October 4, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
FC Tulsa News Release
Coined a team “nobody expected to go beyond the early rounds of the playoffs”, the 1983 Tulsa Roughnecks marked one of the most improbable runs in American soccer, garnering national attention and Oklahoma’s first and only major professional sports championship along the way.
Entering the season with the league’s lowest payroll of $700,000, the Roughnecks and head coach Terry Hennessey opened the season to a tough 2-8 start that included back-to-back overtime defeats to open June. However, once the club rallied back on June 8, defeating the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, 2-1. They never looked back.
Playing behind star-studded attackers Barry Wallace and Ronald Futcher, the Roughnecks closed the regular season winning 15 of its remaining 20 matches, surging from the league’s worst to the top dog of the Southern Division.
However, the cries for a fluke season still lingered as the 17-13 Roughnecks claimed the third seed in the NASL Playoffs, as many in the top ranks deemed its division to be the weakest in the league. As the Roughnecks returned to Skelly Stadium for its first-round date, the doubters were soon silenced.
Squaring off against the sixth-seeded Fort Lauderdale Strikers, the Roughnecks showed no signs of weakness, defeating the Strikers with a 3-2 home victory before sweeping the series on enemy territory, 4-2. With the result, it planned a date with another Cinderella in the No. 8-seeded Montreal Magic, who pulled a stunning sweep over the table leader and title favorite – the New York Cosmos.
After a gritty 2(9)-1(8) victory for the Roughnecks, their title hopes were in the balance after slipping in Game 2 to Montreal, 1-0. Returning home in a win-or-go-home scenario, they needed a major push to keep in play for hardware.
In Game 3 of the NASL Semifinals, Futcher answered the call, notching a brace to punch the Roughnecks to a 3-0 victory and its ticket to Soccer Bowl ’83, finding goals in the 30th and 36th minute before a First-Team All-Star in Wallace put the game away with a goal in the 54th minute.
“They aren’t the prettiest players, and they’re not the big names,” head coach Hennessey said. “We’re the smallest city in the league and have a reputation for rough play, but we kept working, and it has paid off with a chance for the title.”
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