Tombstone
Born: December 6, 1984 The Oklahoma City Stampede relocate to Tulsa, OK
Folded: June 25, 1985
First Game: May 17, 1985 (W 2-1 vs. Dallas Americans)
Last Game: June 15, 1985 (L 1-0 @ South Florida Sun)
USL Championships: None
Stadium
Skelly Stadium
Opened: 1930
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: David Fraser & Gil Fraser
Background
So grim was the state of professional outdoor soccer in the United States in 1985 that only 13 games were staged by American pro clubs that calendar year. All of these matches were put on by the United Soccer League (USL), a barely solvent gaggle of four teams spread across Florida, Texas and Oklahoma that folded after only one month of competition.
The Tornado’s – the team’s nonsensical apostrophe is not a typo – were one of the USL’s many trouble spots. Owner David Fraser held the franchise during its previous incarnations as the Oklahoma City Slickers (1983) and Oklahoma City Stampede (1984). He moved the club to Tulsa in December 1984, apparently hoping to fill a void created by the apparent demise of the city’s Tulsa Roughnecks of the soon-to-be-defunct North American Soccer League (NASL).
But a revived version of the Roughnecks soon sprang up to play a competing exhibition schedule in town. The USL’s membership shrank from nine clubs in 1984 to just four in 1985. And the Frasers started missing payroll soon after the season got underway.
On the field, the team featured a number of ex-Tulsa Roughnecks players. These included Brazilian forward Zequinha, Jamaica-American starting goalkeeper Delroy Allen and American defender Bill Sautter. Tulsa also signed former NASL All-Star striker Ricardo Alonso, a premier scorer in both the outdoor and indoor game during the 1980’s.
The End
On June 6, 1985 unpaid Tulsa players and coaches refused to take the field for a scheduled home game against the Dallas Americans, resulting in a cancellation. Head Coach Brian Harvey, a holdover from the club’s Oklahoma City days, resigned from the team as did Zequinha and Ricardo Alonso. Tulsa’s next game, a June 8th road tilt in Dallas, also fell victim to the player walkout.
Former University of Oklahoma and NFL defensive end Jimbo Elrod headed up a local group that kicked the tires on rescuing the Tornado’s the following week.1ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Jimbo Elrod Invests in Tulsa Tornado’s.” The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK). June 14, 1985 With Elrod’s investor group waiting in the wings, the Tornados somehow scraped together the funds to fly to Fort Lauderdale for a June 15th game. A makeshift squad stumbled through a 1-0 loss in what proved to be the club’s final match.
The USL entered a death spiral in the third week of June 1985. The Tornados fell into a league dispute over their lease at Skelly Stadium. The team’s game on June 22, 1985 at Skelly was cancelled. The owner of the El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks franchise dropped out of the league. The United Soccer League folded on June 25th, 1985 partway through its second season of play.
Downloads
1985 United Soccer League Directory
1985 United Soccer League Directory
Links
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