San Antonio Thunder

North American Soccer League (1975-1976)

Our Favorite Stuff

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San Antonio Thunder
NASL Logo T-Shirt

Kind of a Schoolhouse Rock energy happening with this sweet throwback Tee honoring San Antonio’s original pro soccer team, the Thunder of the 1975-1976 North American Soccer League. Can you imagine the Supporters’ Group uproar if a MLS club introduced a cartoon logo like this today? One can only hope…

This design is also available as a Women’s Tank Top from our buddies at Cincinnati’s Old School Shirts!

 

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Background

San Antonio’s original pro soccer club, the Thunder, joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) as an expansion franchise in 1975. It happened to be the same year that the NASL’s New York Cosmos jolted the international soccer scene by luring the world’s greatest player, Pele of Brazil, out of retirement.

Pele galvanized soccer fans across the country from 1975 to 1977 as the Cosmos toured across the country, visiting the rapidly proliferating outposts of the NASL. But, oddly, the Thunder and the Cosmos never met in regular season play during the Thunder’s two year stay in the Alamo City. This resulted in an unusual circumstance in San Antonio, where a pre-season exhibition match on March 31st, 1976 ended up setting the Thunder’s all-time attendance mark.

In Competition

The Thunder’s 1975 expansion debut was a dud. The club finished 6-16, tied for the worst record in the 20-team NASL, and scored the fewest goals (24) in the league.

In 1976, Thunder owner Ward Lay Jr., heir to the Lay’s potato chip fortune, upgraded the team with the acquisition of 35-year old Bobby Moore, captain of England’s 1966 World Cup championship team, and veteran Arsenal defender Bob McNab.

Local fans’ first chance to gawk at Moore came on March 31st when the Cosmos arrived in town for a pre-season tune-up match. It was the only visit that Pele and Co. would ever make to San Antonio. An estimated crowd of 14,800 watched the Thunder surprise the Cosmos 1-0 on a goal by Victor Kodelja in the 76th minute. San Antonio rookie goalkeeper Pete Mannos turned away a Pele free kick from 20 yards out to send a charge through the crowd and preserve the Thunder’s shutout win.

The Thunder improved to 12-12 in 1976 but the improvement was not enough to secure a postseason berth. Bobby Moore appeared in 24 games and was named to the All-NASL 1st Team as a defender.

On To Hawaii … Then Tulsa

Following the 1976 season, Ward Lay Jr. moved the club to Honolulu, where the club spent one year as Team Hawaii.  After the 1977 campaign, the club relocated once again to Oklahoma, playing out the rest of the NASL’s existence as the Tulsa Roughnecks until the franchise folded in September 1984, followed shortly thereafter by the NASL itself.

San Antonio Thunder Shop

OUR FAVORITE STUFF

Order at Old School Shirts

North American Soccer League
Logo T-Shirt

Pay home to the late, great North American Soccer League (1968-1984) with this great distressed logo tee from our friends at Cincinnati’s Old School Shirts!. 

This design is available now in sizes Small through 4XL.

 

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Editor's Pick

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Rock n' Roll Soccer

The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League

by Ian Plenderleith

The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.

The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today. 

 

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In Memoriam

Defender Bobby Moore (Thunder ’76) died of cancer on February 24th, 1993 at the age of 51. New York Times obituary.

Downloads

7-17-1976 Thunder @ Seattle Sounders Roster

Links

North American Soccer League Media Guides

North American Soccer League Programs

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