Salvatore "Sal" DeRosa (August 10, 1931 – March 2, 2014) was a naturalized American soccer coach best known for winning the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

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 ...

Championship with Rochester Lancers. DeRosa competed professionally in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy until a knee injury ended his playing days. Before settling in the United States in 1967, he had previously coached the Italian Army team and also served as an assistant for Italy's Olympic squad. Once in America, he served as coach, general manager and owner of the Syracuse Scorpions of the American Soccer League. In 1969, he guided the Scorpions to a tie at the top of the Northern Division and won a one match playoff for the division crown over Rochester, before losing to the

Washington Darts The Washington Darts were an American soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that played in the American Soccer League from 1967 to 1969 and the North American Soccer League in the 1970 and 1971 seasons, though in 1967 they were known as Washin ...

in the ASL finals. He took over as coach the Lancers (who had since moved to the NASL) midway through the 1970 season, bringing five of the Scorpions’ top players along with him, including midfielder Frank Odoi and goalie

Claude Campos Claude Campos is a Brazilian retired footballer who played in the NASL between 1970 and 1974 for the Rochester Lancers. In 1971, Graham Leggat kicked Campos in the face in a game between the Lancers and the Toronto Metros Toronto ( ; ...

. Over the final thirteen games of the season, he guided the Lancers to a mark of 6-4-3 and into the NASL title series, defeating those same Washington Darts (who had also jumped leagues) by a two-match aggregate of 4–3. He also won the 1970 NASL Coach of the Year award. In 1971 the Lancers won the NASL regular season title under him, but lost in a grueling semi-final series to eventual champion

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. That year the Lancers also were awarded the NASL Governor's Cup, given to the squad with best record against foreign teams. This was in large part due to their 4th-place finish in the

1971 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 1971 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 7th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...

, where they finished 4-1-2 (and +4 on goal dif) in all matches. DeRosa went on to coach the

Miami Gatos The Miami Toros was a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League from 1972 to 1976. The club was founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts, and moved to Miami, where they played the 1972 season in the NASL's Southern Division ...

(formerly the Washington Darts) in 1972, before returning to Rochester to coach the Lancers for one more season. Several years later, Sal also served as vice-president and general manager of the

Buffalo Stallions The Buffalo Stallions were a soccer team based out of Buffalo, New York, that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979 to 1984. Their home arena was Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. It was the last professional club for which the Portugues ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League and as their coach from 1979 to 1980. In 1977, he was named to the Rochester Lancers Team of the Decade. He founded the

Buffalo Storm Buffalo Storm were an American professional soccer team. They played for one season (1984) in the USL, with home games at All-High Stadium. Players * Rudy Pikuzinski 1983-84 * Otto Orf 1984 * Carlos Salguero 1984 * Ernesto Buriano 1984 * Oscar P ...

of the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

in 1984 and has served as special consultant and president of the citizens advisory committee for the

Buffalo Blizzard The Buffalo Blizzard was a soccer club that existed from 1992 to 2001 in Buffalo, New York. History The team was originally owned by the Knox brothers who owned the Buffalo Sabres at the time, and additionally by the Riches who owned the minor l ...

of the NPSL in the 1990s. After leaving professional soccer altogether, he helped develop youth soccer clinics in the Buffalo area throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. He died at a nursing home on March 2, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derosa, Sal 1931 births 2014 deaths Italian men's footballers American soccer coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Men's association football players not categorized by position Sportspeople from the Province of Caserta Footballers from Campania