The St. Louis Stars were a soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri that played in the original North American Soccer League from 1968 to 1977. The Stars were known for playing mostly American players, many from the St. Louis area, in contrast to other NASL teams' reliance on foreign players. The Stars were headed by St. Louis businessman Bob Hermann. Hermann later went on to become president of the NPSL, and to create the Hermann Trophy, college soccer's version of the Heisman Trophy.
The Stars immediately stole the spotlight from the local amateur clubs and attracted many mainstream sports fans. The first Stars team included players from nine countries, with nine players from Yugoslavia, and the majority of the team did not speak English. The Stars' average attendance 7,613 was the highest in the league. After the season, the NPSL merged with the rival United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League. The Stars became a member of the newly merged league.
Following the 1968 NASL season, the league was in trouble with ten franchises having folded. The team's owners cut back on players' salaries, and the team became semi-pro. Consequently, the team began to draw poor crowds, averaging fewer than 4,000 fans per game for the three seasons from 1969 to 1971.
On March 19, 1971, the Stars hosted the 1971 NASL Professional Hoc-Soc Tournament, which was the first indoor soccer tournament sanctioned by a Division One professional league in U.S. history. The Stars lost their opening match, 2–1, but rebounded, 2–0, to win the third place match up.
The Stars best season was 1972. The Stars won the Southern Division that year, defeated the Rochester Lancers 2–1 in a semifinal match held at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, and in Final they lost 2–1 to the Cosmos in a match played at Hofstra Stadium in New York. Pat McBride (MF) and John Sewell (DF) were named first team all-stars for the 1972 season. The team's success reinvigorated fan appeal, leading the league in attendance in 1972 with close to 8,000 fans per match, and continuing to draw over 6,000 fans each season from 1972 to 1977. St. Louis went on to participate in both the 1975 and 1976 NASL indoor tournaments with little success.
In 1975 the Stars signed a foreign star: Peter Bonetti. "The Cat" was a FA Cup-winning star for Chelsea, had played for England from 1966–1970, was the backup goalkeeper to Gordon Banks on England's winning team in the 1966 World Cup, and had started one match at the 1970 World Cup. Bonetti had a solid season with the Stars, and was named a NASL first-team all-star for the 1975 season. The Stars won the Central Division in 1975, defeated the L.A. Aztecs in the quarterfinals at Busch Memorial Stadium, and lost to the Portland Timbers in the semifinals. John Sewell was named NASL Coach of the Year.
In 1977, the Stars once again recruited an English goalkeeper, Bill Glazier, who was supposed to be England's backup goalkeeper at the 1966 World Cup, but had suffered a broken leg. While Glazier had long been successful as Coventry City's #1, he struggled for form in St. Louis as John Jackson won the starting goalkeeper role for the 1977 season.
First division soccer would not return to the city until 2023, when St. Louis City SC joined Major League Soccer.
Media coverage
The Stars had good radio coverage the first season on KWK with Jay Randolph doing commentary. Some matches over the first two seasons were on KMOX. From 1973, KCFV, the station for St. Louis Community College would broadcast many home matches.
Television would be more elusive, with CBS providing national coverage on KMOX-TV for two seasons. KPLR started televising matches in 1973, and after a break in 1975, returned for the last two seasons.
Year-by-year
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Record
!Regular season finish
!Playoffs
!Avg Attend.
!Cup
|-
|1967
|14–11–7
|2nd, Western Division (NPSL)
|Did not qualify
|7,613
| style="background:#ffebad;"|Runners-up
|-
|1968
|12–14–6
|3rd, Gulf Division
|Did not qualify
|5,388
|n/a
|-
|1969
|3–11–2
|4th, NASL
|Did not qualify
|2,274
|n/a
|-
|1970
|5–17–2
|3rd, Eastern Division, Northern Division
|Did not qualify
|2,745
|n/a
|-
|1971 indoor
|1–1
|3rd in Hoc-soc tournament
|won 3rd place match
|5,060
|n/a
|-
|1971
|6–13–5
|4th, Southern Division
|Did not qualify
|3,579
|n/a
|-
|1972
|7–4–3
| style="background:#b3b7ff;"|1st, Southern Division
| style="background:#ffebad;"|Runners-up
|7,773
|n/a
|-
|1973
|7–7–5
|2nd, Southern Division
|Did not qualify
|6,337
|n/a
|-
|1974
|4–15–1
|4th, Central Division
|Did not qualify
|7,374
|n/a
|-
|1975 indoor
|1–1
|2nd, Region 1
|Did not qualify
|5,060
|n/a
|-
|1975
|13–9
| style="background:#b3b7ff;"|1st, Central Division
|Semi-Finals
|6,071
|n/a
|-
|1976 indoor
|0–2
|4th, Midwest Regional
|Did not qualify
|1,700
|n/a
|-
|1976
|5–19
|5th, Pacific Conference, Western Division
|Did not qualify
|6,150
|n/a
|-
|1977
|12–14
|2nd, Atlantic Conference, Northern Division
|First round
|9,794
|n/a
|}
Honors
NPSL Commissioner's Cup
- 1967 runner-up
NASL championships
- 1972 runner-up
Division titles
- 1972 Southern Division
- 1975 Central Division
Rookie of the Year
- 1970 Jim Leeker
- 1972 Mike Winter
Coach of the Year
- 1972 Casey Frankiewicz
- 1975 John Sewell
U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame
- 1989 Bob Kehoe
- 1989 Willy Roy
- 1994 Pat McBride
- 2001 Bob Hermann
- 2006 Al Trost
Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame
- 2012 Dragan Popović
All-Star first team selections
- 1968 Casey Frankiewicz
- 1969 Joe Puls
- 1971 Dragan Popović
- 1972 Pat McBride, John Sewell
- 1975 Peter Bonetti
All-Star second team selections
- 1970 Pat McBride
- 1971 Casey Frankiewicz
- 1972 Wilf Tranter
- 1973 Pat McBride
- 1976 Al Trost
- 1977 Ray Evans
All-Star honorable mentions
- 1972 Casey Frankiewicz, Joe Puls
- 1973 John Sewell, Al Trost
- 1977 Al Trost
Indoor All-Stars
- 1971 Dragan Popović, Miguel de Lima
Leading scorers
- 1967 – Rudi Kölbl (15 G)