A ST LOUIS LEGEND HONORED

It's not every day an indoor soccer player gets his number retired and gets his shirt raised to the top of an arena in a special ceremony.

Then again, Mark Moser wasn't your typical indoor soccer player.

During a legendary 14-year career, Moser drove opposing defenders and goalkeepers crazy with his ability to put the ball into the back of the net as one of the most prolific goal scorers in indoor soccer history.

His numbers, mostly with the St. Louis Ambush and St. Louis Steamers, were staggering:

* In 339 regular season contests, Moser collected 512 goals and 172 assists for 684 points. That came out to a gaudy 2.01 ppg average.

* In the playoffs, when it really counts, the 6-foot, 180-lb. forward tallied 110 goals and added 29 assists for 139 points in 65 appearances. He averaged 2.14 ppg.

* Overall, he celebrated 622 goals, 201 assists for 823 points.

And now a special ceremony to honor Moser, who was inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame in 2022.

Earlier this week, Moser had a discussion with someone.

“They're retiring your jersey,” he said. “I said, ‘Yeah, that means I'm officially old, but it's good,’ " he quipped. "They don't retire your jersey when you're 22 or 25. They wait."

It has been worth the wait.

During halftime of the Ambush's Major Arena Soccer League game against the Tacoma Stars on today, Feb. 7 (7:05 p.m. ET kickoff), Moser's number 15 will be hoisted to the rafters of The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

Moser, 59, grew up in North County, Mo. and played for the Norco Soccer Club. He helped Lewis and Clark Community College to a pair of third-place finishes in the national tournament. At Sangamon State University in 1986, he was a vital player for the 1986 NAIA national championship team before reaching the final four the next year. He was a four-time All-American.

His indoor soccer roots go back to the glory days of the Steamers. At the age of 14, he attended the 1981 Major Indoor Soccer League championship series at the Checkerdome in St. Louis, witnessing two legendary games.

In the Friday night semifinals, he archrival Wichita Wings enjoyed a seemingly insurmountable 6-1 fourth quarter lead on the Steamers, who staged a comeback for the ages. St. Louis tied the game on Don Ebert's goal with 69 seconds remaining in regulation, before winning in overtime.

"I remember a lot of folks leaving and heading for the exits." Moser said. "You heard stories of people who left and were in their car and then turned around and came back."

Moser, a trooper, stayed.

After Emilio John converted the winning shootout goal, the Checkerdome faithful went crazy.

"Everybody was blown away," Moser said.

Sunday's championship game did not go the Steamers' way as indoor soccer legend Steve Zungul struck for the game-winner with 30 seconds remaining, lifting the New York Arrows to a 6-5 victory.

"Zungul scoring that goal was like a dagger in the heart," Moser said.

Those games helped further fuel Moser's passion and desire to become a professional soccer player.

"That was the heyday for me, indoor soccer," he said. "As a young kid, going to those games, that's what gave me the dream of 'Hey, I want to be one of these guys, to get out there and represent St. Louis and play in this league."

Moser eventually did play professionally.

He wound up playing for the Dayton Dynamo, Memphis Rogues and Indiana Kick in the American Indoor Soccer Association, before returning home to the St. Louis Storm (MISL). He recorded two goals and two assists in 20 games under legendary head coach Don Popovic.

"When I was with the Storm, I didn't get a ton of playing time," he said. "But once the Ambush came into its reiteration and started, getting to play at home, in front of your friends and your family, and being able to play with, in most cases, 20 other St Louis guys that you either grew up playing with or playing against, that was a special thing."

Even sitting the bench with the Storm, Moser learned by watching his teammates, including Godfrey Ingram and Thompson Usiyan.

"When I finally got the chance with the Ambush, I owe a lot of that to Daryl Doran,” he said. “It gave me the opportunity to play the way that I was able to hold the ball, be able to turn. The confidence level just continued to grow and went on to a nice long run.”

The 1994-95 campaign turned out to be a monster season for Moser and the Ambush. He scored a career-best 89 goals and added 26 assists in the regular season, earning team MVP and all-league honors. He also was tough to stop in the playoffs, accruing 29 goals and seven assists for 36 points in 11 matches, an absurd 3.3 ppg.

"While it was an amazing year and the amount of goals that I scored, probably the thing I'm most proud of is I played in every single game,” he said. “I was the only guy on that team that year that played all 40 games. It was a rough and tumble league. It was a physical league at times. There were some great rivalries with Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Wichita. You could never take a night off. You had to bring your best. I was very proud of the fact that I was able to stay healthy and wasn't always 100 percent, but I showed up every night and worked my butt off to try and do my best.”

The Ambush swept Cleveland in the final series, 4-0.

To be a successful scorer, you need talent and need to be ruthless, with a little amnesia thrown in.

"You have to have a short memory," Moser said. "You have to take your chances. You're not going to score on them all. There were nights when I thought I played really, really well and had one [goal]. But there were other nights where I didn't play well, but I had three or four good chances and finished all of them.

“It's really about the confidence level for me being someone that was physically strong. I didn't mind mixing it up with other players. I created space for myself. I was difficult to play against, from the fact that some defenders liked to stay real close to me. That was okay, because I could feel them next to me. I could spin, hook my arm and get a step on them. The guys that stayed off me, that freed me up to either hold it [the ball] a little longer and wait for some help or turn and take somebody on.”

Moser is still involved with soccer. His day job is sales manager at KTRS radio. He also hosts the weekly St. Louis Soccer radio program and has been a color commentator on Ambush's webcasts.

He discovered he was getting the jersey retirement treatment when he went to lunch with Ambush head coach and co-owner Jeff Locker and general manager Donnie Alberty.

"After about an hour and a half of talking, they told me that the real reason they wanted me there was to let me know that they were going to retire number 15 and hang my jersey up in the rafters," he said. "It completely caught me off guard. I was just blown away. What a tremendous honor here in St Louis, where soccer has been around for a long time. There's been a lot of phenomenal players. To have your number retired is pretty amazing."

Moser will have family and friends at the ceremony as his banner and jersey will be next to St. Louis soccer greats Jamie Swanner, Slobo Ilijevski and Doran.

"I think it's very cool that they're doing it on Alumni Night," he said. "There'll be a lot of players that were older than me, that I looked up to and followed, or a lot of guys that I played with. I got a lot of credit for scoring a lot of goals, but there's a whole lot more hard work, whether it was defending or winning the ball or getting it up the field, so I could get myself in a good position. These guys did a lot of the hard work. That makes it extra special for me. To be able to be with Daryl Doran, Jamie Swanner and Slobo Ilijevski, that's pretty good company."

Moser's 88-year-old mother won't be able to attend.

"My mom is 88," he said. "She's not doing real well. The team is going to videotape everything, so I can take it to her and show her. I have two brand new granddaughters that one just got here yesterday, and one got here last Wednesday. I'm not sure if they're going make it. I think they should, because I think four- or five-days [old] is easily old enough to go to your first soccer game."

Moser was only kidding about his last comment.

Regardless, it should be a night that Moser will remember.

That would be quite appropriate, considering he gave many St. Louis indoor soccer fans many nights they'll remember forever.

Michael Lewis, the sixth recipient of the Clay Berling Media Career of Excellence Award in 2025, can be followed on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky at @Soccerwriter. His 10th soccer book, Around the World Cup in 40 Years: An American sportswriter's perspective, will be published this spring.