The California Sunshine was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The area encompassing Fountain Valley was originally inhabited by the Tongva people. Europea ...

that was a member of the American Soccer League. The team was owned by Dr. Robert Everakes and his wife Alexandra, who was the general manager. Their home games were held at Orange Coast Community College in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

and at El Camino Community College in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

but had exhibition games at the University of California in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

and Palm Springs Stadium in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

. Their first season was 1977, but the team folded in 1981 after four seasons. The head coach was Derek Lawther. The California Sunshine Soccer Team was founded in 1977 by Warren Hoffnung (a nuclear physicist, aerospace executive and entrepreneur – currently CEO of MyWrapper, a software company that sells software for creating personalized candy wrappers) and Lee Andrews (a financial advisor). They acquired the Orange County, California territorial rights in the American Soccer League, the oldest U.S. professional soccer league. The commissioner of the ASL at the time was basketball great Bob Cousy and there were teams spread across the U.S. A little known fact is that the California Sunshine approved the move of the NASL's St. Louis Stars to Anaheim Stadium where it was renamed the California Surf. The California Sunshine was founded with two major philosophies: To field as many American players as possible and to keep profanity off the playing field. The goal was to encourage American youth to be able to attend the matches and see how soccer could be an important part of their sports participation. In fact, all but one of the players were American.

Year-by-year

Honors

MVP * 1979

Poli Garcia Jose “Poli” Garcia (born in San Diego, California) is an American former soccer player. He spent at least four seasons in the American Soccer League, three in the North American Soccer League and four in the Major Indoor Soccer League. H ...

Coach of the Year * 1978 Derek Lawther First Team All Star * 1977 Tony Douglas * 1979 Tom Reynolds,

Ramon Moraldo Ramon Moraldo (born July 18, 1951 in Fyzabad) is a retired Trinidad and Tobago football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their ...

Don Tobin Don Tobin (1 November 1955) is an English retired footballer who played in leagues including the English Football League, the League of Ireland, the American Soccer League, and Major Indoor Soccer League. Since 1995 he has coached at various l ...

References

California Sunshine (Soccer)
American Soccer League (1933–1983) teams Defunct soccer clubs in California Fountain Valley, California Sports in Orange, California Sports in Santa Ana, California Association football clubs established in 1977 1977 establishments in California Soccer clubs in California Association football clubs disestablished in 1981 1981 disestablishments in California {{California-footyclub-stub