San Diego Sockers (1978–1996)

San Diego Sockers

Full name	San Diego Sockers
Nickname(s)	Sockers
Founded	1978
Dissolved	1996; 29 years ago (1996)
Stadium	Jack Murphy Stadium (48,460) (1978–84) San Diego Sports Arena (12,920) (1980–96)
Coach	Ron Newman
League	NASL (1978–84) MISL/MSL (1982–83, 1984–92) CISL (1993–96)
Home colors Away colors

The San Diego Sockers were a professional soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League (NASL) until 1984 as well as the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). The franchise folded in 1996 and was the last surviving NASL franchise.

The Sockers are considered the most successful indoor soccer team. They made the playoffs in all but one of their 16 seasons of playing indoors.

The team began as the Baltimore Comets in 1974 but moved to San Diego as the San Diego Jaws in 1976. After a one-year stay in Las Vegas as the Las Vegas Quicksilvers, the team returned as the San Diego Sockers in 1978.^[1][2] They were owned by Bob Bell and played their indoor games at the San Diego Sports Arena.^[3]

Initially, victories came slowly for the club but mounted quickly and they experienced moderate success over their outdoor history winning several division titles. However, the San Diego Sockers won the North American Soccer League (NASL) Indoor Championships of 1981–82 and 1983–84. Success was far from over for the San Diego Sockers. When the NASL folded, the San Diego Sockers moved to the Major Indoor Soccer League and won eight championships: 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. The Sockers carried their success from one league to the next. They switched to the Continental Indoor Soccer League for three more years from 1993 to 1995. However, after several ownership changes, Sockers folded after the 1996 season.

There have been two subsequent revivals of the Sockers. The first was a franchise in the WISL that later joined the second MISL before folding in 2004. A second started play in the PASL-PRO in 2009.

• NASL 1974–1984
• NASL indoor 1980–1982, 1983–1984
• MISL/MSL 1982–1983, 1984–1992
• CISL 1993–1996

• Co-Owners included Charles T. Koval, Joe Sadowski, Ed Lewis, Bob Bell (1977–78)
• Co-Owners Charles T. Koval, Bob Bell (1978–81)
• Bob Bell (1981–87)
• Ron Fowler (1987–91)
• Oscar Ancira, Sr. (1991–94)
• San Diego Sports Arena Management (1994–96)

• Hubert Vogelsinger (1978–1980)
• Ron Newman (1980–1994)
• Brian Quinn (1994–1996)

Championships (10) NASL indoor: 1981–82, 1983–84 MISL: 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92 CISL: 1993 (runners-up) Regular Season/ Division Titles (12) NASL: 1978, 1981, 1984 NASL indoor: 1981–82, 1983–84 MISL: 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1991–92 CISL: 1996 Conference Titles NASL indoor: 1981–82 (Pacific) NASL Coach of the Year 1984 Ron Newman NASL North American Player of the Year 1981 Mike Stojanović[4] NASL All Stars 1978 Alan Mayer -Second Team 1979 Alan Mayer -Honorable Mention[5] 1979 Bobby Smith -Honorable Mention 1981 Volkmar Gross -Honorable Mention[6] 1981 Mike Stojanović -Honorable Mention 1981 Juli Veee -Honorable Mention 1982 Juli Veee -Honorable Mention 1983 Kaz Deyna -Second Team 1984 Kevin Crow -First Team 1984 Kaz Deyna -Honorable Mention 1984 Brian Quinn -Honorable Mention NASL indoor MVP 1981–82 Juli Veee NASL indoor Scoring Champion 1981–82 Juli Veee NASL indoor Goalkeeper of the Year 1983–84 Jim Gorsek NASL indoor Championship Finals MVP 1981–82 Juli Veee 1983–84 Jean Willrich NASL indoor All Stars 1980–81 Julie Veee[7] 1981–82 Julie Veee 1981–82 Martin Donnelly 1981–82 Volkmar Gross[8] 1983–84 Kaz Deyna, Gert Wieczorkowski[9] 1983–84 (2nd team) Juli Veee, Martin Donnelly[10] 1984 Alan Mayer -All-Star Game starter 1984 Julie Veee -All-Star Game starter 1984 Kaz Deyna -All-Star Game starter 1984 Jean Willrich -All-Star Game reserve 1984 Gert Wieczorkowski -All-Star Game reserve Hall of Fame members United States: Fernando Clavijo, Ron Newman, Hugo Pérez, Bobby Smith, Alan Willey, Steve Zungul Canada: Bob Iarusci, Terry Moore, Branko Šegota, Mike Stojanović Indoor Soccer:[11] Fernando Clavijo,[12] Kevin Crow, Zoran Karić,[13] Alan Mayer, Ron Newman, Victor Nogueira, Brian Quinn, Branko Šegota, Zoltán Tóth, Julie Veee, Steve Zungul

MISL MVP 1983 Alan Mayer 1985 Steve Zungul 1986 Steve Zungul 1991 Victor Nogueira 1992 Victor Nogueira MISL Championship MVP 1983 Juli Veee 1985 Steve Zungul 1986 Brian Quinn 1988 Hugo Pérez 1989 Victor Nogueira 1990 Brian Quinn 1991 Ben Collins 1992 Thompson Usiyan MISL Scoring Champion 1985 Steve Zungul 1986 Steve Zungul MISL Pass Master (Assists leader) 1985 Steve Zungul 1986 Steve Zungul MISL Defender of the Year 1985 Kevin Crow 1988 Kevin Crow 1989 Kevin Crow 1991 Kevin Crow 1992 Kevin Crow MISL Goalkeeper of the Year 1988 Zoltán Tóth 1989 Victor Nogueira 1991 Victor Nogueira 1992 Victor Nogueira MISL Coach of the Year 1988 Ron Newman MISL Rookie of the Year 1991 David Banks MISL First Team All Star 1983 Alan Mayer, Kazimierz Deyna 1985 Branko Šegota, Kevin Crow, Steve Zungul 1986 Fernando Clavijo, Branko Segota 1987 Kevin Crow 1988 Zoltán Tóth, Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow, Branko Segota 1990 Victor Nogueira, Kevin Crow 1991 Victor Nogueira, Kevin Crow CISL Goalkeeper of the Year 1994 Antonio Cortes CISL Rookie of the Year 1994 John Olu–Molomo 1995 Mark Chung 1996 Carlos Farias CISL First Team All Star 1993 David Banks 1995 Mark Chung

• [1] [when accessed on February 15, 2020, this link was no longer active]
• [2]

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