Roller Hockey International (1994-1995)
Tombstone
Born: 1994 – RHI expansion franchise
Folded: Postseason 1995
First Game: June 12, 1994 (W 10-5 vs. New England Stingers)
Last Game: August 15, 1995 (L 9-8 @ Montreal Roadrunners)
Murphy Cup Championships: None
Arenas
1994: UIC Pavilion
1994-1995: The Odeum (5,000)11995 Roller Hockey International Media Guide
Marketing
Team Colors: Burnt Orange, Butterscotch & Black21995 Roller Hockey International Media Guide
Ownership
Owners: Michael Snow, Gary Benson & George Mikan
Editor's Pick
Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks
A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International
Who won the first professional sports championship for the city of Anaheim? Which Roller Hockey International team owner posed for Playboy? Which RHI team’s logo did Sports Illustrated describe as looking like “a malevolent vacuum-cleaner attachment?” Which coach won two championships for two different teams in RHI’s first two seasons? Why were fans nearly ejected from the Oakland Skates’ arena for celebrating a hat trick?
Author Richard Graham takes you behind the scenes to show how Dennis Murphy created Roller Hockey International, and why Murphy might be the most unlikely, least known and most influential visionary in North American professional sports history.
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Background
The Chicago Cheetahs of Roller Hockey International were a short-lived in-line skating promotion that tried without much success to find an audience in the Windy City during the mid-1990’s.
Cheetahs players were primarily minor league ice hockey players learning a new sport and picking up a few extra bucks during their summer vacations. One exception was former Chicago Black Hawks tough guy Al Secord who played the 1994 season for the Cheetahs at age 36 after a four-year retirement. Secord could fight and score in equal measure and he joined the 50-goal club as a Black Hawk during the 1982-83 season. His remarkable 1981-82 campaign with Chicago remains unique in NHL history: the only player in NHL history to record over 40 goals (44) and 300 penalty minutes (303) in the same season.
The Cheetahs folded after their second season of play in 1995.
Roller Hockey International returned to Chicago in 1999 with an even more obscure entry, the Chicago Bluesmen. Both the Bluesmen and RHI itself went out of business at the end of the 1999 season.
Trivia
70-year old Basketball Hall-of-Famer George Mikan was a part-owner of the Cheetahs.
Links
Roller Hockey International Media Guides
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