The Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at

Metropolitan Stadium Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...

in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initially known as the

Denver Dynamos The Denver Dynamos were a soccer team based in Denver that played in the NASL from 1974 to 1975. Their home field was Mile High Stadium. After the 1975 season, they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Kicks. History Between the 1973 and ...

, the team relocated and became the Minnesota Kicks in 1976. The Kicks quickly became one of the league's more popular teams, with an average attendance of 23,120 fans per game in 1976. The Kicks won their division four years in a row from 1976 to 1979. The Kicks drew over 23,000 fans in each season from 1976 to 1979, with attendance peaking at 32,775 in 1977.

History

The team had relocated to Minnesota after having been based in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, as the

. A group of ten investors from Minnesota, led by Jack Crocker, bought the Denver team on November 25, 1975, and relocated to Minnesota. The name "Kicks" was selected by a name-the-team contest, and announced on January 28, 1976.

Freddie Goodwin Freddie Goodwin (28 June 1933 – 19 February 2016) was an English professional football player and manager. He also played county cricket for Lancashire. Career A wing half, Goodwin was signed as a trainee from Cheshire Schoolboys by Manchest ...

, who had previously coached the New York Generals, was named the first coach on February 19, 1976. Goodwin served also as team president starting in August 1976. The team began the 1976 season slowly, however by the end of its first season the team had won the Western Division. During the season, the Kicks boosted their roster by signing

Ade Coker Ade Coker (born 19 May 1954) is a Nigerian-American former football player who played as a striker. Coker began with English club West Ham United then moved to the North American Soccer League and the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also ear ...

from Boston. The Kicks also played Glasgow Rangers to a 2–2 draw in a friendly. Minnesota was a success with fans, averaging 23,117 per game, including 42,065 for its regular season finale, But it was a game with the New York Cosmos on June 9 that convinced that The Kicks have arrived. With Pelé playing for the Cosmos, the Cosmos beat the Kicks 2–1, but the Kicks set a new NASL record of 46,164 fans. The team was led by leading scorer Alan Willey with 16 goals. The 1976 playoffs included a 3–0 win over Seattle, followed by a 3–1 win over San Jose in front of a Kicks record of 49,576 fans, and finished with a 3–0 loss to the Toronto Metros-Croatia in the 1976 Soccer Bowl at Seattle's Kingdome in front of 25,000, with the winning goal scored by Portuguese legend

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

. In 1977, the Kicks won the Western Division again, and averaged 32,775 fans, second only to the New York Cosmos. The Kicks were again led by Alan Willey with 14 goals, while midfielder Alan West was named to the All-Star team. The Kicks lost in the playoffs to Seattle. In 1978 the Kicks won the Central Division, averaging 30,928 fans. The team's leading scorer was Alan Willey, with 21 goals. In the playoffs, the Kicks defeated Tulsa before losing to the New York Cosmos. After the 1978 season, Goodwin stepped down as coach. Roy McCrohan was named coach December 1978, and he coached the team for the 1979 season. In 1979, the Kicks signed a major international star in defender Björn Nordqvist, Sweden's all-time caps leader. The Kicks won the Central Division again in 1979, but fell to Tulsa in the playoffs. Once again, Alan Willey led the team's scoring with 21 goals, and Ace Ntsoelengoe was named to the All-Star Team. After nine games into 1980 season, McCrohan was removed, and Goodwin again became coach. The Kicks finished the regular season second behind the Dallas Tornado in the Central Division, and lost in the playoffs to Dallas. Ace Ntsoelengoe was the team's leading scorer with 13 goals and 17 assists. Stars for the Kicks included US Soccer Hall of Famers Patrick (Ace) Ntsoelengoe and Alan Willey, the league's fifth and third league all-time leading scorers respectively. Ron Futcher, who along with Willey played all six Kicks seasons, went on to become the league's fourth all-time leading scorer. The Kicks were the first team in the NASL to win 4 straight division titles (1976–79). The team reached the playoffs each of its six seasons, but usually lost in the early rounds. The Minnesota Kicks are remembered for the tailgating in the

parking lot. It became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1970s, with thousands of fans arriving early to socialize and consume beverages.

Demise

The original ownership group sold the team on November 12, 1980, to a group led by Ralph Sweet of England. Sweet replaced Goodwin as coach early in the 1981 season. Goodwin remain president of the team until June 1981. The Kicks finished the 1981 season second in the Central Division. Ron Futcher was the team's leading scorer with 14 goals. The Kicks defeated Tulsa in the playoffs, but lost to Ft. Lauderdale in the quarterfinals. The Kicks last season was 1981. The team's last regular-season game was August 19, 1981, a 2–1 home win at Met Stadium over the Dallas Tornado. The team's last game at the Met was August 26, 1981, a 1–0 shootout playoff victory against the Tulsa Roughnecks. The team's last game was played on September 6, 1981, a 3–0 home playoff loss to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers played at the University of Minnesota's Memorial Stadium due to a schedule conflict with the Minnesota Twins in front of only 10,722 fans. The team had planned to move to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for the 1982 season. The Kicks lost $2.5 million during the 1981 season. By the end of the 1981 season, the Kicks were up for sale, the team missed a payment for its players and office staff, NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam was trying to find a buyer for the Kicks, and NASL announced it would play the 1981–82 indoor season without the Kicks. The Kicks folded in December 1981. The NASL conducted a dispersal draft on December 7, 1981, for the Kicks. Five Kicks players were selected

Ace Ntsoelengoe Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe OIS (26 February 1952 – 8 May 2006) was a South African soccer player who is widely considered as one of the greatest the country has ever produced. Early life Ntsoelengoe was born to Daniel Ndimande and Marga ...

by Toronto, Ron Futcher by Portland,

Tino Lettieri Martino "Tino" Lettieri (born 27 September 1957) is a former NASL and MISL professional soccer goalkeeper, who represented Canada twice at the Summer Olympics: 1976 and 1984 and at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Club career He was born as an Italian b ...

by Vancouver, David Stride by Fort Lauderdale, Randy Phillips by Tulsa, and Tim Twellman by Tulsa

Year-by-year

NASL seasons

1976 Alan Willey, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Peter Brine, Alan Merrick (Captain), Ron Webster, Mike Flater, Chaka Ngcobo, Geoff Barnett, Sam Bick, Ron Futcher, Alan West, Doug Brooks, Smith Eggleston, Nick Owcharuk, Ade Coker, Tom Howe, Jeff Solem, Steve Litt, Frank Spraggon, Peter Short. Freddie Goodwin (Coach), Gary Smith (Trainer), Dave Nowicki (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (

Team Physician The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building The goal of a team physician is to improve p ...

). 1979 Willie Morgan, Gary Vogel, Tony Want, Alan Merrick, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Alan West, Chico Hamilton, Volkmar Gross, Mark Moran, Geoff Barnett, Bjorn Nordqvist (Captain), Alan Willey, Tino Lettieri, Ricardo Alonso, Steve Litt, Greg Villa, Brian Zins, Ron Futcher, Mike McLenaghan, Tim Twellman. Roy McCrohan (Head Coach), Gary Smith (Head Trainer), Jim Mulcahy (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (Team Physician), Freddie Goodwin (President).

NASL indoor

Minnesota participated in and finished as runners-up in the

1978 NASL Skelly Indoor Invitational The 1978 NASL Skelly Invitational was a four-team indoor soccer tournament held in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Tulsa Assembly Center on the first weekend of March 1979. Overview Four teams, all from the North American Soccer League, participated in t ...

. They played one other match that year against

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

. The NASL began playing a full schedule of indoor soccer in the fall of 1979. The Kicks played their home games at

Met Center The Met Center was an indoor arena that stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The arena, which was completed in 1967 by Minnesota Ice, just to the north of Metropolitan Stadium, seated 15,000. It was the home of ...

and participated for 2 seasons, before folding in November 1981, just a month before the start of the 1981–82 indoor season.

International Friendlies

Honors

NASL Championships *

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

runner-up * 1978 indoor runner-up Conference Titles *

Pacific Conference Division titles *

Western Division, Pacific Conference *

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

Western Division, Pacific Conference * 1978 Central Division, National Conference *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Central Division, National Conference U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame * 2003

& Alan Willey Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame * 2001

* 2008 Bruce Twamley All-Star First Team Selections * 1977 Alan West * 1979

* 1980

All-Star Second Team Selections * 1976 Ron Webster & Alan West * 1978 Alan Merrick All-Star Honorable Mentions * 1976 Frank Spraggon * 1977 Steve Litt,

& Alan Merrick * 1978 Mike Renshaw * 1979 Steve Litt Indoor All-Stars * 1980–81

, Björn Nordqvist

Coaching statistics

Media coverage

Radio

*1976 WWTC-AM 1280 *1977 KSTP AM 1500 *1978–79 WWTC-AM 1280 *1980 KSTP-AM 1500 *1981 WAYL AM 980 Frank Buetel was the original play-by-play announcer (1976–79), followed by Al Shaver in 1980 and Doug McLeod in 1981.

Television

*1976–80

KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Hubbard Broadcasting, which has owned the ...

*1981

WCCO-TV WCCO-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities area. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by th ...

KSTP's original announcers were Kicks' public address announcer Rod Trongard and Tom Ryther. When Ryther left KSTP in March 1978, Bob Bruce replaced him. Ralph Jon Fritz called Kicks' games on WCCO.

Records

Records of the Minnesota Kicks are available for research use. They include manager's subject files (1976–1980), staff and player files, payrolls, marketing and promotional materials, financial files, and miscellaneous records. The bulk of the records are the files of team coach and manager Freddie Goodwin, and concern the general management of the franchise.Minnesota Kicks Team Records
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External links

Gallery of Kicks jerseys on NASLJerseys.com

References

{{North American Soccer League (1968–84) Association football clubs established in 1976 Association football clubs disestablished in 1981 Soccer clubs in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Defunct soccer clubs in Minnesota Soccer clubs in Minnesota North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States 1976 establishments in Minnesota 1981 disestablishments in Minnesota