The Oceaneers were a Providence-based 2nd division soccer club of the 1970’s. The team was notable for helping to launch the pro careers of two noteworthy American goalkeepers. Rookie Arnie Mausser, star of the 1974 Oceaneers side, soon jumped to the 1st division and went on to a long career in the NASL. His replacement, Tony DiCicco, became a World Cup and Olympic champion coach in the women’s game.
The Nashville Diamonds were a woeful and all but forgotten entry in the minor league American Soccer League during the summer of 1982. The team was both dreadful on the field (3-21-4 record) and insolvent off of it. By July 1982, team officials stated that the club might not finish the season unless 15,000 fans turned out a weekend homestand at Hale Stadium. 700 showed up.
The Oklahoma City Slickers were a 2nd division American pro soccer club active in 1982 and 1983. The 1982 Slickers team was outstanding and included former British NASL stars Jeff Bourne and Phil Parkes. The team advanced to the 1982 American Soccer League championship series, losing the decisive third leg of the series 4-1 to the Detroit Express in front of 33,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome. The Slickers changed their name to the Oklahoma City Stampede for one final season in 1984.
The city of Sacramento, California hosted 2nd division professional soccer for five seasons at the end of the 1970’s. It was an era when pro soccer was quite literally the only game in town. The California capital lost pro baseball when the Class AAA Sacramento Solons left town in 1977. The Sacramento Kings and the NBA would not arrive until 1985. The Sacramento Spirits / Gold appeared in three American Soccer League championship games between 1976 and 1980. Oddly, during the two seasons the Sacramentans did not play for the championship, they finished dead last.
While it’s not unusual for minor league sports teams to shut down after a single campaign (see our One Year Wonders tag for an ever-growing list), there are considerably fewer instances of clubs that assemble a team only to fold before playing a single regular season match. This is the story of one such phantom club, the Phoenix Fire of the American Soccer League.
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