Tombstone
Born: 1984 – USL founding franchise
Folded: Postseason 1984
First Game: May 19, 1984 (L 2-1 @ Jacksonville Tea Men)
Last Game: August 26, 1984 (L 5-1 @ Fort Lauderdale Sun)
USL Championships: None
Stadium
All-High Stadium (6,000)11984 Jacksonville Tea Men Program
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Sal DeRosa
Attendance
While USL attendance figures are not available, contemporary press reports at the conclusion of the 1984 season stated that the Storm averaged fewer than 1,000 fans per match at All-High Stadium.2Taylor, Phil. “Sun to play host to Buffalo”. The Herald (Miami, FL). August 18, 1984
Background
The Buffalo Storm played one season of 2nd Division soccer in the doomed United Soccer League (USL) during the summer of 1984. The USL rose from the ashes of the American Soccer League (ASL), the 50-year old lower division league that finally gave up the ghost in early 1984 after years of chaos and struggle. Several of the United Soccer League’s founding clubs were ASL refugees. The Storm were one of the newly organized franchises.
Club owner Sal DeRosa was a former head coach of the Rochester Lancers first division club and managed the Lancers to the 1970 North American Soccer League championship. Storm head coach Francisco “Pancho” Escos was a NASL All-Star midfielder with DeRosa’s Lancers teams of the early 1970’s. The pair also worked together with the Buffalo Stallions indoor team, where Escos finished out his playing career in the early 1980’s while DeRosa served as the Stallions’ Vice President and General Manager.
In Competition
The Storm roster heavily depended on Buffalo Stallions players moonlighting in the USL during their offseason from the Major Indoor Soccer League. During this gloomy mid-80’s era of American soccer, the winter indoor season had become the more lucrative financial opportunity for most professional players. But the indoor game was also fraught with instability. The Stallions would go out of business after five seasons in July 1984, midway through the Storm’s first and only season.
The Stallions contingent included:
- Midfielder Ernie Buriano
- Forward Herve Guilliod
- Midfielder Niels Guldberg
- Forward Dave Lischner
- Defender Dennis Mepham
- Midfielder Pat Occhiuto
- Defender Oscar Pisano
- Forward Carlos Salguero
- Goalkeeper Wieslaw Surlit
- Local brothers Randy and Rudy Pikuzinski
The Storm were grouped in the three-team Northern Division, along with the USL’s two other New York entries, the Long Island-based New York Nationals and the Rochester Flash. The Storm won the division with an 11-13 record, earning a playoff spot.
The End
The name may have changed, but the lousy stadiums, threadbare budgets and bounced paychecks of the United Soccer League were hardly distinguishable from the troubles that routinely beset the old American Soccer League.
Buffalo was a notably troubled entry in the USL. The club came into existence only one month prior to its May 1984 debut. The Storm played at All-High Stadium, a high school football field with no lights for night time play. The team averaged fewer than 1,000 games per match in 1984, but at least those who showed up got to bed on time.
After the Storm qualified for the USL playoffs in August, the team voluntarily gave up its home date in the best-of-three opening round series against the Fort Lauderdale Sun. Storm owner Sal DeRosa cited the futility of staging a hastily scheduled game at All-High Stadium at 5:00 PM on a weeknight.3Taylor, Phil. “Sun to play host to Buffalo”. The Herald (Miami, FL). August 18, 1984 The Storm travelled to south Florida and were promptly blown out by a combined score of 8-1 in a two-leg defeat.
The Buffalo Storm folded quietly after the 1984 USL season ended. The USL itself closed down shortly after opening its second season in the spring of 1985.
Buffalo Storm Shop
Downloads
8-12-1984 Storm vs. New York Nationals Roster Sheet
8-12-1984 Buffalo Storm vs. New York Nationals Roster Sheet
Links
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One Response
The USL was supposed to play indoors during the winter months as well, but it never happened. However, the Storm had signed an agreement with the War Memorial Arena in Rochester, in effect preventing the hometown Flash from using it. In the end, it didn’t matter as both franchises disappeared after the season ended.