Tag: Civic Stadium – Portland

Portland Timbers Western Soccer League

Portland Timbers (1989-1990)

October 20, 2018

The 1989-1990 Portland Timbers of the Western Soccer League were the first of several efforts to revive the name, logo and colors of the original Timbers (1975-1982) of the North American Soccer League. The club’s top player was 19-year old goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who won the Western Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player Award as a teenager on an amateur contract during the 1989 season. This version of the Timbers went out of business in 1990 after two seasons of play.

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Portland Thunder WFL

Portland Thunder (1975)

May 25, 2014

The 1975 Portland Thunder were the Rose City’s second and final go-round with the World Football League, a ramshackle mid-70’s start-up that briefly sought to challenge the NFL for top collegiate and veteran stars. The Thunder followed on the feels of the Portland Storm, who played in WFL’s debut season of 1974 before tax problems and bounced checks drove the team out of business. Like the Storm before them, the similarly-named Thunder dressed in green & blue and played at Civic Stadium. The Thunder had a record of 4-7 when the WFL went out of business midway through its second campaign in October 1975.

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Portland Timbers NASL

Portland Timbers (1975-1982)

May 12, 2014

The Portland Timbers were an iconic North American Soccer League (NASL) franchise that helped earn Portland the nickname “Soccer City U.S.A.”.  The original Timbers (1975-1982) sparked a youth soccer boom in the Rose City and inspired numerous reunions, revivals and re-births over the years, culminating in the acceptance of a new Portland Timbers club into Major League Soccer in 2011. The highpoint for the NASL-era Timbers was the team’s 1975 debut, when Vic Crowe’s club posted a 16-6 record and advanced to the NASL’s Soccer Bowl final in their inaugural campaign.

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1974 Portland Storm Media Guide

Portland Storm

December 17, 2012

Big league professional football came to the Rose City in 1974 with the formation of the upstart World Football League. The Portland Storm were one of the WFL’s weaker entries initially, starting 0-7-1 before an infusion of NFL veteran talent helped spur a late season surge. The Storm folded after the 1974 season only to be replaced by the barely-renamed Portland Thunder for the 1975 season, which proved to be the WFL’s last.

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Portland Mavericks

May 12, 2012

The Portland Mavericks. This renegade ball club existed for only five summers, but managed to leave an indelible stamp (their contemporary detractors might have said “stain”) on the landscape of minor league baseball.  The Mavs came to town in 1973 after the Beavers, Portland’s long-time entry in the Pacific Coast League, moved to Spokane, Washington. It didn’t seem like a promising trade-off for Portland baseball fans …at least, not at first. 

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