North American Soccer League (1976)
Tombstone
Born: October 14, 1975 – The Baltimore Comets relocate to San Diego, CA11976 North American Soccer League Guide
Moved: October 19, 1976 (Las Vegas Quicksilvers)
First Game: April 18, 1976 (W 1-0 vs. San Antonio Thunder)
Last Game: August 13, 1976 (L 1-0 vs. Minnesota Kicks)
Soccer Bowl Championships: None
Stadium
The Aztec Bowl (12,000)21976 North American Soccer League Guide
Opened: 1936
Closed: 1995
Branding
Team Colors: Black & Yellow31976 North American Soccer League Guide
Ownership
Owner: Ken Keegan
Attendance
The Jaws ranked 10th in the 20-club NASL for attendance in their only season of competition.
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Source: Kenn.com Attendance Project
Our Favorite Stuff
San Diego Jaws NASL
Logo T-Shirt
Before they were the Sockers, San Diego’s famed indoor/outdoor soccer club of the 1980’s, this franchise spent one season as the Spielberg-inspired ‘Jaws’ of the North American Soccer League in the summer of ’76.
Also available in women’s Scoop Neck, V-neck and Racerback Tank styles and as a Crewneck Sweatshirt from our friends at Old School Shirts!
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Background
The San Diego Jaws were a club that lasted only one season in the North American Soccer League in the summer of 1976. The team was owned by San Jose car dealer Ken Keegan, who was a part owner of the NASL’s San Jose Earthquakes franchise when that team debuted in 1974. In October 1975 Keegan organized a group to buy the NASL’s distressed Baltimore Comets club and relocate it to the Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego State University for the 1976 season.
The Jaws finished last place (5th) in their division in 1976 with a 9-15 mark under player-coach Derek Trevis. The team had one of the most anemic offenses in the NASL, scoring just 29 goals in 24 matches.
Move To Las Vegas and Back
In late 1976, owner Ken Keegan moved the team to Nevada where they became the Las Vegas Quicksilvers for the 1977. After one year in Vegas, the franchise returned to San Diego in 1978 under new ownership and this time it stuck. The re-named San Diego Sockers began play in 1978 and lasted nearly 20 years, surviving the death of the NASL in 1984 and becoming a dominant indoor soccer dynasty during the 1980’s. The original Sockers finally went out of business in 1996.
San Diego Jaws 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.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
In Memoriam
English midfielder Trevor Hockey died of a heart attack on April 2, 1987 at age 43.
Jaws player-coach Derek Trevis passed away on December 21, 2000 at age 58.
Links
View San Diego Jaws game jerseys on NASLJerseys.com
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One Response
Great story: Trevor Hockey snuck into the equipment room and put shipping labels on all the equipment crates with his overseas address on them attempting to take it all !! So many great stories from those years