Team Hawaii was a
soccer team based out of
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
that played in the
NASL for one season, 1977. Their home field was
Aloha Stadium.
After two unsuccessful years as the
San Antonio Thunder
The San Antonio Thunder were an American soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1975 as a member of the North American Soccer League, the team played two seasons in San Antonio before the franchise rights were moved to Hawaii. The t ...
, the franchise moved to Hawai'i in time for the 1977 season. The club was originally coached by Hubert Vogelsinger, but after he became ill midway through the season,
Charlie Mitchell took over and served as player-coach for the remainder of the campaign. On the field, Hawaii had an 11-15 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs; at the box office, the team never came close to filling their 50,000-seat stadium. (A decent crowd of 12,877 attended their match against the
New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to
* New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada)
* New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...
in April, but none of their other twelve home games drew even half of that; they managed only 4,543 per game for the season.)
Being thousands of miles away from their opponents, travel became a significant issue for Team Hawaii. The club would often go on four- or five-game road trips to the mainland, while visiting teams would usually coordinate playing in Hawaii with games against west coast teams.
With the poor attendances and high travel costs, the club lost an estimated $500,000 to $1 million in 1977. After speculation the franchise would move to
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
,
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
or
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, Team Hawaii officially shifted to Tulsa on November 14, 1977 to become the
Tulsa Roughnecks.
To date, they remain Hawaii's only major professional soccer team and one of two major professional sports teams to play in the state (the other being
The Hawaiians that played in the
WFL in 1974-75).
1977 roster
''Last updated 20 April 2009''.
Year-by-year
Notes
Defunct soccer clubs in Hawaii
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams
1977 establishments in Hawaii
1977 disestablishments in Hawaii
Team Hawaii
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