HOUSTON — It's a storm that, to this day, still flies under the radar.
The year is 1978 and what's new to Houston? The Houston Hurricane of the North American Soccer League.
The club's first win, though, comes off the pitch.
Hurricane was the result of a name-the-team contest conducted by the club, but a storm is brewing.
At the same time, Houston has a two-year-old women's tackle football team named the Herricanes – her, like the pronoun. The team, one of the first of its kind, competes in the National Women's Football League.
The Herricanes claimed the Hurricane was informed of the Herricanes before the name Hurricane was chosen by the fans.
The Hurricane ignored the Herricanes' warning, so the ladies sued. They want the soccer team to change its name.
"The names will only cause problems with marketing," claims the Herricanes' general manager, Robin Massey, according to news reports at the time.
The size of this storm? It appears in newspapers across North America. One writer suggests the soccer team call itself the "Himmicane." Another idea? The "His-icanes."
Roughly two weeks later, a Texas state judge ruled in favor of the Hurricane. Officials from the soccer club testified during a two-day hearing that they made "diligent efforts to determine if a conflict existed."
The Hurricane had already spent $65,000 on advertising and promotion.
Neither team lasts for long, however.
The women's team folded a year later, in 1979, while the Hurricane shut down after just three seasons.
And those ladies? More than 45 years later, they’re still bothered by what happened.
“I remember I was mad,” recalled Jane Schulte, who played center for the Herricanes.
“It's like, ‘They're stealing from us,’” said Billie Cooper, a linebacker.
That groundbreaking team, though, is now the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary called “The Herricanes.”
River Oaks Theatre in Houston will host the public premiere of the film on Friday, Oct. 25.
KHOU 11 News spoke to several Herricanes players before a showing of the documentary in May at the Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival.
"We knew we were up against a brick wall,” added Basia Haszlakiewicz, a defensive back.
Her daughter, Olivia Kuan, directed the film. More than ten Herricane players will also be in attendance for the premiere at River Oaks Theatre.
When asked about the Herricanes-Hurricane dispute, former cornerback Renee Beckham offered a similar response.
“You know, it might have been a matter of a letter or two, but it was still our name," Beckham said.