The team certainly had the talent on paper to perform in the NPSL. The excitement was building as local soccer fans could hardly wait for the team to kick off. Those 3,000+ must have created quite the noise to be compared to the ruckus of English soccer. For reference, Millwall averaged 9,823 fans per game during Murray’s tenure, while the Silverbacks averaged only 3,759. He likened the Cincinnati Gardens crowd to one of English caliber and claimed that the atmosphere was one of success. As for Murray, he too seemed excited to be here. Cincinnati was lucky to get a player praised so highly by Arena, coach Hindley suggested. top all-time goalscorer and a favorite choice of U.S. Murray’s signing to the Silverbacks earned him a full column in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Within his first month as coach, he had lured stars from across the NPSL to Cincinnati, including Bruce Murray. ![]() ![]() He brought with him star Crunch forward Shawn Medved who would lead the Silverbacks in scoring during their inaugural year. His arrival in Cincinnati proved that the Silverbacks were not messing around. He was fresh off a championship with the Cleveland Crunch and a highly sought-after coach. Hindley was somewhat of a legend among the NPSL. At this point, he joined the Atlanta Ruckus before eventually coming to the Cincinnati Silverbacks.Ī major component of the Murray signing was the strong recruiting skills of Silverbacks head coach Gary Hindley. Murray’s time at Millwall was plagued by injury, eventually forcing him to return to the States in 1994. ![]() Millwall would finish third in the table and narrowly missed promotion to the Premier League following two devastating semi-final losses to Derby County. After his stint with the national team, he traveled abroad signing with Millwall of the English Championship. Upon his retirement from the national team in 1993, he had appeared in 86 matches, scoring 22 goals making him the all-time leading scorer for the United States. From there, he signed a full time contract with U.S. In 1991, following the World Cup in Italy, he moved to the Maryland Bays of the American Professional Soccer League. After playing through World Cup Qualifying, he then started all three group stage matches for the United States in the 1990 World Cup, even scoring a goal against Austria. That same year he found his footing with the USMNT earning a spot in the 1988 Summer Olympics. He began his professional days in 1988 with the Washington Stars of the American Soccer League. So who was Bruce Murray? For those of you not familiar, here’s a brief overview of his career. This included the hiring of local youth soccer coaches to the front office staff and the recruitment of U.S. They knew that they had to put people in seats for their inaugural season, but how? Their plan involved heavy marketing to the over 50,000 youth soccer players in the region. ![]() Thus, Kirchhofer and his associates got to work. Before the team could be active it had to be created. One reporter at the scene remarked that they hoped the team would be more active than Colossus, the silverback gorilla habiting the zoo at the time. He then moved the team from Dayton to Cincinnati and renamed it the Silverbacks in a grand ceremony held in front of the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo. The Silverbacks, formerly known as the Dayton Dynamo, were purchased in 1995 by Cincinnati Cyclones owner Doug Kirchhofer. With all the excitement that was happening around the city, it’s easy to forget that 1995 was also the inaugural season for the Cincinnati Silverbacks of the National Professional Soccer League. Lastly, the struggling Bengals would finish 7-9 and third in the AFC Central improving slightly upon their 1994 record of 3-13. Elsewhere, the star-studded Cincinnati Reds would be swept by the dominant Atlanta Braves pitching staff in the NL Championship Series, capping off an 85-59 record. He would lead the Bearcats to the Elite Eight that year before a heartbreaking loss to Mississippi State. Bob Huggins is in his sixth season as head basketball coach at the University of Cincinnati. men’s all-time leading goalscorer, 1990 FIFA World Cup goalscorer, Gold Cup champion, Hermann Trophy winner, National Soccer Hall of Famer, and… Cincinnati Silverback? American Bruce Murray had a lengthy resume at the end of his career, but did you know that he also spent time in Cincinnati?
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