BEFORE THEY WERE ROGUES

Chris Bennett

ROGUES BIO: GENE DuCHATEAU, 1979

HENRY McCULLY, 1978

Henry McCully (12) challenges Terry White of the California Surf in a game played August 2, 1978 at the Liberty Bowl.  The Rogues won 3-0 on a hat-trick by Jimmy Husband. Memphis goalkeeper Tony Burns got the shutout.

ROGUES 1 - COSMOS 0, MAY 24, 1978

TODAY IN ROGUES HISTORY...

May 24, 1978.  The biggest day in Memphis Rogues' history.  This was the day the mighty New York Cosmos, the original "Galacticos," came to town to play the Rogues.  Memphis was fresh off their first win and spirits were riding high.  The general feeling of the Cosmos was that this would be little more than a practice game for them.  Pele' was supposed to be the special guest but had to cancel due to his wife filing for divorce.  Franz Beckenbauer had a slight thigh strain so the Cosmos rested him.  Besides, they wouldn't need him against Memphis.  This was also Tony Field's first chance to play against his former team.  He was voted the Cosmos' MVP for the 1977 season.  A season that saw them win Soccer Bowl.  Field was then let go and signed by the Rogues.  The lowly Memphis Rogues beat the Cosmos 1-0 on a goal by...Tony Field.  David Stride picked up a ball at midfield, raced down the sideline, and sent a cross into a crowded goal mouth.  Cosmos goalie Erol Yasin batted the ball straight down to a waiting Tony Field who hammered his shot into the top of the net.  The place went crazy!  On the night, Carlos Alberto was shown a straight red card for a foul on Phil Holder, John Houska played fantastic in goal to get his first shutout, and John Faulkner marked Giorgio Chinaglia out of the game.  Things went so bad for Chinaglia that ,late on, Cosmos head coach Eddie Firmani substituted him.  Chinaglia was livid!  This directly led to Firmani being sacked.  You did NOT cross Chinaglia.  One of my favorite memories of the game was seeing Tony Field taunt the Cosmos bench by pointing to them and then pointing to the scoreboard.  A great night!

Rogues line-up:  J. Houska, B. Thomson, J. Faulkner, P. Beal, P. D'agostino, N. Smillie, T. Field, H. McCully, J. Husband, D. Stride, P. Holder.

Cosmos line-up:  E. Yasin, B. Smith, C. Alberto, N. Morais, S. Formoso, V. Bogicevic, G. Chinaglia, S. Hunt, W. Roth, D. Tueart, V. Dimitrijevic.  Subs used:  G. Etherington, R. Davis, F. Grgurev.

Attendance:  11,223

"BIG" BILL MARCUM and EDDIE McCREADIE, 1978

Rogues co-owner Bill Marcum (L) and head coach Eddie McCreadie have a celebratory cigarette in the locker room following the Rogues upset of the Dallas Tornado 3-1 on May 20, 1978.  It was the Rogues franchise's first win following nine straight losses.  There were only a little more than 8,000 fans at the Liberty Bowl but I remember that everyone was excited and hoping that this could be THE night.  After the first few minutes it was obvious that the Rogues were running all over Dallas.  Even the Tornado's late goal to spoil the shut-out did little to dampen everyone's excitement.  After the game the team did their first victory lap, applauding the fans, and hoisting head coach Eddie McCreadie up on their shoulders.  It was a great night but a better one was just a few days away!

TODAY IN ROGUES HISTORY...

May 20, 1978, the Rogues finally get the franchise's first win defeating the Dallas Tornado 3-1 in front of 8,102 home fans at the Liberty Bowl.  The Rogues' goals were scored by Neil Smillie, Tony Field, and Henry McCully.  John O'Hare scored the lone Tornado goal. This was John Houska's first start in goal for Memphis. Dallas was expected to humiliate the Rogues as they were one of the league's established teams and Memphis, an expansion team,  had lost their first nine games. One of the few who didn't sell the Rogues short was Dallas' Kyle Rote, Jr.  He commented that the Tornado needed to be careful because the Rogues had nothing to lose and that made them a serious threat to pull an upset.  They did.

  The Rogues' line-up: J. Houska, B. Thomson, J. Faulkner, P. Beal, P. D'Agostino, N. Smillie, T. Field, H. McCully, J. Husband, D. Stride, P. Holder.  Substitutes used: A. Birchenall.

BEFORE THEY WERE ROGUES

Phil Beal

ROGUES FAN CLUB NEWSPAPER, 1980

ROGUES vs DETROIT, 1978

Newspaper photo showing action from the Rogues vs Detroit Express played May 28, 1978 at the Pontiac Silverdome.  Roman Rosul came off the bench to score two goals for the Rogues but Detroit got the win 3-2 in overtime. The Rogues line-up was: Houska, Thomson, Faulkner, Beal, D'Agostino, Smillie, Field, McCully, Husband, Stride, Holder.  Substitutes used: Mohrmann, Birchenall, Rosul.  Attendance: 9,649.

BEFORE THEY WERE ROGUES

Bob Stetler

Thanks to Jim for the photo!

JORGE BERRIO vs MANCHESTER CITY, 1980

Man City played in Memphis on May 17, 1980.  The game ended in a 1-1 tie with Ossie Vazquez scoring the Rogues lone goal.  Man City won the shootout and the game 2-1.  The interesting side note to this game was that Malcolm Allison, the Rogues first coach, was the Manchester City manager.  Allison was fired about six weeks before the Rogues first game in 1978 for not having assembled a team.  The owners became impatient and sacked him. 

ROGUES vs ROWDIES, 1979

Action from the May 30, 1979 game against Tampa Bay at Tampa Stadium.  The Rogues lost 2 -1 with the lone Rogues goal scored by Jimmy Husband.

TODAY IN ROGUES HISTORY...

On May 5, 1979, the Memphis Rogues played away at California, losing to the Surf 1-0.  The Rogues line-up: J. Houska, F. St. Lot, J. Faulkner, H. McCully, B. Thomson, C. Cooke, R. Astigarraga, J. Husband, T. Field, R. Rosul, M. Gonzalez.  California's Steve David scored the game's only goal.  Attendance was 8,662.

BEFORE THEY WERE ROGUES

Jimmy Husband

HUGH O'NEILL, 1978