Arena Football League (1995-1996)
Tombstone
Born: September 20, 1994 – Arena Football League expansion franchise1Fallstrom, R.B./ASSOCIATED PRESS. “St. Louis lands Arena football team”. The News-Democrat (Belleville, IL). September 21, 1994
Folded: November 1996
First Game: May 12, 1995 (W 35-22 vs. Memphis Pharaohs)
Last Game: August 10, 1996 (L 52-49 @ Iowa Barnstormers)
Arena Bowl Championships: None
Arena
Kiel Center (18,000)21995 Arena Football League Record & Fact Book
Opened: 1994
Marketing
Team Colors: Red, Yellow & Black31995 St. Louis Stampede Program
Radio:
- 1995: KSD (550 AM)
Radio Broadcasters:
- 1995: Steve Schlanger & Trey Wingo
Ownership
Owner: St. Louis Blues (Michael F. Shanahan, Chairman)
Arena Football League Expansion Fee (1994): $500,0004Thomas, Jim. “Otis In A Hurry To Hire Arena League Coach.” The Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO). September 21, 1994
Stampede Stuff
St. Louis Stampede
Logo T-Shirt
This St. Louis Stampede logo dating to 1994 deftly incorporates the Gateway Arch national park. And its depiction of a flaming herd of panicked stallions vividly captures the state of mind of any sensible person duped into the five minutes of sheer pants-soiling terror required to ascend to the Arch’s apex in one of its tiny orb-shaped elevators/coffins. Never again.
Grab a Stampede Logo T for your favorite claustrophobic at American Retro Apparel in Sport Grey or White and in sizes small through XXXL today!
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Background
The St. Louis Stampede were a short-lived Arena Football League team owned by the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. The Blues paid a $500,000 expansion fee5Thomas, Jim. “Otis In A Hurry To Hire Arena League Coach.” The Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO). September 21, 1994 for the franchise in September 1994 in a quest for additional promotions to fill dates at the newly opened Kiel Center.
The Stampede quickly put together a front office operation heavy on football credibility. Former St. Louis Cardinals running back Jim Otis served as the team’s General Manager. Former Ohio State University football boss Earle Bruce signed on as the Stampede’s Head Coach.
In Competition
The Stampede were a strong entry on the field during their two season run. In their expansion season of 1995 under Earle Bruce, the team won their division and posted the second best record (9-3) in the 13-team AFL. Quarterback John Kaleo out of the University of Maryland established a new Arena Football record for yards passing in a single season (2,989).
In an upset, St. Louis lost their 1995 first round playoff game at the Kiel Center to the Albany Firebirds 51-49.
The core of the team returned in 1996, including Bruce, starting quarterback Kaleo and First Team All-Arena wide receiver/defensive back Darryl Hammond. Bruce resigned after four games with the team 2-2, replaced by defensive coordinator Dave Ewart. The Stampede finished 8-6, good enough for the final seed in the AFL’s 8-team playoff format. In August 1996, the Stampede played their final game, losing a first game playoff contest on the road against an Iowa Barnstormers team featuring Kurt Warner at quarterback.
The Stampede folded after two seasons of play in November 1996.
Bernard Hall
One other note about the the 1996 Stampede season. In March the team signed a 29-year old pro rookie named Bernard Hall to play the AFL’s two-way fullback/linebacker position. Hall played tight end for the University of Oklahoma in the late 1980’s, until he was convicted, alongside teammate Nigel Clay, of the gang rape of a fellow OU student in 1989. Hall served four-and-a-half years in prison before playing out his remaining eligibility at Ohio’s Central State University, an NAIA school that took in multiple ex-convict players from Barry Switzer’s out-of-control Oklahoma program upon their release from prison, including both Hall and Clay.
Hall’s presence on the Stampede does not appear to have elicited any great public or media outcry even as his prominence in the league grew throughout the summer. In the pass-happy league, Hall rushed for 372 yards in 1996, the 2nd most in league history and most ever for a non-quarterback. He also obliterated Arena Football’s single-season record for rushing touchdowns with 26.
On the first play of the Stampede’s final game, the 1996 playoff loss to the Iowa Barnstormers, Hall scrambled 46 yards on a screen pass and then suffered a compound of his left leg. He was transported to Iowa Methodist Medical Center for emergency surgery that same night and never played another down of professional football.
Trivia
The Stampede faced future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Kurt Warner in both the franchise’s first game, an April 1995 pre-season exhibition at the Kiel Center, and its final game, an August 1996 playoff loss. Warner was the quarterback for the AFL’s Iowa Barnstormers at the time. Less than four years later, Warner would bring a Super Bowl title to St. Louis as starting quarterback of the Rams in January 2000.
St. Louis Stampede Shop
Stampede Video
The Stampede host the Connecticut Coyotes at the Kiel Center on July 26th, 1996.
In Memoriam
Lineman Fran Papasedero (Stampede ’95-’96), a First Team All-Arena performer in 1996, died in a single-car auto accident on June 19, 2003 at age 34.
First Team All-Arena WR-DB Darryl Hammond (Stampede ’95-’96) died of Lou Gehrig’s Disease on February 19, 2017 at age 49. In 2012 Hammond was named to AFL’s list of the 25 Greatest Players in Arena Football history in honor of the league’s 25th annniversary.
Head Coach Earle Bruce (Stampede ’95-’96) died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease on April 20, 2018 at age 87. New York Times obituary.
Links
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