San Jose Earthquakes (1974-1988)

North American Soccer League (1974-1984)
Major Indoor Soccer League (1982-1983)
Western Soccer Alliance (1985-1988)

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Background

They were never especially good, but the original San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League were a popular and colorful side. The club debuted as an expansion franchise in 1974, the first of many major soccer investments by Serbian immigrant Milan Mandaric. Mandaric hired Dick Berg, a former Stanford University quarterback turned marketing wunderkind for the San Francisco 49ers as the team’s General Manager. Berg gave the club its iconic nickname.

The ‘Quakes were part of a major expansion of the NASL in 1974 that also saw the formation of the original Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps clubs. The ‘Quakes under Berg’s direction were the toast of the league. English forward Paul Child won the golden boot with 15 goals and 6 assists. At the box office, San Jose set a new league attendance record with average crowds of 16,584 for ten home matches. Attendance continued to grow the next two seasons, peaking at 19,826 per match in 1976.

George Best Signing

The Earthquakes fortunes waned in the late 1970’s. Milan Mandaric divested himself of the team at the end of the 1977 season in order to start a rival Bay Area NASL club right across in nearby Oakland. (Mandaric’s Oakland Stompers would last just a single year before moving to Edmonton in 1979.) The club endured five straight losing seasons from 1978 to 1982 and failed to make the playoffs during that span despite the NASL’s absurdly lax postseason qualification standards.

In 1980 the ‘Quakes acquired 34-year old superstar George Best. Though decidedly on the downside of his legendary career, Best managed to score 21 goals in 1980 and 1981 for a pair of last-place squads. But Best did nothing for San Jose’s ticket sales, which hit an all-time low of 13,169 in 1980 and slumped further to 12,400 in 1981.

Indoor ‘Quakes

The Earthquakes also played indoor soccer at the Oakland Coliseum for several years beginning in 1980. The NASL was ambivalent about the indoor game. Some years, club participation in the indoor schedule was mandatory. Others it was not. In the winter of 1982-83, the NASL cancelled its indoor season altogether. So the ‘Quakes, along with the NASL’s Chicago Sting and San Diego Sockers, acquired guest memberships in the rival Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) that winter.

It was during the ‘Quakes brief stay in the MISL that they acquired perhaps their greatest player. The MISL was five years old in the fall of 1982. The New York Arrows won each of the first four MISL championships, spurred by Steve Zungul. Zungul defected from Yugoslavia in 1978 expecting to land a contract to play outdoors in the U.S. But enraged Yugoslav officials secured a ban on Zungul from playing in any FIFA-sanctioned league. That left Zungul stranded in the indoor game for nearly five years. He proceeded to dominate his sport like no other athlete of the era, save Wayne Gretzky in ice hockey.

Silicon Valley property developer Carl Berg acquired the Earthquakes in 1982. Among Berg’s first moves was to alter the name of the club to the “Golden Bay Earthquakes”.  In a conflict of interest, Berg also held a partial ownership stake in the New York Arrows. In January 1983, the Arrows dealt Zungul to the Earthquakes in a midseason swap for Gordon Hill and Gary Etherington. The Arrows spun the trade as part of an “Americanization” movement, a transparent code word for cost-cutting in American soccer during the 1980’s. (Making the story even more absurd, Gordon Hill was English).

The Earthquakes were terrible again in the MISL. But Zungul led the league in scoring as usual. Most important, a 1982 courtroom victory cleared “The Lord of All Indoors” to play outside for the first time in five years.

Zungul Thrills Outdoors

Carl Berg hired Zungul’s fellow countryman and former Arrows coach Don Popovic to coach the ‘Quakes outdoors in 1983. The club responded with a franchise-best 20-10 record and a semi-final playoff appearance. It was the best performance in franchise history. Zungul was superb, finising 3rd in the league in scoring with 16 goals and 15 assists in just 22 games.

Popovic and Zungul returned in 1984. Zungul won the NASL’s final Most Valuable Player award and the golden boot with 20 goals and 10 assists. But the club regressed to a more typically ‘Quakesian last place finish at 8-16.

During the summer of 1984 club owner Carl Berg tried to buy back into the Major Indoor Soccer League on a permanent basis. His plan was to purchase the MISL’s insolvent Phoenix Pride franchise. Berg would apparently then operate the Earthquakes in the Bay Area each summer as an outdoor club in the NASL and in Arizona each winter as an indoor side. The scheme fell through, however, and the Earthquakes did not re-enter the MISL. The NASL folded following the 1984 season and Berg walked away from the club.

1985-1988: Wandering in the Wilderness

The Quakes’ General Manager, Peter Bridgewater, kept the Earthquakes alive for several more seasons during the late 1980’s when the United States lacked a top-level pro league. Bridgewater helped to form the Western Soccer Alliance in 1985, a low-budget promotion consisting of just four clubs from California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The ‘Quakes played on in the Western Soccer Alliance for four more seasons before folding for good in 1988.

Brand Revival in Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer began play with eight clubs in 1996. It was the first proper first division league in the U.S. since the demise of the NASL in early 1985. The San Jose Clash, with former ‘Quakes exec Peter Bridgewater running the front office, were one of the original clubs. After four seasons as the Clash, the club took back the history Earthquakes name in 1999. That franchise left town for Houston in 2006, but when Major League Soccer expanded back to San Jose in 2008, the historic Earthquakes name was once again revived for the new club.

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Editor's Pick

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The San Jose Earthquakes:
A Seismic Soccer Legacy

By Gary Singh

 

In 1974, amid the early days of the North American Soccer League, an unlikely team transformed a quiet suburb into a soccer haven. Combining excellent play with a grass-roots movement of fervent fans, the San Jose Earthquakes shook the Northern California sports landscape. While rival NASL franchises struggled for attendance, the Quakes played sold-out games to the most loyal and passionate fan base in the league, creating an unforgettable and enduring legacy. After the NASL disbanded, a new Earthquakes club returned over a decade later in Major League Soccer and today commands as much fan loyalty and passion as ever. Join author Gary Singh, a San Jose native and lifelong fan, as he recounts the Earthquakes” legendary story in vibrant detail.

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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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San Jose Earthquakes Video

The ‘Quakes host the Washington Diplomats at Spartan Stadium. May 23, 1977.

In Memoriam

Head coach Peter Short (Quakes ’82) was shot to death by a teenage assailant during a robbery attempt in Los Angeles on February 22nd, 1984. Short was only 39 years old.

Serbian defender Miro Pavlovic (Earthquakes ’76-’77 and ’80) died on January 19, 2004 at age 61.

Downloads

7-28-1979 Earthquakes vs. New York Cosmos Game Notes

6-30-1982 Earthquakes vs. New York Cosmos Game Notes

5-25-1983 Earthquakes @ New York Cosmos Game Notes

9-12-1984 Earthquakes @ New York Cosmos Game Notes

9-30-1988 Western Soccer Alliance Championship Game Program @ F.C. Seattle Storm

Links

North American Soccer League Media Guides

North American Soccer League Programs

Major Indoor Soccer League Media Guides

Major Indoor Soccer League Programs 1978-1992

Western Soccer Alliance / League Programs

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