THIS DATE IN COMETS HISTORY JUNE 3 1957--John Bain was born in Glasgow, Scotland. A midfielder, John came to the Comets from the Minnesota Strikers in 1986 and is probably best-remembered for his literal last-second goal on March 25, 1986 to defeat the Chicago Sting 6-5, his FOURTH goal of the game! John was a teammate of Dale Mitchells with the Portland Timbers of the NASL from 1980 through 1982 and was traded to the St. Louis Steamers for Louie Nanchoff in 1987. 1981--The iconic Comets logo, designed by Valentine-Radford, Inc. of K.C., was revealed at a press conference at Kemper Arena, as was Peter Duerden, who was officially announced as the clubs first head coach after much media speculation. PD signed a one-year contract with a one-year option. The game is for the American player, Duerden said. He wants to run a lot, he wants to score goals. The foreign players that just want to stand still wont be around. We want a team that is competitive and one that people can relate to. This is the way our team in Denver was. The days are over when the Americans have to try to compare themselves to the European players. Also at that presser, ticket prices and season ticket packages were announced, as the team had already sold 400 season tickets to that point. GM Tim Leiweke said he hoped to complete a TV contract for 5-10 road games within the next two weeks, as well as a radio contract that would include reports of games, but NOT play-by-play coverage, for some bizarre reason. 1986--At the annual MISL Draft in Cleveland, the Comets selected defender Iain Fraser out of Hartwick College in the second round. KC had no first round pick because they traded it to the Force in the Keith Furphy deal prior to the 85-86 season (that pick yielded D Desmond Armstrong for Cleveland). Kansas Citys other two picks had fine indoor soccer careers, but not with the Comets--F Michael Brady out of American University, who subsequently joined the Baltimore Blast, and F Larry Orange Julius out of Florissant Valley CC in the St. Louis area, who went on to play for the Kansas City Attack in the NPSL, and served as their designated shootout-taker, which he was quite proficient at. Two other draftees that day would also ultimately figure in the Comets future, #1 overall pick Tom Kain out of Duke University, taken by the expansion New York Express and midfielder Kevin Hundelt out of Aquinas-Mercy HS in St. Louis, chosen by his hometown Steamers. 1987--The Comets did some major housecleaning in the first week of June, 1987. First, they made the two men on their squad with magic in their nicknames disappear, opting not to renew contracts with forward Pato Magic Man Margetic and defender Jorge The Magic Marker Espinosa. I never got along with Clemo, Jorge lamented, referring to coach Dave Clements. He never put interest in me. And of course, Pato already had his issues with Clemo, so neither move was a big surprise. Margetic wound up back with the Chicago Sting in 87-88, and Espnioza moved on to the Dallas Sidekicks. Also returning to the Sting would be forward Charlie Fajkus, whom the Comets released, along with stalwart defender Tim Clark and sparingly-used Edmond Rugova, effectively ending eachs MISL career. Clark was the Comets all-time leader in blocked shots with 387 at the time of his departure. Between Margetic, Espinoza and Fajkus, Kansas City freed up $330,000 in salaries. The Comets also announced the signings of defender Chris Hundelt and forward Jeff Kraft to three-year contracts. Neither of them got to the second year of them. 1991--San Diego owner Ron Fowler put the Sockers up for sale, but wanted to remain on board as a minority owner. Several parties were interested in the club, according to MSL commissioner Earl Foreman, including a group from Buffalo, who wanted to move the team to The Aud there. Because of all the uncertainty in the league at that point, plans for an expansion draft to stock the mythical new Pittsburgh team were pushed back until June 15th, at the earliest. They eventually settled on the oh so clever name Spirit for the new team, although Pittsburgh Mirage wouldve been more appropriate... Meantime, the annual all-MSL teams were announced. Jan Goossens was named to the 2nd Team and Kim Roentved received and honorable mention.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 03:01:38 +0000