Rhein Fire

World League (1995-1997)
NFL Europe (1998-2006)
NFL Europa (2007)

Background

The Rhein Fire was a German entry in the NFL-backed World League, later known as NFL Europe, between 1995 and the league’s closure in 2007.

The World League initially began play in 1991 as a developmental league with teams in Canada, Europe and the United States. The league suffered from poor television ratings and low revenues in the U.S. and NFL owners voted to shut it down after two seasons in September 1992. But all three of the European teams in Barcelona, Frankfurt and London had flashed potential. World Bowl I, the league’s 1991 title game between London and Barcelona, drew 61,000 fans to London’s Wembley Stadium. The NFL revived the World League in 1995 as a six-team, Europe only circuit, adding Dusseldorf (Rhein), Amsterdam and Glasgow (Scotland) to round out the returning trio of Barcelona, Frankfurt and London.

The Fire initially played at Dusseldorf’s 70-year old Rheinstadion until its demolition in 2002. The Fire then moved 45 minutes north to Gelsenkirchen to play at the newly opened Arena AufSchalke soccer stadium in 2003 and 2004. The team played its final three seasons back in Dusseldorf at LTU Arena, a new 51,000-seat stadium built on the former site of Rheinstadion.

World Bowls

The Fire earned five trips to the World Bowl championship game during their 13-year history.

On June 22, 1997, the Fire travelled to Spain for World Bowl V against the Barcelona Dragons. Rhein’s offense was led by former Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers quarterback T.J. Rubley, the World League’s Offensive MVP that season. But in the championship game, Rubley was outplayed by Barcelona quarterback Jon Kitna who passed for 401 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Barcelona to a 38-24 victory. Kitna, undrafted out of college in 1996, would go on to a 15-year NFL career.

Rhein returned to play in World Bowl VI the following year, facing the Frankfurt Galaxy in an all-German final at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. Both teams were forced to start their back-up quarterbacks due to injury. Rhein’s Jim Arellanes, formerly of Fresno State, had a superb outing in relief of sidelined starter Mike Quinn. Arellanes passed for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns to spur Rhein to a 34-10 victory and claim World Bowl MVP honors.

1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel (University of Florida) was under center for Rhein’s third World Bowl appearance in June 2000. Despite a wretched game from Wuerffel (12-of-30 for 90 yards with 2 interceptions), the Fire eeked out a 13-10 win over the Scottish Claymores. Running back Pepe Pearson plunged in from 1-yard out with 1:12 remaining to put the Fire over the top.

On June 22, 2002 the Fire played at home for the only time among the team’s five World Bowl appearances. A crowd of 53,109 showed up for the final event held at 77-year old Rheinstadion. The defending champion Berlin Thunder bested the Fire in a 26-20 thriller. Rheinstadion was demolished five months later.

Rhein made its fifth and final championship game appearance the following spring. Despite outgaining the Frankfurt Galaxy 418 to 371 yards and controlling the clock for over 35 minutes, the Fire lost by a lopsided score of 35-16 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.

Future Stars

Typical of most NFL Europe developmental teams, Rhein Fire rosters experienced heavy turnover from one year to the next. In 13 years of competition, Fire fans experienced a rogues gallery of Heisman Trophy winners, Hollywood actors, elderly soccer players, and future and former NFL stars.

Let’s start with Rhein’s developmental triumphs:

Wide receiver Bill Schroeder. After kicking around on NFL practice squads for three years, Schroeder played for Rhein in 1997. He made his NFL debut that fall with Green Bay and developed into a 1,000-yard receiver for the Packers in 1999.

Wide receiver/kick returner Michael Lewis. After kicking around in indoor football and short-lived minor leagues for a couple of years, Lewis was sent to Rhein by the New Orleans Saints in 2001. Following the NFL Europe season that spring, he made the Saints out of training camp and earned first team NFL All-Pro honors that season as a return specialist. Lewis eventually played seven season in the NFL and is a member of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.

Linebacker James Harrison. Overlooked in the 2002 NFL draft as an undersized tweener, Harrison washed up in Gelsenkirchen for the 2004 NFL Europe season. He would lreturn to the Pittsburgh Steelers later that year, where he had previously struggled on the practice squad, and emerge as one of the NFL’s most dominant linebackers of the next decade. Harrison became a two-time Super Bowl champion, four-time All-Pro and the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year for 2008.

Running back Fred Jackson. Jackson, undrafted out of Division III Coe College in 2003, led the Fire in rushing with 731 yards in 2006. He latched on with the Buffalo Bills in 2007 and went on to a 9-year NFL career, finishing in 2015 as the Bills’ third all-time leading rusher.

Other Notables

The Fire also featured quite a few notable players who were not necessarily upward bound to the National Football League.

Linebacker Terry Crews (Fire ’95) became a popular comedic actor, known series regular roles in Everybody Hates Chris and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Hollywood films movies such as The Longest Yard and Deadpool 2.

Linebacker Mike Croel (Fire ’98) was the 1991 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Denver Broncos.

Quarterbacks Gino Torretta (Fire ’95) and Danny Wuerffel (Fire ’00) were both former Heisman Trophy winners.

The late placekicker Manfred Burgsmuller (Fire ’96 – ’02) enjoyed an unusually long seven-year tenure with the team. Unusual also because Burgsmuller, a German Bundesliga soccer star of the 1960’s – 1980’s, was a 45-year old rookie when he first joined the Fire in 1996. He would win two World Bowls with Rhein. Burgsmuller retired as the oldest professional American football player in history following the 2002 season at age 52.

Two-sport star Drew Henson played quarterback for the Fire in 2006. Henson, who battled Tom Brady for playing time at the University of Michigan in the late 1990’s, briefly played both Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees and in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys.

Head coach Jim Tomsula (Fire ’06) served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2015. He lasted only one season in the job after posting a 5-11 record that autumn.

Extinguished & Revived

On June 29th, 2007, the National Football League announced the closure of NFL Europa after 15 seasons under various names. Rhein competed in 13 of those seasons, longer than any other clubs except for the Amsterdam Admirals (also 13 seasons) and their German rivals, the Frankfurt Galaxy (15 seasons).

In 2021, the European League of Football debuted with American Football teams spread across the continent. The league acquired the name rights to several former NFL Europe clubs, including the Rhein Fire. A re-booted version of the Rhein Fire began play in Dusseldorf as a European League of Football expansion franchise in 2022. Former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula, who coached the original Fire in 2006, returned to coach the new team. Tomsula and the Fire won the ELF championship in 2023.

Rhein Fire Shop

Rhein Fire Video

The Fire knock off the Frankfurt Galaxy 34-10 in World Bowl VI at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion.

In Memoriam

Placekicker Manfred Burgsmuller (Fire ’96-’02) passed away May 18th, 2019 at age 69.

German Olympic bobsledder Richard Adjei, a Dusseldorf native, played linebacker for the Fire from 2004 to 2007. He died of a heart attack at the age of 37 on October 26th, 2020.

Head coach Pete Kuharchek (Fire ’01-’05) passed away on March 31st, 2023 at age 76.

Downloads

1996 Rhein Fire Pre-season Roster

Links

World League of American Football Media Guides

World League of American Football Programs

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