The San Diego Sockers were a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

team based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League (NASL) until 1984 as well as the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice ...

(CISL). The franchise folded in 1996 and was the last surviving NASL franchise. The Sockers are considered the most successful indoor soccer team. They made the playoffs in all but one of their 16 seasons of playing indoors.

History

The team began as the Baltimore Comets in 1974 but moved to San Diego as the San Diego Jaws in 1976. After a one-year stay in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

as the Las Vegas Quicksilvers, the team returned as the San Diego Sockers in 1978. They were owned by Bob Bell and played their indoor games at the San Diego Sports Arena. Initially, victories came slowly for the club but mounted quickly and they experienced moderate success over their outdoor history winning several division titles. However, the San Diego Sockers won the North American Soccer League (NASL) Indoor Championships of 1981–82 and 1983–84. Success was far from over for the San Diego Sockers. When the NASL folded, the San Diego Sockers moved to the Major Indoor Soccer League and won eight championships: 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. The Sockers carried their success from one league to the next. They switched to the Continental Indoor Soccer League for three more years from 1993 to 1995. However, after several ownership changes, Sockers folded after the 1996 season. There have been two subsequent revivals of the Sockers. The first was a franchise in the WISL that later joined the second MISL before folding in 2004. A

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

started play in the PASL-PRO in 2009.

Leagues

* NASL 1974–1984 * NASL indoor 1980–1982, 1983–1984 * MISL/MSL 1982–1983, 1984–1992 * CISL 1993–1996

Owners

* Co-Owners included Charles T. Koval, Joe Sadowski, Ed Lewis, Bob Bell (1977–78) * Co-Owners Charles T. Koval, Bob Bell (1978–81) * Bob Bell (1981–87) * Ron Fowler (1987–91) * Oscar Ancira, Sr. (1991–94) * San Diego Sports Arena Management (1994–96)

Head coaches

* Hubert Vogelsinger (1978–1980) * Ron Newman (1980–1994) * Brian Quinn (1994–1996)

Year-by-year

Outdoor

Indoor

Honors

Championships (10) * NASL indoor: 1981–82, 1983–84 * MISL: 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92 * CISL: 1993 (runners-up) Regular Season/ Division Titles (12) * NASL: 1978, 1981, 1984 * NASL indoor: 1981–82, 1983–84 * MISL: 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1991–92 * CISL: 1996 Conference Titles * NASL indoor: 1981–82 (Pacific) NASL Coach of the Year * 1984 Ron Newman NASL North American Player of the Year * 1981 Mike Stojanović NASL All Stars * 1978 Alan Mayer -Second Team * 1979 Alan Mayer -Honorable Mention * 1979 Bobby Smith -Honorable Mention * 1981 Volkmar Gross -Honorable Mention * 1981 Mike Stojanović -Honorable Mention * 1981 Juli Veee -Honorable Mention * 1982 Juli Veee -Honorable Mention * 1983 Kaz Deyna -Second Team * 1984 Kevin Crow -First Team * 1984 Kaz Deyna -Honorable Mention * 1984 Brian Quinn -Honorable Mention NASL indoor MVP * 1981–82 Juli Veee NASL indoor Scoring Champion * 1981–82 Juli Veee NASL indoor Goalkeeper of the Year * 1983–84 Jim Gorsek NASL indoor Championship Finals MVP * 1981–82 Juli Veee * 1983–84 Jean Willrich NASL indoor All Stars * 1980–81 Julie Veee * 1981–82 Julie Veee * 1981–82 Martin Donnelly * 1981–82 Volkmar Gross * 1983–84 Kaz Deyna, Gert Wieczorkowski * 1983–84 ''(2nd team)'' Juli Veee, Martin Donnelly * 1984 Alan Mayer -All-Star Game starter * 1984 Julie Veee -All-Star Game starter * 1984 Kaz Deyna -All-Star Game starter * 1984 Jean Willrich -All-Star Game reserve * 1984 Gert Wieczorkowski -All-Star Game reserve Hall of Fame members * United States: Fernando Clavijo, Ron Newman, Hugo Pérez, Bobby Smith, Alan Willey, Steve Zungul * Canada: Bob Iarusci, Terry Moore, Branko Šegota, Mike Stojanović * Indoor Soccer: Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow, Zoran Karić, Alan Mayer, Ron Newman,

Victor Nogueira Victor Nogueira (born July 17, 1959) is a retired American soccer goalkeeper. Nogueira spent six seasons in the North American Soccer League, but gained his greatest recognition in over twenty seasons in three indoor leagues, the Major Indoor ...

, Brian Quinn, Branko Šegota, Zoltán Tóth, Julie Veee, Steve Zungul MISL MVP * 1983 Alan Mayer * 1985 Steve Zungul * 1986 Steve Zungul * 1991

* 1992

MISL Championship MVP * 1983 Juli Veee * 1985 Steve Zungul * 1986 Brian Quinn * 1988 Hugo Pérez * 1989

* 1990 Brian Quinn * 1991 Ben Collins * 1992 Thompson Usiyan MISL Scoring Champion * 1985 Steve Zungul * 1986 Steve Zungul MISL Pass Master (Assists leader) * 1985 Steve Zungul * 1986 Steve Zungul MISL Defender of the Year * 1985 Kevin Crow * 1988 Kevin Crow * 1989 Kevin Crow * 1991 Kevin Crow * 1992 Kevin Crow MISL Goalkeeper of the Year * 1988 Zoltán Tóth * 1989

* 1991

* 1992

MISL Coach of the Year * 1988 Ron Newman MISL Rookie of the Year * 1991 David Banks MISL First Team All Star * 1983 Alan Mayer, Kazimierz Deyna * 1985 Branko Šegota, Kevin Crow, Steve Zungul * 1986 Fernando Clavijo, Branko Segota * 1987 Kevin Crow * 1988 Zoltán Tóth, Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow, Branko Segota * 1990

, Kevin Crow * 1991

, Kevin Crow CISL Goalkeeper of the Year * 1994 Antonio Cortes CISL Rookie of the Year * 1994 John Olu–Molomo * 1995

Mark Chung Mark Chung (born June 18, 1970) is a former professional Association football, soccer player who played ten seasons in Major League Soccer. Born in Canada, he earned twenty-four cap (sports), caps, scoring two goals, with the United States men's ...

* 1996 Carlos Farias CISL First Team All Star * 1993 David Banks * 1995

Sources

hen accessed on February 15, 2020, this link was no longer active/small>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Diego Sockers (1978-96) San Diego Sockers (1978–1996), San Diego Sockers 1978 Defunct soccer clubs in California Soccer clubs in California Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) teams Continental Indoor Soccer League teams 1978 establishments in California 1996 disestablishments in California Association football clubs established in 1978 Association football clubs disestablished in 1996