At the end of the 1981 NASL season, Charles moved to the indoor Pittsburgh Spirit then the Los Angeles Lazers, both of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He later admitted that "I hated it. But it paid the bills." In 1982, he was playing with the when Jimmy Conway, a former Timbers teammate, called Charles and told him of an opening at the Reynolds High School boys' soccer team in Troutdale, Oregon. He immediately retired from playing and moved his family back to Oregon.