Charlotte in the early 1980s was not the Queen City you see now. No one would have dared to envision that this quaint Southern burg at the intersection of I-85 and I-77 would become the nation’s second-largest banking center. No one except Hugh McColl, that is.
Back then, what is now the 14th largest city in America was closer to Mayberry than Manhattan, not just in distance but also in heart and soul. Downtown, or uptown – and there was spirited discussion on what it should be called – was barely urban with no real nightlife, as the workforce would drive home at night.
Before Charlotte could be recognized as a “Soccer City,” it had to become more widely known just as a city. Ask anyone who grew up here in the 60s, 70s, and 80s how it felt when you were traveling and told someone you were from Charlotte, and they would respond, “Charlottesville?” or “Charleston?” or “That’s South Carolina, right?” Being the biggest city in both Carolinas didn’t mean much then.
The majority of residents were still natives, if not of Charlotte proper, then of the smaller surrounding communities that included Matthews, Mint Hill, Pineville, Harrisburg, and Monroe, among others. Well into the 70s, the first question upon meeting someone was not “Where are you from?” but probably the more assumptive “What hospital were you born in?” And there were only three potential answers to that.
While the city was growing then, as the 42nd largest city in the country, it was still primarily a destination for those from smaller towns in the Carolinas and around the South, with a smattering of others from bigger cities.
“Charlotte reminds me of an adolescent city, trying to be bigger than it is, trying to grow faster,” a professor of psychology at UNCC told Charlotte Magazine. That was for a story in 1997, so you can imagine the teenage angst Charlotte had in the 80s.
Building a Sports City
The city and its leadership had aspirations of being something bigger. So a committee was put together, the Charlotte Sports Action Council, with the express purpose of seeking out opportunities to build awareness and opportunities that would, in turn, give the city name recognition and prestige.
Among others in the group that brought expertise in various sports to the table were Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler, a former Clemson basketball player turned businessman named Bob Benson, and Ed Young, who had experience organizing the city’s adult soccer leagues since playing for Western Carolina in the early 70s.
It wasn’t that Charlotte was a sports desert, but the city had taken some big hits. The Charlotte O's, a Double-A team in the Orioles system, would win the Southern League championship in 1980. But the Kemper Open, the city’s biggest event, a PGA tournament that was held at the Quail Hollow Club from 1969 to 1979, had just been moved to Maryland. The American Basketball League (ABA) Carolina Cougars, a regional team that was based in Greensboro but played almost half of its games at the Charlotte Coliseum (now Bojangles Arena), had relocated to St. Louis in 1974. A World Football League team that relocated to Charlotte mid-season in 1974 and was renamed as the Hornets was gone with the rest of the WFL after 1975. The Charlotte Checkers, which had been playing minor league hockey since 1956, folded with the rest of the Southern Hockey League in 1977.
It was a time when uptown Charlotte had yet to really connect with its need for speed and claim its territorial NASCAR roots as something to brag about. Wheeler recalled a presentation he made to the Chamber of Commerce in 1977 and the gag gift that was presented to him afterwards: a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a pair of white socks, and a redneck hat. “As I was getting in the car to leave, I thought, Man, we’ve got a long way to go, cause that’s what these people think of us out here.”
The First Steps
In 1979, Atlanta had just gotten another major sports team as the Atlanta Chiefs would represent the city in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the country’s top tier of the professional game, joining the Braves (MLB), Falcons (NFL), Flames (NHL), and Hawks (NBA).
The Chiefs general manager Terry Hanson asked a young employee of the team who was from Charlotte if he thought they might be able to play their final preseason match in the Queen City, as Atlanta would be the only NASL team between Washington, D.C. and Fort Lauderdale, and worth a road trip from soccer fans within driving distance.
The first-ever professional soccer game between the Chiefs and the Minnesota Kicks at American Legion Memorial Stadium became a broader celebration, Charlotte Soccer ’79, with sponsorship from the Charlotte Observer, First Union Bank, Burger King, and Optimist International. An indoor tournament of amateur and college teams was organized by Young at the adjacent Grady Cole Center. Advance ticket sales for the match were strong, with close to 4,000 pre-sold at $3 for adults and $2 for students.
While the weather on the evening of March 24, 1979, was not as hospitable, dropping into the 40s with a light rain. It had rained two inches the day before. The attendance didn’t match the advance sale with walk-up purchases definitely impacted, but there were two people there of significant consequence.
One was Phil Woosnam, the commissioner of the NASL. Benson, who had joined the Sports Council with a focus on basketball, had broadened his vision to include soccer with his son playing the sport and hearing more about it from Young. Soccer in America and the NASL, in particular, had become national news when Pele, the most famous athlete in the world, joined the New York Cosmos in 1975, with other global stars following, including Carlos Alberto, Gordon Banks, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best, Giorgio Chinaglia, Johan Cryuff, Teofilo Cubillas, Eusébio, Bobby Moore, and Gerd Muller.
The NASL had added six new teams in 1978, and Benson had approached Woosnam to discuss Charlotte’s chances. The growth had not come with stability, though, and while the league remained at 24 teams from 1978 to 1980, franchises moved. The Chiefs, which had previously been in the NASL (and predecessor NPSL) from 1967 to 1972, were proof of that. The second coming of the Chiefs were a relocated Colorado Caribou, who had only played one season in Denver.
Further expansion was on hold, and Woosnam informed Benson that relocation of an existing franchise would be the quickest ticket in.
Also attending was Rich Melvin, the director of franchise development for the American Soccer League (ASL), the second-tier league in the United States. This second iteration of the ASL was founded in 1933 after the original ASL, founded in 1921, folded due to disputes with FIFA, the U.S. Soccer Federation, and the economic pressure of the Great Depression.
Primarily built around the ethnic and soccer-centric communities of the Northeast, the ASL was eager to expand, having already established teams in the Midwest and West.
Rather than wait for an NASL club to flounder, Benson created Carolina Professional Soccer and applied for an ASL franchise in late 1979, planning to take the field in 1981. It was accepted and approved.
Lightnin’ Strikes
Despite its tenacity in staying alive for half a century, the ASL would cease operations in 1983, giving the Carolina Lightnin’ just three seasons in the sun. But what a ride that was.
Benson, who would also bring World Team Tennis to Charlotte, proved to be a unique and savvy team owner.
As Scott Fowler wrote in the Observer, “Benson was the sort of entrepreneur every city covets, a member of the “creative class” before the term came into existence.”
A Pennsylvania native, he came south to play basketball at Clemson, where he became a team captain. He moved to Charlotte in 1963 after graduation and eventually started his own company. A very successful industrial sales engineering firm that specialized in pumps and filters called Pnucor.
Benson believed in going big. He hired former NASL and Manchester City/QPR/Fulham star Rodney Marsh as head coach and general manager. A flamboyant and gifted player with a personality to match, Marsh had gained notoriety beyond the game as a Miller Lite All-Star in the popular “Tastes great, less filling” campaign.
He was straightforward in his expectations. “The first year I expect to play .500 or better,” Marsh told UPI at the time. “The second year I want to win (a division title),' he said. 'The third year, who knows where we can go?”
Who Knows…
Charlotte had proven it was ready for professional soccer a year before the Lightnin’ would take the field, hosting an exhibition game in April between the 1980 ASL champion Pennsylvania Stoners and Miami Americans, and the league’s second annual All-Star game in June that drew over 8,000 fans.
The first season saw Carolina winning the Freedom Conference with a 16-9-3 record, the third-best in the eight-team league. They knocked out Rochester 2-0 in the playoff quarterfinal, then defeated the defending champion Stoners in a home-and-home matchup, 3-1 and 1-2.
This is where their success at the gate – they led the league in attendance - generated by an exciting product on the field, and maximized by outrageous marketing stunts that included contests to win cars, limos, and even a small airplane, or a post-game Beach Boys concert, would make a difference in the final. The game was supposed to be held at New York United, which had the best regular season record. But the league owners, including that of United, knew that Charlotte would get a much bigger crowd, maybe 10,000, that would increase the financial benefit for the teams and the league.
So the game was moved to Charlotte. 20,163 fans packed Memorial Stadium on September 18, 1981, giving the Lightnin’ the same home energy and advantage that Charlotte FC enjoys today. United took the lead in the 64th minute, but Carolina leveled just five minutes later, and the match went into extra time. A Hugh O’Neill header found the net and gave Charlotte a 2-1 win and its first national professional championship. Marsh was very much ahead of schedule.
That was the biggest lightning bolt, but this team had more. Before “homegrown” was a soccer term, Tony Suarez, a Myers Park graduate who played at Belmont Abbey and Appalachian State, had moved from driving the team bus to the bench as injuries depleted the team. Another one put him into a game, and he would finish the season as the team’s leading scorer and ASL Rookie of the Year.
I’ve Been Struck
Lightning was both an image and a reality with the team. As recalled by Marsh, Young, and backup goalkeeper Bill Finneyfrock, an electrical storm blew in quickly during a home game in the team’s second season. Lightning knocked out a transformer and the lights at Memorial Stadium. As the teams began to exit the pitch, another strike hit near the field, knocking starting keeper Scott Manning to the turf.
Young, who was now the team’s assistant GM and director of operations, thought, “Holy crap. He's been electrocuted. “
Finneyfrock had been walking from the bench to join Manning as they headed to the locker room. He and Young, along with the trainer and team doctor, rushed to the aid of Manning, who rose a bit dazed, telling them, “I feel tingly all over.”
“His voice changed as well,” says Marsh, who believes that the shock may have been transmitted through the field’s underground sprinkler system. “He started speaking in a higher pitch.”
Young remembers getting a call from Benson about one o’clock in the morning after the game. “He said, “I need you to get to our printer, our novelty guy, first thing in the morning. Come by the Lightnin’ offices. I got a drawing, and I want bumper stickers made immediately.” And that was the “I've been struck” bumper sticker. We sold thousands of them.”
A Major League City
The Carolina Lightnin’ would have a direct impact on the chain of events that led to Charlotte becoming a major league city. George Shinn, who brought the NBA to Charlotte in 1988, attests to that.
“Bob Benson got 20,000 people to a soccer match in Memorial Stadium in 1981 — 20,000 people! For soccer!’ Shinn told the Observer. “You better believe that had an influence on me. I saw that and I thought, ‘Wow, what a market Charlotte is. If we can actually get an NBA team in here, we’re going to blow the doors off.’ ”
The Charlotte Hornets came in with the same fury that the Lightnin’ did, not winning a title in their first season, but they did capture the heart of Charlotte and led the league in attendance for seven years, selling out their first 364 games.
The success of the Hornets helped Jerry Richardson’s ability to bring the NFL to Charlotte with the Carolina Panthers, a team now owned by David Tepper, who brought this full circle when he made Charlotte a Major League Soccer city in 2022.
Bob Benson never got to see Charlotte FC play. He passed away on January 20, 2021, at age 83. That summer, the team he founded and built would come together at a Charlotte Independence match, which featured pending CLTFC players Christian Fuchs, Brandt Bronico, and Adam Armour, for the 40th anniversary of that remarkable 1981 championship season.
With the debut of the new third kit for Charlotte FC, Lightnin’ strikes again.
