American Soccer League (1975-1976)
Tombstone
Born: April 10, 1975 – The Gary Tigers relocate to Chicago, IL
Folded: October 15, 19761NO BYLINE. “Soccer Cats folded by ASL”. The Tribune (Chicago, IL). October 16, 1976
First Game:
Last Game:
ASL Championships: None
Stadium
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Dr. Ernest Panos, et al.
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Background
The Chicago Cats were a second division pro soccer club that tried to make a go of it in the Windy City for two summers in the mid-1970’s. Local dentist Ernest Panos headed the club’s ownership group. The club was thrown together quickly. American Soccer League Commissioner Bob Cousy (yes, that Bob Cousy) announced that Chicago would join the league on April 10, 1975. The team was due to play its home opener against the Cincinnati Comets just 16 days later.
The Cats made their home at Hanson Stadium, an Astroturfed high school football field run by the Chicago Public School system.
On The Field
The Cats finished the 1975 season with a 7-10-3 mark, last in the 3-team Midwest Division of the ASL. Pete Kouratos led the team in scoring with 5 goals and 7 assists.
The Cats returned in 1976 to a much different looking American Soccer League. The 9-team league of 1975 was clustered around the ASL’s traditional corridor of New England, New York and the Rust Belt. Chicago was the league’s Western-most outpost. In 1976, the Eastern clubs consolidated to six cities. The big news was the addition of a five-team West Division with expansion clubs in California, Utah and Washington.
George Meyer, who coached the Chicago Mustangs of the North American Soccer League in 1968, took over as Cats’ manager in 1976. The team struggled to score (25 goals in 21 matches). Thanks to a stingy defense, the Cats managed a 10-8-3 record. They tied on points in the ASL’s standings system with the Cleveland Cobras, who finished 9-84, for 3rd place in the East Division. That’s where things went sideways.
Dispute with League & Closure
According to Cats owner Eugene Panos, Commissioner Cousy decreed that the Cats and Cobras would play an extra match to break the 3rd place tie and determine the ASL’s final playoff spot. He gave the clubs one day’s notice to schedule the match. When the Cats allegedly failed to respond to the ultimatum in time, Cousy unilaterally forfeited the Cats in the unscheduled tiebreaker match and entered the Cobras, with their inferior record, into the playoff.
Panos exploded. In an interview with The Chicago News Journal on August 26, 1976 the owner derided the playoff debacle as “a veritable Watergate of soccer”.2Nails Florio. “Cats are clobbered by Commissioner Cousy”. The News-Journal (Chicago, IL). August 26, 1976 Cousy suspended Panos from the league. In October 1976, Panos filed a $1 million lawsuit against Cousy and the ASL over the playoff incident.
At the ASL league meetings in Oakland on October 15th, 1976, league officials euthanized the Cats franchise once and for all.
Chicago Cats Shop
Downloads
6-28-1975 Chicago Cats @ Cleveland Cobras Game Notes
5-10-1976 Cats Upcoming Games Press Release
5-24-1976 Cats Will Face Mexican National Amateur Team at Hanson Stadium Press Release
6-3-1976 Cats To Face Rhode Island, Cork Hibernians at Hanson Stadium Press Release
6-7-1976 Cats Roster on Team Letterhead
6-7-1976 Cats Player Profiles Press Release
6-7-1976 Profile of Cats Owner Eugene Panos Press Release
6-14-1976 Cats Look Ahead to Tacoma, Connecticut & Israeli National Team Contests Press Release
6-21-1976 Cats Take on Connecticut Cats Press Release
6-28-1976 Cats Next Home Game vs. New York Apollo Press Release
7-6-1976 Cats Road Trip to New York & New Jersey Press Release
Links
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One Response
According to the Chicago Tribune (October 16th 1976), the franchise was “quietly terminated” at the ASL’s league meeting in Oakland the previous night (October 15th). Oakland and Salt Lake City were also folded with the Cats, but league president Nick Sclavounos said groups in 11 cities were seeking franchises, and some would likely be awarded over that weekend.
In the October 21st edition of the Chicago News Journal, Panos stated: “In theory they ousted us from the league in last week’s annual meeting of officers and league owners, but they would welcome us back with open arms if we helped them pay some of the debts they ran up in this past season.” He claimed the ASL had no new franchises and is $60,000 in debt. “It would be foolish for me to plunk down more good dough after bad when I know full well that the league was mismanaged this year from beginning to end.” Panos also claimed, in a letter to other league owners, that he was aware of “many irregularities in the league’s front office.” He claimed he know about the deposit and ultimate disposition of a $6,000 deposit in a New Jersey bank account, a fist fight involving league president Sclavounos, and threats of bodily harm to another league official, Otto Radich. He further claimed that Commissioner Cousy spent “little time in his office as league commissioner” and referred to excessive phone bills to such places as Salt Lake City. Panos also said the league failed miserably, not only when they unfairly ousted the Cats from the playoffs but because “they drained the league treasury”. Despite “his sad and expensive experience with the American Soccer League”, Panos said he “still maintains a strong interest in the soccer game and is hopeful of resuming an active role when the right opportunity presents.”
Panos returned to the news in 2010, when he was accused of
fondling a 13-year old patient at his Northside Chicago orthodonistry office. He was released on a $200,000 bond and ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors. Panos became one of the first doctors in Illinois required to have a chaperone present during all patient encounters under a new Illinois law enacted in response to a Chicago Tribune series on doctors convicted of sexual abuse. A second set of charges was filed in December 2011, when a 15-year old girl claimed Panos, free on bond, had fondled here the previous month. Prosecutors claimed that Panos had fondled the girl during an August 2010 visit as well. Panos’ attorney questioned why the girl’s parents had had made more than 20 appointments to see Panos, and had, in fact, made another one to see him the following week. Dr. Panos was ordered held without bond.
Following a trial in August 2012, Panos was acquitted on four charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor, weeks after being cleared on the initial charges. The 81-year old doctor said he planned to get his license back, and a state official said that would likely happen since all charged had been cleared.
Dr. Ernest Panos died on May 8th, 2016, at the age of 85, after a brief illness.