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Tulsa Roughnecks

Full name	Tulsa Roughnecks
Nickname(s)	Roughnecks Necks
Founded	November 15, 1977
Dissolved	July 17, 1985; 39 years ago (July 17, 1985)
Stadium	outdoor: Skelly Stadium (40,000) indoor: Tulsa Assembly Center (8,900) Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion (5,883)
League	NASL
Home colors Away colors

The Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) were a North American Soccer League (NASL) team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It played its home games at Skelly Stadium on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The team, previously Team Hawaii, moved to Tulsa after the 1977 season. In 1983, Alex Skotarek became general manager and led one of the lowest-budgeted teams in the NASL to a championship, defeating Toronto, 2–0, at Soccer Bowl '83.

Shortly after the Tulsa Roughnecks victory of the 1983 Soccer Bowl, President Ronald Reagan sent congratulatory remarks to the team as they carried the trophy in a celebration parade through downtown Tulsa. The Roughnecks still stands (as of 2024) as the only major professional team from Oklahoma to win a championship.

Highlights

The Roughnecks first match was a 6–5 indoor loss on February 11, 1978, at the Bayfront Center versus the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Three nights later in their home debut, the same two teams faced off in front of the first 3,250 Roughnecks fans at the Tulsa Assembly Center. A few weeks later they would capture the Skelly Indoor Invitational which they hosted. Over the years Tulsa regularly appeared in the NASL playoffs. They won the NASL title in Soccer Bowl '83, defeating the Toronto Blizzard at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver) by a score of 2–0 before a paid attendance of 60,051. The team's all-time win–loss record was 104–106. The Roughnecks' home games consistently drew better-than-league-average attendance with the annual record occurring during the 1980 season when the team averaged 19,787 spectators over 16 games for a total attendance that year of 316,593 (placing the Roughnecks at No. 5 between the Seattle Sounders and the Washington Diplomats). The largest home game attendance for Tulsa occurred on April 26, 1980, when 30,822 fans watched the Roughnecks' 2–1 victory over the New York Cosmos at Skelly Stadium. The highest attendance for any Roughneck game occurred on August 26, 1979, when Tulsa met the Cosmos in New York for a NASL playoff game before a crowd of 76,031.

Post-NASL

When, in August 1984, the Major Indoor Soccer League rejected the Roughnecks' application to join several other NASL teams in participating in the MISL's 1984-85 season (citing the town's small market status and subpar arena), team owners decided to fold the financially struggling franchise as of the end of the NASL season in September. Former general manager Noel Lemon was not ready to give up on soccer in Tulsa, and he was granted permission in January of 1985 to revive the name and put together a team to play outdoors that summer. Before this club could take the field, though, the NASL completed its long, slow collapse and cancelled the upcoming 1985 season in March. Lemon's new Roughnecks, which featured several holdover players from the previous iteration of the team, carried on as an independent club and pieced together a 20-game exhibition schedule against teams from the MISL, WACS, Europe and South America, as well as former NASL and USL sides that had not folded. Excluding several cancelations along the way, the team compiled a record of 8–2–1, before suspending operations on July 17, 1985.

Famous Roughnecks players include Iraj Danaeifard, Alex Skotarek, Charlie Mitchell, Billy Caskey, Victor Moreland, Barry Wallace, Alan Woodward, Zeljko Bilecki, Carmelo D'Anzi, Winston DuBose, Njego Pesa, Laurie Abrahams, Chance Fry, Terry Moore and David McCreery.

Year-by-year

Honors

Ownership & Staff

• Carl Moore – Co-Owner (1978–83)
• Mike Kimbrel – Co-Owner (1978–83)
• Rick Lowenherz – Co-Owner (1978–83)
• Fred Williams – Co-Owner (1978–83)
• Jim Boeh – Communications Director
• Noel Lemon – General Manager (1978–1981
• Alex Skotarek – General Manager (1983)
• Tulsa Cable – Owner (1984)

Players

• Zequinha (1983–84)
• Željko Bilecki (1981–82)
• Bob Bolitho (1980–81)
• Jack Brand (1979)
• Dean DiTocco (1978–80)
• Terry Moore (1982–84)
• Kim Roentved (1982)
• Laurie Abrahams (1979, 1982–83)
• Colin Boulton (1978–79)
• David Bradford (1982/1984)
• Viv Busby (1981–82)
• Chris Dangerfield (1978)
• Terry Darracott (1979)
• Roger Davies (1979)
• Alan Dugdale (1980–81)
• Steve Earle (1978/1980)
• Lil Fuccillo (1983)
• Ron Futcher (1983–84)
• David Irving (1980)
• David Johnson (1984)
• Jimmy Kelly (1980–81)
• Duncan McKenzie (1981)
• David Nish (1979)
• Tommy Ord (1980)
• Colin Waldron (1978)
• Barry Wallace (1980–85)
• Alan Woodward (1979–81)
• Franz Gerber (1982)
• Johannes Edvaldsson (1980–81)
• Iraj Danaeifard (1980–85)
• Don O'Riordan (1979–80)
• Carmelo D'Anzi (1983)
• Thompson Usiyan (1983–84)
• Billy Caskey (1978–85)
• David McCreery (1981–82)
• Chris McGrath (1981–82)
• Victor Moreland (1978; 1980–85)
• Adam Krupa (1981–85)
• Charlie Mitchell (1978)
• Davie Robb (1980)
• Eric Robertson (1980)
• Delroy Allen (1980–82)
• Matt Bahr (1978)
• Winston DuBose (1982–85)
• Gene DuChateau (1979–81)
• Chance Fry (1983–85)
• Billy Gazonas (1978–1980)
• Joe Morrone, Jr. (1981–1982)
• Njego Pesa (1982–83)
• Bill Sautter (1978–79)
• Alex Skotarek (1978–81)
• Brian Shugart
• Ron Davies (1979)
• Clive Griffiths (1980)
• Wayne Hughes (1979)
• Petar Nikezić (1978)
• Nino Zec (1978, 1983–84)

Many former players have found employment as paid trainers of youth soccer teams for clubs such as the Tulsa United, Tulsa Soccer Club (TSC), Tornado Soccer Club, and Hurricane Football Club (HFC).

Coaches

• Bill Foulkes (1978)
• Alex Skotarek (1978)
• Alan Hinton (1979)
• Charlie Mitchell (1980–1981)
• Terry Hennessey (1981–1983, won 1983 Soccer Bowl)
• Steve Earle (1983–84 indoor season only)
• Wim Suurbier (1984)

External links

• Jimmie Tramel, "Roughnecks a colorful, talented group", Tulsa World, June 26, 2006.
• J Hutcherson, "Tulsa's Charity Case" at USSoccerPlayers.com.
• Clive Gammon, "Blowing Out the Blizzard", , October 10, 1983.
• "Sports People; Too Rough In Tulsa", New York Times, November 17, 1983.

See also

• San Antonio Thunder
• Team Hawaii
• Tulsa Renegades
• Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000)
• Tulsa Tornados

References

1. Chase, Al (November 16, 1977). "Pro Soccer in Island Gone with Wind". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
2. "St. Petersburg Times – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
3. "Breaking up is hard to do". Chicago Tribune. July 18, 1985. p. 2, Sec 3. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
4. Tierney, Mike (February 11, 1978). "Rowdies expected to rough up Roughnecks". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
5. Tierney, Mike (February 15, 1978). "Rowdies trounce Tulsa". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
6. Lobaugh, Tom (March 6, 1978). "Tulsa Kicks Up A Victory". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
7. ^ "Scores & Crowds 1978–84". Archived from the original on January 27, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
8. "Schedule". nasljerseys.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
9. Crossley, Drew (December 29, 2015). "Tulsa Roughnecks (1978-1985)". Fun While It Lasted. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
10. "NASL Friendlies-Tulsa Roughnecks". Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
11. Brucculeri, Jeff (January 30, 2014). "Soccer great Victor Moreland liked what he discovered in Tulsa in 1978". Tulsa Beacon. Tulsa, OK: Biggs Communications. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
12. "The Evening Independent – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
13. ^ "The Evening Independent – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
14. "Hall of Famers". indoorsoccerhall.com. September 1, 2020. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
15. "Stat table". www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

• Tulsa Roughnecks
• Association football clubs established in 1977
• Association football clubs disestablished in 1985
• Sports in Tulsa, Oklahoma
• North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams
• Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States
• Defunct soccer clubs in Oklahoma
• Soccer clubs in Oklahoma
• 1977 establishments in Oklahoma
• 1985 disestablishments in Oklahoma