The Seattle Sounders were a soccer team playing in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1983. They were the first professional soccer team in Seattle, and were popular from the beginning; in their first season they hosted NASL's first sell-out game, filling Memorial Stadium with 13,876 fans. In its early seasons, most players were foreign-born and brought over from European and South American leagues, but the Sounders recruited more North Americans in later years. In 1976 the Sounders moved to the Kingdome, where they played the first sporting event in the stadium's history. The Sounders' first several years brought several playoff appearances, culminating in the 1980 season when they achieved a 25-7 record. Unfortunately, a combination of disputes between players and the coach, falling attendance, financial trouble, and rapid changes made by a new owner led the team to fold in 1983. The Sounders name was revived in 1994 by a team playing in the United Soccer League until 2008, when the team was replaced by the current Seattle Sounders FC, playing in Major League Soccer.

This 1983 image shows Sounders player Brian Schmetzer (right, #25) vying for the ball with David Cross of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Schmetzer, a native of Seattle, has been involved with every version of the Sounders - he played for the original Sounders from 1980 to 1983, played and coached for the 1994 incarnation, and has been the manager for Seattle Sounders FC since 2016.

Caption information source: "Original Seattle Sounders (1974-1983)" by Heather Johnson, HistoryLink, retrieved from https://historylink.org/File/4219.