Knoxville Cherokees

East Coast Hockey League (1988-1997)

Tombstone

Born: August 1988 – ECHL expansion franchise
Moved Announced: March 17,1997 (Pee Dee Pride)

First Game:
Final Game: March 29, 1997 (L 3-2 @ Richmond Renegades)

Riley / Kelly Cup Championships: None

Arena

Knoxville Civic Coliseum (4,803)¹

Marketing

Team Colors: Teal, Black & Silver²

Ownership

Owners: Dr. John Staley, Jr., Bob Thomas & Warren Payne

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Background

The Knoxville Cherokees were one of five franchises in the debut season of the East Coast Hockey League during the winter of 1988-89. Their rival clubs hailed from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Cherokees were the first pro hockey team to call Knoxville home since the Knights of the Eastern Hockey League folded in 1968.

1991 & ’94 Brabham Cup Teams

The Cherokees were an oddly boom or bust club for much of their run in the ECHL. From 1990 to 1994, the Cherokees finished in last place three times. The two seasons when they didn’t (1990-91 and 1993-94), they won the Brabham Cup, awarded to the ECHL’s top regular season team.

Head Coach Don Jackson’s 1990-91 Cherokees squad was especially dominant. By the Cherokees’ third season, the ECHL had grown to 11 clubs across the Rust Belt and the Southeastern U.S. ECHL Most Valuable Player Stan Drulia scored a ridiculous 140 points (63 goals, 77 assists) in just 64 games. Rookie-of-the-Year Dan Gauthier finished second in league scoring with 41 goals and 93 assists. Goaltender Dean Anderson and defenseman Jeff Lindsay joined Drulia and Gauthier on the ECHL’s postseason 1st Team All-Star squad.

And then, naturally, the Cherokees were swept out of the first round of the 1991 Riley Cup playoffs by the fourth place Louisville IceHawks.

In 1994 the Cherokees went 44-18-6 to win the Brabham Cup again. By this time, the Cherokees were an affiliate of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Cory Cadden was named the ECHL’s Goaltender-of-the-Year. Female goaltender Manon Rheaume also appeared in four games for the Cherokees that winter.

And then, unbelievably, the Cherokees were bounced in the first round of the Riley Cup playoffs by the Louisville IceHawks again. And this time by a truly awful IceHawks team (16 wins, 44 losses, 8 overtime losses) that had no business being in the postseason.

Financial Trouble & Move To South Carolina

The Knoxville Civic Coliseum was one of the smallest arenas in the ECHL, with seating for fewer than 5,000 spectators. The Cherokees future was in doubt more or less constantly. In May of 1992, the team announced it had suspended operations, which seemed to signal the end of ECHL hockey in Knoxville. But team owner Dr. John Staley reversed course and brought the team back for the next season after all.

The axe finally fell in March 1997. After team officials could not settle on a new lease with the Civic Coliseum, Staley and co-owner Warren Payne revealed the team would leave Knoxville for Florence, South Carolina. The announcement came with two weeks left in the 1996-97 season but after the Cherokees had made their final home appearance in Knoxville.

Renamed the Pee Dee Pride in South Carolina, the franchise played on for seven more season before folding in 2005.