The St. Louis Ambush was a professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

team based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Before they moved to St. Louis they were known as the Tulsa Ambush.

History

The Ambush were founded in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

: the team played one season at Tulsa's

Expo Square Pavilion The Expo Square Pavilion, sometimes called simply The Pavilion, and formerly known as the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion, is a 6,311-seat multi-purpose arena, in the Tulsa State Fairgrounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was built in 1932; the architect was ...

. Vernon Riggs was the general manager. Keith Dial was the managing general partner. Former Tulsa Roughneck and Major Indoor Soccer League player Victor Moreland was signed to be the player/coach. The Wichita-based ownership group had hoped to buy a Wichita NPSL franchise but moved forward with the team in Tulsa when the Wings remained in the MISL for the 1991–1992 season. When the Wings did join the NPSL for the 1992–93 season after the MISL folded with two other MISL teams (Cleveland and Baltimore) and after searching for Tulsa owners, the team was sold to St. Louis physicians Dr. Abraham Hawatmeh and Dr. Richard Rende in the summer of 1992. Hawatmeh and Rende moved the franchise to St. Louis and played first in the

St. Louis Arena St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchis ...

, then the Kiel Center. The Ambush made the playoffs every year that they played in St. Louis, except their final year of 1999–2000. The Ambush won one National Professional Soccer League championship (1994–1995 season), and played in four NPSL Championship series (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999), losing to the Cleveland Crunch twice (in 1994 and 1999), and to the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional soccer team in the United States and are seven-time league champions, m ...

(1998), but defeated the Harrisburg Heat in 1995 for their lone NPSL title. In 2013, an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the third Major Indoor Soccer League was named after this franchise. That team became a member of the Major Arena Soccer League after the MISL collapsed.

Year-by-year

Coaches

* Victor Moreland (1991–1992) *

Steve Pecher Steve Pecher (born St. Louis, Missouri) is an American former soccer defender who is currently the Missouri Girls Director of St Louis Scott Gallagher. Youth and college Pecher began playing soccer with the youth club, Florissant Cougars, the ...

(1992–1993) *

Daryl Doran Daryl Doran (born March 29, 1963) is a U.S. indoor soccer player. His 827 games are the most of any player in American professional indoor soccer history. Doran previously coached the St. Louis Ambush in the Major Arena Soccer League from 2013� ...

(1993–1999) *

Jamie Swanner James Swanner (born January 13, 1961, in St. Louis, Missouri) is a retired U.S. soccer goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper and current soccer coach. He was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic soccer team and earned one cap (sports), cap with the Un ...

(1999–2000) *

Joe Reiniger Joe Reiniger (born December 7, 1970 in Collinsville, Illinois) is a professional soccer player and coach. He grew up in Caseyville. Reiniger has played forward for the St. Louis Ambush, Milwaukee Wave, and the St. Louis Steamers. He went to ...

(2000) *

Jorge Espinoza Jorge Espinoza is a retired professional soccer player from Chile who played in the Major Indoor Soccer League and National Professional Soccer League. He also coached at the high school, collegiate and professional levels including two games w ...

(2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Louis Ambush (1992-2000) A A Association football clubs established in 1991 Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) teams Association football clubs disestablished in 2000 1991 establishments in Oklahoma 2000 disestablishments in Missouri