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The Chicago Rush are a professional arena football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Arena Football League. They are the second Chicago Rush team to play in the league. The original team played at the Allstate Arena from 2001 to 2013. They were a member of the Central Division of the National Conference of the AFL. Founded in 2001, the team qualified for the playoffs 11 out of 12 seasons and won one AFL championship, ArenaBowl XX in 2006. During their history, the Rush won five divisional titles and competed in the AFL Conference Championship six times, including four consecutive appearances from 2004 to 2007. They also had the largest market in the AFL.
The Orlando Predators are a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team is currently owned by John Cheney, and play its home games at Kia Center.
The Austin Wranglers are an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances in the AFL in 2006 and in af2 in 2008. They played their home games at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas at Austin. It was announced that the Wranglers will join the National Gridiron League for the 2025 season.
Aaron Garcia is a former professional American football quarterback who played 19 seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL), from 1995 to 2014. He played college football at Washington State University before transferring to California State University, Sacramento. After retiring from the AFL, Garcia was named the head coach of the Las Vegas Outlaws in September 2014, and was formally introduced as the head coach of the Outlaws on October 11, 2014. Garcia is married to Bryn Garcia and has five children, Gigi, Bella, Anthony, Christian, and Jaxon.
The Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings were an Arena Football League team based in Bossier City, Louisiana. They played at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City and took their name from the metropolitan area that consists of Bossier City and neighboring city Shreveport in the Ark-La-Tex corridor. Playing in the defunct af2 from their inception in 2001 until the league's folding in 2009, the team had its best seasons in 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2009 having clinched division titles in the latter two years. They were also the only seasons in which the team had more wins than losses. In 2007, the Battle Wings clinched their first-ever playoff berth, beating the Arkansas Twisters and Rio Grande Valley Dorados before being beaten by the eventual Arena Cup champion Tulsa Talons. Despite having little success in their earlier days, the Battle Wings turned out some players who went on to appear in both the Canadian Football League and for other teams the Arena Football League, in which the team itself played for a single season after the AFL emerged from bankruptcy and resumed operations. Following the 2010 season, the team moved to New Orleans, Louisiana for the 2011 AFL season and became a successor to the New Orleans VooDoo. Bossier City was considered as a potential site for the 2024 revival of the AFL, but CenturyLink Center did not have enough open dates to accommodate a team, and thus the Louisiana AFL franchise, also named the VooDoo, was given to Lake Charles
Patrick O'Hara is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the pass game analyst for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the New Orleans VooDoo, Orlando Predators and Tri-Cities Fever. O'Hara also served as an assistant coach for the Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Storm.
Christopher Jackson is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for The University of Texas. During the 2022 season, he was the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bears.
Matthew Nagy is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2018 to 2021.
Siaha Burley is an American former arena football wide receiver and former head coach. He played college football at UCF and was also the head coach of the Jacksonville Sharks from 2017 to 2019 before returning to the team for 2022.
Allen Beverly "Ben" Bennett II is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears. He also was a member of the Jacksonville Bulls, Chicago Bruisers, Dallas Texans, Sacramento Surge, San Antonio Riders, Orlando Predators, San Jose SaberCats and Portland Forest Dragons. He was a football coach in the Arena Football League (AFL), AF2, and National Arena League (NAL). He played college football for the Duke Blue Devils, earning third team All-American honors in 1983.
B. J. Cohen is a former American football offensive lineman and defensive lineman in the Arena Football League (AFL).
Corey Mayfield is a former American football offensive lineman/defensive lineman and coach of the Arena Football League (AFL). Mayfield is currently the defensive coordinator of the Texas Revolution of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). Mayfield played in the National Football League (NFL) and the Arena Football League.
Emmanuel Jamaal 'E.J.' Burt is a former American football defensive lineman.
Rob Keefe is a former arena football defensive specialist and coach. Keefe has five championship victories and is the only person in arena football history to win ArenaCup (af2) and ArenaBowl (AFL) titles as both a player and a coach. As of the 2022 season, he is an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator with the Bay Area Panthers in the Indoor Football League.
Stephen "Steve" Wasil is a former Arena football quarterback who played for the Muskegon Thunder, Texas Copperheads, Albany Firebirds, Alabama Vipers, Kansas City Command and Tampa Bay Storm. He is currently the Offensive Coordinator at Albion College.
Matthew Sauk is an arena football coach and former quarterback. He played college football at Utah State, was an af2 quarterback from 2001 to 2005, and an AFL quarterback from 2002 to 2008. He has been a football coach since 2008. After being the offensive coordinator for the Utah Blaze from 2011 to 2013, he became the Portland Thunder head coach in 2014. He was the head coach of the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2017 and the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League in 2019.
Jeff Jarnigan is an assistant general manager and coach for the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League (IFL).
The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the official Hall of Fame of the Arena Football League (AFL). The inaugural class was announced in 1998 and the Hall was not formally organized until 2011. Prior to 2011, there were four classes: 1998–2000 and then another in 2002. The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the highest honor for players, coaches, and contributors involved in the AFL. The voting process consists of fans and current Hall of Fame members voting on the finalists. The finalists are selected by the League Office in which they collect ballots from the Arena Football Hall of Fame Advisory Board, a group which consisted of former players, executives, journalists and media personnel with a long-time involvement in the league. The league began to decline in 2015, so no Hall of Fame announcements have been made since this year. The league folded for a second time in 2019. After the league's second closure, ArenaFan, a long-running fan site, announced it had taken over operations of the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
Kevin Carberry is an American football coach and former defensive lineman who is the offensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio prior to playing professionally, spending time as a member of the Detroit Lions, Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe, New York Dragons and the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League (AFL).
James Ray Fuller is an American football coach and former defensive back who is currently the offensive coordinator for the San Antonio Gunslingers of the National Arena League (NAL). He played college football at Walla Walla CC and Portland State before being selected in the 8th round of the 1992 NFL Draft; he went on to play three seasons with the San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles while also spending time in the World League of American Football (WLAF) for the Scottish Claymores and Arena Football League (AFL) for the Portland Forest Dragons. He later served as a coach for the Forest Dragons, Bakersfield Blitz, Philadelphia Soul, Dallas Desperados, Dallas Vigilantes, Richmond Raiders, Maine Mammoths, and Jacksonville Sharks.
References
- ↑ "Talons keep coach after 14-4 season". www.mysanantonio.com. The Hearst Corporation. October 4, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
- ↑ "New Director of Football Operations Joins Thunder". www.oursportscentral.com. OurSports Central. October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ↑ "Lee Johnson Coaching Record". ArenaFan.com. Retrieved July 7, 2014.