The original ‘Quakes were part of a major expansion of the NASL in 1974 that also saw the formation of the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps clubs. The ‘Quakes were the toast of the league that summer. 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.
The Kansas City Spurs soccer team enjoyed a three-year run and a few moments of greatness during the early days of the North American Soccer League (NASL). Semi-finalists in 1968, the Spurs won the NASL championship the following year in 1969. The Spurs were also the top attendance draw in the NASL in 1968. By 1970, however, the Spurs had surrendered Municipal Stadium to the newly arrived Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball and played their final season in a high school football stadium.
The St. Louis Stars were the first top flight professional soccer team to make their home in the Gateway City. Relatively speaking, the Stars were a beacon of stability in the turbulent American pro soccer scene of the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Of the 22 American pro clubs that began play during the country’s 1967 pro soccer boom, only the Dallas Tornado (1967-1981) outlived the Stars.
Of Washington D.C.’s multitude of professional and semi-pro soccer clubs, the original Diplomats of the North American Soccer League were by far the longest-lasting and most popular until the arrival of Major League Soccer and D.C. United in 1996. The Dips played from 1974 to 1981, spending most of those years at RFK Stadium. At the peak of their powers in 1980, the club shelled out a $1 million transfer fee to acquired Dutch superstar Johan Cruyff. But the Dips’ high powered corporate ownership group quickly soured on their investment and the club was out of business by late 1981. The Diplomats name and logo was later revived by a completely separate and much lower-budgeted American Soccer League club from 1987 to 1990.
National Professional Soccer League (1967) North American Soccer League (1968) Independent (1968-1969) Oakland Clippers / California Clippers Born: 1967 – NPSL founding franchise Folded: June 4, 1969
