Roy Turner (born March 30, 1943 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a former

English American English Americans (historically known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2020 American Community Survey, 25.21 million self-identified as being of English origin. The term is distin ...

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 ...

player who spent one season in the National Professional Soccer League, eleven in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. He then went on to manage the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

of Major Indoor Soccer League for eight seasons. He also earned two

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with the U.S. national team.

Playing

Professional

Turner moved to the United States in 1967 to play for the Toronto Falcons of the National Professional Soccer League. He was traded to the

Philadelphia Spartans The Philadelphia Spartans were a soccer team that was a charter member of the non-FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania they played their home games at Temple Stadium in North Ph ...

eighteen games into the season. Following the 1967 season, the NPSL merged with the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

to form the

. Turner then signed with the

Cleveland Stokers The Cleveland Stokers were a soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio that played in the United Soccer Association during 1967 and the North American Soccer League in 1968. Their home field was Cleveland Stadium. History United Soccer Association ...

of the NASL. He played in all games but 3. The Stokers were eventually beaten in the Conference Championship by Atlanta in sudden death over time. In 1969, he moved to the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. ...

where he would remain until 1978. In 1971, Turner and his teammates won the NASL championship. In 1973, they again went to the title game but lost to the

Philadelphia Atoms The Philadelphia Atoms were an American soccer team based out of Philadelphia that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1973 to 1976, at Veterans Stadium (1973–75) and Franklin Field (1976). The club's colors wer ...

. Turner was a second-team All-Star in 1970, and an honourable mention (third team) in 1971 and 1973. He was known as the Iron man of the NASL playing most consecutive games at 131. Roy Turner is a fan of Everton FC.
/sup>

National team

Turner earned two

with the U.S. national team in 1973.

Coaching

In 1979, Turner was hired as the head coach of the expansion

of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). He became one of the most successful MISL coaches, remaining as head coach through the end of the 1985-1986 season. In his seven seasons as head coach, he took the team to the MISL semifinals five times. He also served as general manager for the Wings during those years. Following his stepping down as coach in 1986, he became president of the Wings organization. When the Wings entered a downward slide during the 1990-1991 season, Turner stepped back in as head coach thirty-four games into the season. On February 24, 1996, Turner resigned as president and general manager of the Wings.
/sup> Sedgwick County, in which the Wings played, declared March 24, 1996, as Roy Turner Day.
/sup>

Post soccer career

In 1999, Turner became Tournament Director of the Wichita Open Golf Tournament, a position he still continues today. In June 2009, Turner was inducted into the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame In July 2019, Turner was inducted into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame In November 2019, Turner was inducted into the State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame - the first Soccer person to do so. In February 2020, Turner was inducted into the Wichita Wings Hall of fame. In December 2019, the Wichita Open was awarded Tournament of the Year on the Korn Ferry Tour. In April 2020, the Wichita Open was named Sports Organization of the year by the Wichita Sports Hall of fame.

High School Soccer Coaching Career

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Roy Living people United States men's international soccer players National Professional Soccer League (1967) players Philadelphia Spartans players English emigrants to the United States Toronto Falcons (1967–68) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Cleveland Stokers players Dallas Tornado players American soccer coaches Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) coaches 1943 births American soccer players Association football midfielders Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) commentators