MISSILE Magazine was the official game program of the original Major Indoor Soccer League (1978-1992) from 1978 until 1985.
MISSILE was published in a national magazine format, which mimicked those of the NFL (“PRO”), the NHL (“GOAL”) and the NBA (“HOOP”). It was a popular approach for team sports with national ambitions in the era, including the North American Soccer League and the United States Football League. Each issue combined nationally syndicated content – often accompanied by color action photos – with a center section of local content, including rosters, local advertising and player profiles. The result was a very attractive program with a heft and production value nearly on par with some of the top magazines of the era, such as Sports Illustrated.
All of the league’s clubs sold MISSILE for the first seven seasons of the league, ending in 1985. At that point, it appears that most of the teams went their own way, producing locally designed and printed programs of varying quality until the league’s demise in 1992.
Several teams continued using the MISSILE branding & design locally for a number of years after 1985, including Baltimore (thru 1986), Cleveland (thru 1988), Los Angeles (thru 1989) and Wichita (thru 1988).
1978-79
1979-80
1980-81
1981-82
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
5 Responses
Missile Magazine was great while it lasted. It was very professionally done and its quality could have competed with any professional sport team’s game program. The articles were informative and well-written and the photography top notch.
It’s amazing how rare the Wings “home” Missiles actually are. Despite the large crowds and large number of these sold at the games, they are very rarely offered anywhere.
Great page!
Do you still have the Missile collection? I´m looking for those that have Ivair´s Ferreira photos inside. Tks
Hi – this will be bizarre. I am trying to find ANYTHING (I don’t even know if it would have been printed) on pre-game activities for one of the Houston Hurricanes 1979 games.
When I was 9, our soccer team had the awesome opportunity to play a game in the Houston Summit before the Hurricane team took the field. I know there is at least one photo somewhere in my family’s possession. I remember taking a header in that game that seemed to come from space because the arena was so huge.
I would love to know if there is anything in any of the publications still available that mentions any of the pre game entertainment. We were the Westbury Armadillos of the Westbury Soccer Association. I couldn’t tell you for the life of me who we played or the exact date. Any insight would be appreciated!
Believe it or not, you are not the first person to leave a comment on this website looking for information about youth pre-game activities from the 1970’s.
Unfortunately, I think the information you are looking for will be virtually impossible to find. The most likely place where this would be mentioned would be in printed Game Notes issued to the media in the press box that evening. Occasionally these could be found tucked into souvenir game programs as well (the programs themselves are printed weeks or months ahead of time and wouldn’t feature such nightly details). You can still find these note packets floating around in private collections or e-Bay, but hoping to find them from a single particular game is a needle-in-a-haystack exercise.
One note: the team you saw play at the Summit was probably actually called the “Houston Summit” or “Houston Summit Soccer”, although all of the players were leased to that team on loan from the outdoor Houston Hurricane of the North American Soccer League. The fact that you remember this team as being the Hurricane, probably means that this game you remember took place during the 1978-79 season, which was the season that the MISL club leased their entire roster from the Houston Hurricane of the NASL.
Drew
I have a missile magazine from the first game!!