San Diego Sockers (1978–1996)

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The San Diego Sockers were a professional soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, 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 (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 as the Las Vegas Quicksilvers, the team returned as the San Diego Sockers in 1978.<ref name="blea100726">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="star101229">Template:Cite news</ref> They were owned by Bob Bell and played their indoor games at the San Diego Sports Arena.<ref name="sut130706">Template:Cite news</ref>

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 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

Template:Flagicon Hubert Vogelsinger (1978–1980)
Template:Flagicon Ron Newman (1980–1994)
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Brian Quinn (1994–1996)

Year-by-year

Outdoor

Year	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Notes	Attendance
1974	2nd East, 10–8–2	Lost Quarterfinal	operated as the Baltimore Comets	4,139
1975	5th East, 9–13	Did not qualify	operated as the Baltimore Comets	2,641
1976	5th South, 9–15	Did not qualify	operated as the San Diego Jaws	6,152
1977	5th South. 11–15	Did not qualify	operated as the Las Vegas Quicksilvers	7,079
1978	1st American Conference West, 18–12	Lost Conference Semifinal	first season as the San Diego Sockers	5,146
1979	2nd American Conference West, 15–15	Lost Conference Final		11,271
1980	3rd American Conference West, 16–16	Lost Conference Final		12,753
1981	1st West, 21–11	Lost Conference Final		14,802
1982	2nd West, 19–13	Lost League Semifinal		8,532
1983	4th West, 11–19	Did not qualify		4,685
1984	1st West, 14–10	Lost Semifinal	last outdoor season	5,702

Indoor

Year	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Attendance
1976	NASL	3rd West Regional, 0–2	Out of playoffs	6,055
1978	NASL	3rd, 1–1	N/A	N/A
1980–81	NASL	4th South, 6–12	Out of playoffs	4,912
1981–82	NASL	1st West, 10–8	Won Championship	7,047
1982–83	MISL	1st West, 32–16	Won Championship	8,081
1983–84	NASL	1st NASL, 21–11	Won Championship	11,415
1984–85	MISL	1st West, 37–11	Won Championship	9,595
1985–86	MISL	1st West, 36–12	Won Championship	9,581
1986–87	MISL	3rd West, 27–25	Lost Semifinal	9,748
1987–88	MISL	1st West, 42–14	Won Championship	8,996
1988–89	MISL	2nd MISL, 27–21	Won Championship	8,383
1989–90	MISL	2nd West, 25–27	Won Championship	8,131
1990–91	MSL	1st West, 34–18	Won Championship	7,231
1991–92	MSL	1st MSL, 26–14	Won Championship	9,348
1993	CISL	2nd CISL, 20–8	Runners-up	5,583
1994	CISL	2nd West, 18–10	Lost Quarterfinal	5,032
1995	CISL	3rd South, 17–11	Lost Quarterfinal	5,366
1996	CISL	1st West, 17–11	Lost Semifinal	4,830