Massachusetts Marauders

Arena Football League (1994)

Marauders Merch

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Massachusetts Marauders
Logo T-Shirt

Boasting an ex-NFL quarterback and a former Heisman finalist the obscure-but-talented Marauders made their home at the Worcester Centrum for a mere 7 games during the summer of 1994. The team disbanded following fisticuffs between the team’s owner and the Arena Football League’s commissioner.

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Background

The Massachusetts Marauders played a single season of Arena Football at the Worcester Centrum in the summer of 1994.  The Marauders were the relocated Detroit Drive, a team that appeared in the Arena Bowl title game in all six seasons of its existence from 1988 to 1993, winning four of them.  The Drive packed crowds as high as 18,000 into Detroit’s enormous Joe Louis Arena.  After Drive owner Mike Ilitch, founder of the Little Caesar’s pizza chain, purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992, he lost interest in the Drive. He sold the team to Arena Football League Commissioner Joseph O’Hara for an undisclosed sum in early 1994.

1994 Season

The team had a few familiar names for hardcore football heads. Head Coach Don Strock was the long-time back-up quarterback to Bob Griese and Dan Marino at the Miami Dolphins. Marauders QB Mike Pagel was also an NFL journeyman, most notably with the Indianapolis Colts. The Marauders also had local legend Gordie Lockbaum, the former Holy Cross star who finished third in the 1987 Heisman Trophy balloting. But Lockbaum rarely saw the field for the Marauders. After 1994, Lockbaum never played Arena Football – or any brand of pro football –  again.

The Marauders finished the 1994 season with an 8-4 record, good enough for a playoff berth.  A home playoff game on August 20th, 1994 would prove to be the Marauders final appearance in Worcester. Not that the locals seem to care much.  An announced crowd of 6,858 – second smallest of the season – saw the Marauders dispatch the defending champion Tampa Bay Storm 58-51. The following week the Marauders travelled to Florida and were eliminated by the Orlando Predators 51-42 in the semi-final.

For the season, the Marauders averaged 7,474 fans per contest. That ranked 8th among the AFL’s 11 teams.

Demise

O’Hara began to feud with Jim Drucker, his successor as Arena Football League Commissioner, about the direction of the league. At Arena Bowl XIII in Orlando in September 1994, the two came to blows in a Disney World hotel. O’Hara later threatened to sit out the season if Drucker was not removed from his post. Drucker remained. In February 1995, just a year after purchasing the club, O’Hara declined to post the six-figure letter of credit required of all clubs planning to take part in the 1995 season.

The Massachusetts Marauders were no more, but O’Hara was allowed to maintain ownership rights to the shuttered franchise. A couple of years later he sold off the carcass to the DeVos family of Grand Rapids, who were essentially buying just the league membership by that point. The players had long since scattered to the winds. The former Drive/Marauders franchise resumed play as the Grand Rapids Rampage in 1998. They continued in business until the original Arena Football League closed down after the 2008 season.

Massachusetts Marauders Video

The Marauders take on the Charlotte Rage at the Charlotte Coliseum. August 5th, 1994.

Downloads

6-30-1994 Marauders @ Cleveland Thunderbolts Roster

Links

Arena Football League Media Guides

Arena Football League Programs

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