While most clubs closed shop following the collapse of the original North American Soccer League at the end of the 1984 season, the Tampa Bay Rowdies were among the few to remain active. The Rowdies operated as an independent team for a few years in the 1980s before finding a home in the American Soccer League (eventually renamed the American Professional Soccer League), where they remained until the club went into hiatus after the 1993 season.
Wegerle’s Goodbye
The Rowdies opened 90s by saying goodbye to one of the greatest to ever suit up for the club. Steve Wegerle played his final season for the Rowdies in 1990, ending a club career that began in 1977. A winger by trade, Steve Wegerle is in a rare group of Rowdies players who played for the club across three decades, along with Perry Van der Beck and Winston Dubose. He played for the Rowdies for five seasons in the original NASL before moving on to the New York Cosmos and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Wegerle made his way back to Tampa Bay in 1984 and remained with the Rowdies until he hung up his boots. The South African winger amassed 88 assists during his NASL career, ranking fourth all-time in league history.
National Team Connections
Steve Trittschuh, a regular for the Rowdies throughout the 90s, answered the call for international duty with U.S. Men’s National Team for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Trittschuh, who first joined the Rowdies on loan in 1989, pulled a 90-minute shift in the opening match of the tournament and was part of the national team squad that won the first edition of the Concacaf Gold Cup a year later. He wasn’t the only Rowdies player from the 90s with a connection to the national team. Peter Vermes, a teammate of Trittschuh’s at the 1990 World Cup, spent the 1991 season in Tampa Bay before heading overseas to play in Spain. Vermes made over 60 appearances for the U.S. and is best known as the longtime head coach for Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City, where he claimed one MLS Cup and three U.S. Open Cup titles.
A New Home
The 90s also saw the Rowdies call a new pitch home for the first time in their history. After playing every prior outdoor season at Tampa Stadium, the Rowdies moved into the USF Soccer and Track Stadium ahead of the 1991 APSL season. Opened in 1978, the 4,000-seat stadium hosted USF’s men’s and women’s teams until 2010. In the 2011, the school’s soccer teams moved into the Corbett Stadium, named in honor of Dick and Cornelia Corbett, USF Alumni who also owned the Rowdies for a significant portion of the club’s Original Era. Cornelia Corbett took over as the Rowdies primary owner in 1986 and held that role through the final season in 1993. The Rowdies stayed at USF Soccer and Track Stadium in 1992 but ultimately returned to Tampa Stadium for the 1993 campaign.
Ricky Hill’s Coaching Career Begins
Twenty years before he led the Rowdies to their second league title, Ricky Hill made his way to Tampa Bay as a player. Hill’s journey to America for the 1992 APSL was also his first foray into coaching. The longtime Luton Town midfielder served as a player and coach during his time with the club. The 1992 season ended up being a successful one. That season, Hill helped the Rowdies reach their only appearance in the APSL championship final. Hill would complete the job as head coach in 2012, leading the Rowdies victory in the NASL Soccer Bowl victory over Minnesota at Al Lang Stadium that year.
