United Soccer Association (1967)
North American Soccer League (1968)
Tombstone
Born: August 1966 – USA founding franchise
Folded: November 1, 1968
First Game: May 26, 1967 (W 2-1 @ Washington Whips)
Last Game: September 14, 1968 (L 2-1 @ Atlanta Chiefs)
USA Championships: None
NASL Championships: None
Stadium
Cleveland Stadium (78,000)
Opened: 1931
Demolished: 1996-1997
Marketing
Team Colors: Red & White
Ownership
Owners:
- 1967: Vernon Stouffer
- 1968: Howard Metzenbaum & Ted Bonda
FWIL FAVORITE
Cleveland Stokers Logo T-Shirt
The Stokers were Cleveland’s first modern professional soccer club, playing two seasons in 1967 and 1968. The first summer the Stokers were actually English club Stoke City playing stateside on summer holiday.
In 1968, the Stokers assembled a proper team of their own and enjoyed their finest hour, besting Pele and his club Santos F.C. of Brazil in an international friendly before 16,205 at Cleveland Stadium on July 10th.
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Background
The Cleveland Stokers were Cleveland’s first professional soccer team of real significance. The club began play in 1967 in the United Soccer Association (USA), a league which grew up out of the enthusiasm of the 1966 World Cup. The USA imported entire teams from Europe and South America (who were in their off-seasons during the summer months) to represent member cities. The Stokers were actually Stoke City F.C. from England. Frozen foods mogul Vernon Stouffer, who also owned the Cleveland Indians at the time, was the club’s original backer.
The Stokers/Stoke City were mediocre in 1967 posting a 5-3-4 record.
Merger & Formation of the NASL
In 1968 the USA merged with the rival National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) to form the North American Soccer League. The NASL took the more conventional route of assembling rosters player-by-player, rather than importing foreign teams to play under aliases. So Stoke City didn’t return to Cleveland for the 1968 season, although the Stokers name endured. Much of the Stokers’ 1968 roster came from remnants of a recently disbanded NPSL team, the Philadelphia Spartans.
Meanwhile, in early 1968, Stouffer sold the Stokers to Howard Metzenbaum and Ted Bonda (future Indians owners themselves). The team improved markedly in 1968, with a 14-7-11 record and a trip to the playoffs. The Stokers lost to the eventual champion Atlanta Chiefs in a two-game semi-final playoff series. A highlight of the 1968 season was a July 10, 1968 visit to Cleveland Stadium by Santos F.C. of Brazil and their international superstar Pele. The Stokers upset Santos 2-1 before a team record crowd of over 16,000 at Cleveland Stadium.
Demise
On November 1st, 1968, team president Ted Bonda announced that the Stokers would suspend operations for three years. “Absolutely, we have not folded,” Bonda was quoted in the wire services the next day. Actually, they had done exactly that. The Stokers were never heard from again.
The demise of the Stokers was part of a massive contraction that saw the NASL shrink from 17 clubs in 1968 to just 5 in 1969. The league survived this crisis and went to to play fifteen more seasons before folding in early 1985.
Cleveland Stokers Shop
Editor's Pick
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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Editor's Pick
The History of Soccer
in Greater Cleveland
From 1906 until 1981
By Thomas Hatfield
The History of Soccer in Greater Cleveland from 1906 until 1981 covers the Beginnings (1906-1919), the Golden Age (1920-1932), Period of Decline (1933-1945), Period of Revival (1946-1966) and the Early Modern Period (1967-1981).
Hatfield’s research covers Cleveland clubs included here on FWIL such as the Cleveland Stokers of the NASL and the Stars and Cobras of the American Soccer League.
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In Memoriam
Stokers goalkeeper Paul Shardlow died of a heart attack while training on October 14, 1968. He was 25 years old.
Original Stokers owner Vernon Stouffer died on July 26, 1974 at age 72.
Stokers striker Enrique Mateos passed away on July 6, 2001 at age 66.
1968 Stokers co-owner Ted Bonda died on October 12, 2005.
1968 Stokers co-owner Howard Metzenbaum died on March 12, 2008. He was 90 years old.
Links
United Soccer Association Programs
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One Response
Hi I know a lot of people ask you this but would it be possible for you to coy the May 31,1967 Cleveland Stokers hosting Chicago from Cleveland stadium for me. Email or regular mail what ever is better for you. I’ll be glad to pay you for copyng it and postage if you mail it. James.