Thompson Usiyan (27 April 1956 – 31 August 2021) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. He holds the NCAA Division I career scoring record and played in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League and

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

. He was a member of the Nigerian Olympic soccer team which boycotted the 1976 Olympics. He made several appearances for the Nigeria national team.

Youth career

In 1976, Usiyan was selected as a member of the Nigerian 1976 Olympic team. Although the team travelled to the Olympics, which were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, it did not compete as a result of a boycott of the games by African and Arab nations. Usiyan chose to remain in North America and received scholarship offers to attend Clemson University, Howard University and

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. He chose Appalachian where he set an NCAA record of 109 career goals. Usiyan also set records for most career points (255), goals in a season (46 in 1980), and points in a season (108 in 1980). He was the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 1977, '78, and '80.

Club career

In 1981, Usiyan signed with the

Montreal Manic The Montreal Manic or the Manic de Montréal were a professional soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that played in the North American Soccer League. The Montreal Manic were brought back in 2020 by Canadian businessman Gary Gaul as an ...

of the North American Soccer League. The Manic traded Usiyan to the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: * Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. * Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the te ...

following the 1982 season. Leg injuries limited him to eleven games for the Roughnecks in 1983. The team released him on 11 March 1984. On 12 April 1984, he signed with the

Oklahoma City Stampede The Oklahoma City Slickers was the name given to two different American soccer clubs based in Oklahoma City. The first team competed in the second American Soccer League in 1982 and 1983, and as the Oklahoma City Stampede in the United Soccer Lea ...

of the United Soccer League. He led the league in scoring and finished third in the points standings. In the fall of 1984, he signed with the Minnesota Strikers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In 1985, he briefly returned to the outdoor game when he signed with the

Tulsa Tornados The Tulsa Tornados were a professional soccer team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. They played for one season (1985) in the USL. The 1985 season only lasted six games as the league folded halfway through. Established by David Fraser during the spring of 198 ...

of the USL, but the league collapsed after only six games. Usiyan had arthroscopic surgery later in the summer, but returned to the Strikers in the fall of 1985 and spent the next two seasons in Minnesota. On 26 March 1987, the Strikers traded Usiyan to the Los Angeles Lazers in exchange for Greg Ion after Usiyan had a locker room fight with Strikers goalkeeper Tino Lettieri. Usiyan remained with the Lazers through the 1987–88 season. He did not play again until signed by the Maryland Bays of the American Soccer League in June 1989. During his time away from soccer, he finished his business degree at Appalachian State. On 9 August 1989, he returned to MISL when he signed with the

St. Louis Storm The St. Louis Storm was a soccer team based out of St. Louis that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1989 to 1992. Their home arena was the St. Louis Arena. The mascot for the St. Louis Storm was named “Colt Flash” (1990 ...

. During his two seasons in St. Louis, Usiyan began working as a tax consultant. After finishing his degree, he had spent some time as an accountant and after his retirement, he became a full-time tax consultant. During the summer of 1991, Usiyan played for the Hamilton Steelers in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

. On 9 September 1991, the Storm traded Usiyan to the San Diego Sockers in exchange for Branko Segota and the Sockers 1992 first round draft choice. Usiyan won the 1992 MISL championship with the Sockers. On 20 November 1992, Usiyan signed with the St. Louis Ambush of the National Professional Soccer League. On 1 June 1993, the Arizona Sandsharks drafted Usiyan in the first round of the 1993

supplemental draft. Two days later, the San Diego Sockers traded Wes Wade to the Sandsharks in exchange for Usiyan, Alex Golovnia and

Nassim Olabi Nassim ( ar, نسیم) also transliterated as Nacim, Naseem, Nasseem, Nasim, Nesim or Nessim, is a unisex Arabic name. It is mostly used in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures and language groups. It may refer to: Company *Nasim Sdn Bhd, a m ...

. On 10 September 1993, the league suspended Usiyan indefinitely for accumulated red cards. On 21 June 1995, the San Jose Grizzlies of the CISL drafted Usiyan after he was cleared by the league to play. He retired permanently at the end of the season. Usiyan was the MISL's sixteenth leading scorer in 1984–85 as a member of the Minnesota Strikers, with 62 points in 47 games. He was fifteenth best a season later with 60 points in 40 contests. Usiyan finished eighth in scoring in the 1987–88 season as a member of the Los Angeles Lazers with 88 points in 51 games. He was sixth best in 1990–91 with 102 points in 51 games played for the

. Usiyan was amongst the leaders one final time (in the league's last season) finishing fifteenth with 57 points in 40 games playing with the San Diego Sockers. He was named Championship Series Most Valuable Player as the Sockers won the championship.

International career

Usiyan made several appearances for Nigeria, including a 2–0

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

qualifying loss to Algeria on 10 October 1981 in Lagos. He scored on his debut, a friendly match against Kenya in 1976. Usiyan also played for Nigeria at the

1976 African Cup of Nations The 1976 African Cup of Nations was the tenth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The format of competition changed from 1974: the field of eight teams was still split into tw ...

finals in Ethiopia. He won a silver medal with the Nigerian squad at the

1978 All-Africa Games The 3rd All-Africa Games – Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event played from July 13, 1978, to July 28, 1978, in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports. At the closing ceremonies the ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. Usiyan made his home in San Diego where he was a

tax consultant A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations. ...

References

External links

''Watauga Democrat'' Sports article on Usyian
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Usiyan, Thompson 1956 births 2021 deaths American Soccer League (1988–89) players Appalachian State Mountaineers men's soccer players Maryland Bays players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football forwards Hamilton Steelers (1981–1992) players Los Angeles Lazers players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Minnesota Strikers (MISL) players Montreal Manic players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Nigeria international footballers 1976 African Cup of Nations players Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Nigerian footballers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Oklahoma City Stampede players Soccer players from San Diego San Diego Sockers (CISL) players San Diego Sockers (original MISL) players San Jose Grizzlies players St. Louis Ambush (1992–2000) players St. Louis Storm players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Tulsa Tornados players United Soccer League (1984–85) players Sportspeople from Delta State African Games silver medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1978 All-Africa Games