The Massachusetts Marauders were a professional arena football team that was based in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1994. The team was established in Detroit in 1988, as the Detroit Drive and was a member of the AFL in 1988 and in all subsequent years through 1993. The club then moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1994 and played in that city through the end of the 1994 season.
The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL). The team, along with the Chicago Bruisers, Denver Dynamite and Washington Commandos, joined the AFL in 1987 as one of the charter franchises, and by 1992 it was the last of the four still operating. The team ceased operations in December 2017.
The Chicago Bruisers were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. They were founded in 1987 as a charter member of the Arena Football League (AFL). They played their home games at Rosemont Horizon.
The New York Knights were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in New York City. They played in the league for one season, 1988. They played their home games at Madison Square Garden. After going 2–10 overall in their only season the team ceased operations. The league then went several years before attempting to re-enter the nation's largest media market with the New York CityHawks.
Ray Willsey was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was the head football coach at the University of California, Berkeley from 1964 to 1971. During his tenure he compiled a 40–42–1 record. He was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
The 1987 Arena Football League season was the first season, also known as the "demonstration season", of the Arena Football League (AFL). The league champions were the Denver Dynamite, who defeated the Pittsburgh Gladiators in ArenaBowl I.
Ray Jauch is an American former gridiron football player and coach. He served as a head coach in the Canadian Football League (CFL), the United States Football League (USFL), and the Arena Football League. He won 127 regular season games in the CFL, the sixth highest win total by a head coach in the league's history.
The Denver Dynamite were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. The team began play in 1987 as a charter member of the Arena Football League. The team was brought in by businessman Sidney Shlenker and the team achieved success instantly, winning the first ever ArenaBowl under future AFL Hall of Fame coach Tim Marcum. After sitting out the 1988 season, the Dynamite were purchased by investment banker Gary Graham for $125,000. Graham then hired former NFL and AFL coach Babe Parilli to lead the team. Under Parilli, the Dynamite would return to the playoffs every season, but failed to return to the ArenaBowl. After the 1991 season, the franchise was sued by their public relations firm and filed for bankruptcy. They played their home games at McNichols Sports Arena. The team's logo was a bundle of dynamite sticks with a burning fuse.
The 1988 Detroit Drive season was the first for the Drive.
The 1988 Los Angeles Cobras season was the first and only season for the Cobras.
Gary Mullen is a former professional American football and Arena football player who played wide receiver and defensive back for eight seasons for the Denver Dynamite, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Cobras, Detroit Drive, Cincinnati Rockers and the Milwaukee Mustangs. He was elected into the Arena Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
The 1988 New York Knights season was the first and only season for the Arena Football League franchise.
William Stone is a former American football fullback in the Arena Football League for the Chicago Bruisers. He is also a former NFL running back for the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football at Adams State University. Stone was the first ever Ironman of the Year in the AFL.
The 1992 Sacramento Attack season was the first season for the Arena football franchise, and its only season in Sacramento, California. The Attack finished 4–6 and lost in the playoffs to the Detroit Drive. The franchise was originally going to be located in Los Angeles, California and be called the Los Angeles Wings, but the franchise never came into existence in Los Angeles, and moved to Sacramento as the Attack.
The Los Angeles Kiss were a professional arena football team based in Anaheim, California, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Kiss joined the AFL as an expansion team after Los Angeles' previous franchise did not return as a part of Arena Football 1. The team's ownership was a group of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, members of rock band Kiss, as well as their manager Doc McGhee. The team played its home games at the Honda Center in nearby Anaheim, which they shared with the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. The team was featured in the AMC series 4th and Loud.
Eric Beavers is a former American football quarterback. Beavers played three seasons in the Austrian Football League for the Graz Giants in Austria. He also played one season with the Los Angeles Cobras of the Arena Football League. He played college football at the University of Nevada, Reno and attended Davis High School in Davis, California.
Michael Mendoza is a former American football quarterback who played one season with the Los Angeles Cobras of the Arena Football League. He first enrolled at Los Angeles Harbor College before transferring to Northern Arizona University. He attended Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California. Mendoza was also a member of the Oakland Raiders and Ottawa Rough Riders.
Before the Arena Football League collapsed after the 2008 season, the league included the Los Angeles Cobras and the Los Angeles Avengers. The Cobras played one season at the Los Angeles Sports Arena before folding, mostly due to lack of attendance. The Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center until they folded as well. The AFL was revived in 2010 and returned to the Los Angeles area in 2014 with a new team, the Los Angeles Kiss. The team, owned by a group that included Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, members of the rock band KISS, played in Anaheim at the Honda Center until folding in 2016.
In 1988, the New York Knights played for one season as part of the Arena Football League, and then ceased operations. In 1997, the AFL added two expansion franchises, the New York CityHawks, who played at Madison Square Garden, and the New Jersey Red Dogs, who played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The CityHawks moved to Hartford, Connecticut and were renamed the New England Sea Wolves in 1999, and then relocated to Toronto in 2001, and renamed the Toronto Phantoms. The Red Dogs were renamed the New Jersey Gladiators in 2001, then relocated and became the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2003, before relocating again and being renamed the Cleveland Gladiators. When the Sea Wolves, who were owned by the Madison Square Garden Company and had their games televised in New York City on MSG Network, relocated to Toronto, the AFL's Iowa Barnstormers relocated to Long Island and were renamed the New York Dragons. The Dragons played in New York until 2008, when the league suspended operations; no team from New York played in the league from its 2010 revival until the Albany Empire, based in the state's capital, joined the AFL in 2018.
In 1988, Mike and Marian Ilitch fielded an indoor football team, Detroit Drive, in the Arena Football League. In 1992, he purchased the Detroit Tigers. Purchasing the Tigers led Ilitch to sell the Drive in February 1994 given the leagues' overlapping schedules.
