Houston Dynamos was a U.S. soccer team that existed in various forms from 1983 to 1991. In 1991, the team's owners changed the name to Houston International , but the team lasted only through the 1992 season before folding. The Dynamos were founded by Pete Kane and John M Gaughan. The Dynamos were founded with the intention of a continued building of the sport of soccer in Houston Texas. The Dynamos were the first team to give contracts to its players based on an entire year not on a season. The Houston Dynamos players year round went to parks, schools and events promoting the sport of soccer. In 1985 the Dynamos brought Pele to Houston creating great interest in the sport and spreading goodwill.
32-513: In 1983, the United Soccer League (USL) was formed after the second American Soccer League (ASL) folded that year. The ASL had served as the de facto U.S. second division for decades, but collapsed due to over expansion and financial insolvency. The USL intended to avoid this fate by creating a lean, financially responsible league. In 1984 , the league began play with nine teams in three regional divisions. The Houston Dynamos joined
64-725: A 4–1 defeat of the New York Eagles, but were knocked out of the semi-finals 1–1 and 1–2 by New York United. The 1982 ASL consisted of 7 teams in one division. With 19 wins, 4 ties, and 5 losses, The Express had the best record in the league. They then won the championship, defeating the Georgia Generals in the semi-finals and the Oklahoma City Slickers in the finals. Detroit players Brian Tinnion , Andy Chapman , and Billy Boljevic were 1, 2 and 4 overall in league scoring. And goal keeper Tad DeLorm had
96-555: A closely contested series in which the first and third games were both decided by penalty kick shootouts. In 1985, the Dynamos chose not to return to the USL for the league's second season when it became apparent the league would not survive. Despite the league's attempt at financial austerity, it indeed folded eight games into the 1985 season. Having forsaken the USL, the Dynamos played an exhibition schedule as an independent team. In 1987,
128-488: A minor league that had been organized in just five months and had four members that were brand new, this debut season was relatively stable and successful. Several of the teams managed to sign players with experience in the NASL and/or MISL, elevating the quality of play, and a league-wide parity (even the top two teams only managed 15-9 records) produced largely engaging and competitive games. Some troubling signs emerged out of
160-513: A paltry four teams for the 1985 season . After a hasty schedule re-organization, the league began play in late May with a round-robin style tournament for the "USL Cup" with hopes of attracting more teams to join the league for the second half of its season. Signs of trouble were all around. Commissioner Burfeind resigned just as USL Cup play got underway. The Dallas Americans were forced to offer their players stock options to cover unpaid salaries. Tulsa fell behind on stadium rent and payroll, and
192-731: The Oklahoma City Stampede and Dallas Americans in the Southwest Division. The Dynamos gained a significant boost when it signed José Neto . Houston finished third in the league, but second in its division. In the wild card game, the Dynamos defeated the Dallas Americans . In the semifinals, they defeated the Oklahoma City Stampede two games to none. In the championship round, the Fort Lauderdale Sun defeated Houston two games to one in
224-774: The 1980s, eventually to merge into the American Professional Soccer League , precursor to the USL First Division . Detroit Express (1981%E2%80%931983) The Detroit Express was an American soccer team based in Detroit , Michigan and a member of the American Soccer League . They joined the league in 1981 after the original NASL Express were moved to Washington D.C. to replace the Diplomats who had folded at
256-633: The ASL team in February. An ownership group led by Felix Sabates hired a number of them when they were granted a Charlotte USL franchise in April. Initial excitement for the new league was strong enough that two NASL teams, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Tulsa Roughnecks , considered moving over as well. By late March, Rochester chose to follow the crowd, and the ASL quietly ended operations. By
288-681: The Dynamos entered a newly established league, the Lone Star Soccer Alliance . At the end of the 1990 season, the team ownership changed the team's name to Houston International for the franchise's final season. MVP Coach of the Year Executive of the Year The MLS team the Houston Dynamo is named after the Dynamos. United Soccer League (1984%E2%80%9385) The United Soccer League
320-631: The Northern Division, where all three teams finished below .500. The New York Nationals started 5-0 but then collapsed to a 10-14 record after their head coach and several key players left the club a month into the season, and the Buffalo Storm, whose home field had no lights, routinely attracted small crowds and declined the chance to host a playoff game. But even with these challenges, all nine teams completed their full schedules. Oklahoma City, Fort Lauderdale and Buffalo qualified for
352-615: The Pennsylvania Stoners and Oklahoma City Slickers announced plans to go "dormant," and Stoners president William Burfeind also resigned as league president. This left only four active teams plus the Rochester Flash , who had planned to re-activate after sitting out in 1983. Despite losing these two teams, the league rejected an expansion application from a group in Fort Lauderdale (hoping to capitalize on
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#1732794616554384-570: The Slickers out of a financial crisis in 1983 but then released his controlling interest following the season after learning that the team was still saddled with significant debt, transplanted the operation to what was, on paper, a new franchise in order to join the league with a clean slate financially. Similarly, staff and players from the Carolina Lightnin' were not out of a job for long following owner Bob Benson's decision to shutter
416-457: The attention generated by high-profile players such as Pelé and the recent surge in American youth participation in soccer into stability or profitability for the professional game. Both leagues had been marked by a constant turnover in teams, with multiple clubs folding or relocating after every season. In the ASL, the expansion from the league's long-time base in the northeastern states into
448-479: The best goals against average in the league. By 1983 the league had shrunk down to 6 teams, but returned to the 2 division format. The Express struggled to a 12–13 record (the league instituted a shootout rule for the season) to finish 2nd in the Western Division behind the Dallas Americans , and did not make the playoffs. Billy Boljevic and Andy Chapman led the team in scoring with 9 goals each. In
480-487: The early months of 1984, the ASL, which had been in a period of decline for several years, finally collapsed as most of its last few active teams elected to either fold or join a new league being formed by the owners of the Jacksonville Tea Men and Dallas Americans, the United Soccer League . Express owner Sonny Van Arnem took steps towards joining this new league, but he ultimately decided against it due to
512-548: The end of 1980. The ASL Express played their home games in the Pontiac Silverdome and then at Tartar Field on the campus of Wayne State University . The 1981 Express finished second in the Freedom Division with a 15 win, 11 loss and 2 tie record. Mike Mancini was the leading scorer for Detroit with 16 goals, followed by Brian Tinnion with 9. The Express advanced to the second round of the playoffs with
544-608: The end of the month, the NASL had abandoned plans for a 1985 season, and Houston had left the USL to be independent while five other clubs (New York, Rochester, Buffalo, Charlotte and Jacksonville) had folded. Only Dallas, Fort Lauderdale (who were renamed South Florida Sun), and the Tulsa Tornado's (who had re-located in December from Oklahoma City and had also been renamed) chose to return. The El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks were added as an expansion team to bring USL membership to
576-412: The fan base left behind when the NASL's Strikers had been moved to Minnesota two months earlier) because the ASL's by-laws allowed the owner of the dormant Miami franchise to retain rights to the territory of south Florida and voting privileges. At this point the owners of the Jacksonville Tea Men and Dallas Americans decided that the ASL was in a hopeless situation, and they spent the weekend laying
608-731: The foundations for a new second division league that would be more stable and financially sound. Almost immediately, the Detroit Express and the Fort Lauderdale expansion group elected to join Jacksonville and Dallas in the new circuit, to be called the United Soccer League, and Dr. Burfeind agreed to be their commissioner (though he chose not to have the Stoners franchise come to the USL with him). In Oklahoma City, David Fraser, who had stepped in midseason to bail
640-478: The league's founding never materialized, and in February, most teams failed to post a performance bond to demonstrate their readiness for another season. The NASL likewise found itself with only a handful of teams willing to commit to another season, and there were discussions about merging the leagues to stave off the collapse of both. The sides failed to come to an agreement, though, and USL commissioner Burfeind announced that there would be no merger on March 5th. By
672-530: The midwest and west coast in the '70s and southern states in the early '80s overstretched the travel budgets of most members, whose revenues and operating budgets were significantly smaller that those in the NASL. The league completed its 1983 season with just six teams, most of whom were on shaky financial footing. When the ASL owners came together in Atlanta for their annual meetings in January 1984,
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#1732794616554704-494: The playoffs as division winners, and Houston and Dallas made the field as wild card teams. The Sun, whose roster featured former NASL Fort Lauderdale Strikers players Teófilo Cubillas , Keith Weller , Jim Tietjens , and Ernst Jean-Baptiste, won the league title in a three-game series against the Houston Dynamos. Though the USL survived its first season seemingly intact, the league found itself in crisis heading into
736-531: The same staff and players as their recently folded ASL predecessors (the Charlotte Gold and Oklahoma City Stampede ), and four new teams (the Buffalo Storm , Fort Lauderdale Sun , Houston Dynamos , and New York Nationals ). Fiscal responsibility, year round operation (including an indoor season in the winter months), and measured expansion were a few of the cornerstones on which the organization
768-415: The teams in the other two divisions. They also arranged the schedules so that when teams did visit out-of-division opponents, they visited all three cities in a division in the same trip (meaning only two stretches just short of a week each during a season that teams would need to travel by plane and stay in hotels between games). The 1984 season got underway on May 12 and lasted until September 1. For
800-552: The time the dust settled, Tampa and Tulsa decided to stay put in the NASL, and Detroit elected not to field a team due to the new league not being sanctioned by the USSF . This left the USL with a lineup of nine teams divided into three regional divisions: three direct transfers from the ASL (the Jacksonville Tea Men, Dallas Americans and Rochester Flash), two teams with new or modified ownership and new names but many of
832-418: The unpaid players and coaches refused to suit up for a home exhibition game on June 6th or travel to Dallas on June 8th for a Cup game. The league had initially announced that the top two teams in the standings at the end of the round-robin set of games would face off to determine the winner of the cup; however, this round of play (which would have pitted South Florida with their 4-2 record against Dallas at 3-3)
864-406: The winter of 1984/85. Revenues were not keeping up with expenses despite the league's more conservative fiscal structure. The owners were passionate about building up the sport, but almost none of them had the deep pockets and/or patience necessary to persevere through unprofitable early years while they gradually built up a strong network of sponsors, investors and fans. The indoor season planned at
896-468: Was a professional soccer league in the United States in 1984 and 85. By the end of 1983, professional outdoor soccer in the United States was crumbling. Both the higher-level North American Soccer League and de facto second division American Soccer League had undergone a period of ambitious expansion in the1970's, but the majority of teams at both levels had yet to figure out how to translate
928-455: Was called off, and the league declared South Florida the cup winners. As a harbinger of things to come, no physical trophy representing the USL Cup was presented to them, causing Sun player-coach, Keith Weller , to quip, "There ain't no cup." No new teams had joined the league by June 22, when the "regular season" was scheduled to begin. The Tornado's/Gamecocks match scheduled for that night
960-608: Was cancelled because the Tornado's stadium rent and payroll issues remained unresolved. This may have been just as well, as the Gamecocks owner had already quietly ended his relationship with the league, paid bills and salaries through the end of the month, and released the players as of then. The Sun beat Dallas 3-1 at Lockhart Stadium on the same day in what would turn out to be the USL's final match. A few days later, creditors locked league officials out of their offices, and play
992-490: Was suspended for good on June 25th. The demise of the USL and NASL (which would never realize its stated goal of relaunching in 1986) meant that for the first time in over fifty years there was no professional outdoor soccer league in the U.S. This was a temporary void, however, as the Western Soccer Alliance and third incarnation of the American Soccer League would form and grow in the latter half of
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1024-419: Was to be structured. A league rule allowed only four of eighteen roster spots be taken by foreign players, and a salary cap was imposed on member clubs. To control travel costs, the teams were to follow an imbalanced schedule in which they would play 12 games against the other two members of their regional divisions (allowing the road team to travel by bus and often return home the same night) and 12 games against
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