombstone
Born: 1984 – AISA founding franchise
Moved: 1996 (Columbus Invaders)
First Game: November 9, 1984 (W 7-6 vs. Columbus Capitals)
Last Game: March 23, 1996 (L 19-8 @ Detroit Rockers)
NPSL Champions: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 & 1990
Arena
Canton Memorial Civic Center (4,200)11989-90 Canton Invaders Yearbook
Opened: 1951
Marketing
Team Colors: Silver, Red & Black21990-91 Canton Invaders Yearbook
Ownership
Owners:
- 1984-1988: Steve Paxos, et al.
- 1988-1990: Stan Ewing, Tom Schervish, Steve Zoumberakis, et al.
- 1990-1996: Tom Schervish & Steve Zoumberakis
Trophy Case
AISA Most Valuable Player
- 1985-86: Don Tobin
- 1986-87: Rudy Pikuzinski
- 1987-88: Rudy Pikuzinski
- 1988-89: Rudy Pikuzinski
- 1989-90: Jamie Swanner
AISA Goalkeeper of the Year
- 1986-87: Jamie Swanner
- 1988-89: Jamie Swanner
- 1989-90: Jamie Swanner
AISA Defender of the Year
- 1984-85: Oscar Pisano
- 1985-86: Oscar Pisano
- 1986-87: Tim Tyma
AISA Rookie of the Year
- 1985-86: Jamie Swanner
AISA Coach of the Year
- 1984-85: Klaas deBoer
- 1985-86: Trevor Dawkins
Background
The Canton Invaders were a dynasty in minor league indoor soccer in the late 1980’s. The Invaders won the championship of the Midwest-based American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) five out of six seasons between 1985 and 1990. The club played out of the tiny Canton Civic Center (capacity: 4,200) and crowds averaged only about half of that amount.
An Hour Outside Cleveland
Indoor soccer in the 1980’s was all about the light shows, the music and the pyro, and among the best in the business were the nearby Cleveland Force of the big-budget Major Indoor Soccer League. The Force played in the 19,000 seat Richfield Coliseum. For a time during the mid-80’s, they were the hottest ticket in town, often outdrawing the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. The “Force” nickname owed a direct debt to the “Star Wars” franchise. For several years the Force mascot was a man in a very authentic Darth Vader costume who entered the Richfield Coliseum to John Williams’ Imperial March from the film franchise. LucasFilm eventually got the Force to cease and desist on Darth, but the Force name remained.
When the AISA launched in 1984, the Force were at their peak. The Canton Invaders attempted to copy the Force playbook on a shoestring, right down to ripping the space alien theme. The Invaders logo appeared to be an extra-terrestrial pest control specialist, descending from a soccer ball spaceship.
This program (below) from a January 13th, 1989 game at the Canton Civic Center pictures a rather cherubic young man in a charmingly home-made looking “Captain Invader” costume emerging from a spaceship portal made of Christmas Tree tinsel as part of the team’s pre-game “spectacle”. Scoff if you like at the apparent shabbiness of the production, but by this point the thrifty Invaders had actually outlived the Force. Cleveland’s owner shut down the profitable club in 1988 in a state of general disgust about the state of the money-bleeding Major Indoor Soccer League.
Indoor Dynasty
After the Force closed their doors in July 1988, the Invaders grabbed their unemployed head coach Timo Liekoski. The Invaders were already a league powerhouse. They won AISA titles in 1985, 1986 and 1988 and lost in the finals in 1987. Under Liekoski, they extended their dynasty, winning two more consecutive crowns in 1989 and 1990. The 1989-90 Invaders were especially dominant, going 36-4 in the regular season and 5-1 in the playoffs.
Top scorer Rudy Pikuzinski won three straight AISA Most Valuable Player awards from 1987 to 1989. He could have made a strong case for a fourth trophy for the Invaders’ 36-4 season in 1989-90, when he finished second in the league in scoring. But the 1990 MVP hardware went to Invaders goalkeeper Jamie Swanner instead. Swanner played for Canton from 1985 until 1992 and was named the league’s Goalkeeper-of-the-Year five times and MVP twice.
Decline & Move To Columbus
The Invaders fortunes declined in the 1990’s. The AISA changed its name to the National Professional Soccer League in 1990. The Invaders appeared in the playoff finals for the final time in 1992, losing to the Detroit Rockers. Swanner and Liekoski departed after the 1991-92 season. The Invaders never had another winning season.
Attendance, which peak in 1987 at 3,294 per match, dwindled to less than 1,800 per contest by 1995. Over the final two seasons, rumors of a move to Columbus, Ohio hung over the team. That move became official during the summer of 1996, when long-time owner Tom Schervish sold the team to Moh Hassan, who shifted the club to Columbus’ Batelle Hall. The Invaders played one more horrid season (5 wins, 35 losses) in Columbus in 1996-97 and then folded quietly.
Links
“Last Invaders Championship Team Made History“, Mike Popovich, The Canton Repository, April 23, 2017
National Professional Soccer League Media Guides
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3 Responses
You were actually AT the famous 52-18 game?
March 15, 1997 – Hector Marinaro scored 12 goals.
Tim Tyma (now an on-field official, but then a Crunch defender) said afterwards “Just remember, I assisted on the first goal. You see who keys this offense,
don’t you?”
Yes, isn’t that weird? The only AISA/NPSL game I ever attended. Like I said, there couldn’t have been more than a few hundred in the stands that night.
Batelle Hall is inside a larger convention center and the arena is kind of tucked away inside. When we got there that night, it didn’t even appear there was a game happening. I had to hunt around to find the place and then it was empty. It was like stumbling onto a pick-up basketball game at the city gym.
On the same trip, I saw the Columbus Quest of the women’s American Basketball League play in the league championship series at Batelle and the place was packed.
What’s even better as I watch this is that no less than 17 inches away from where I’m sitting, there’s a press release packet from the Hershey Impact. The Date…December 1, 1988 – Hershey Impact vs Chicago Power @ Hersey Park Arena. I did a little work for the Impact (about 8 days worth and got about $300 for my time). My favorite logo in the AISA was the Kalamazoo Kangaroos (boy would I love to have a pennant from them!). I talked to some of the former Roos front office people and they told me the Derek Jeter used to play soccer on their field before games and their family were season ticket holders! I dug this old league.