Category: Arena Football League

1988 New England Steamrollers Media Guide from the Arena Football League

New England Steamrollers

February 17, 2012

As New York had its baseball and football Giants and Brooklyn had its multi-sport Dodgers, so the citizens of Providence, Rhode Island cheered on their Steam Rollers in various incarnations for the better part of a century. In their heyday, the Steam Roller played in the National Football League from 1925 to 1931, winning the NFL championship in 1928.  The name was resuscitated for various minor league and semi-pro football clubs from the 1940’s to the 1980’s.  In addition, Providence’s early entry in the National Basketball Association adopted the Steamrollers nickname during its three-year run from 1946 to 1949. The last (or perhaps most recent) team to take up the Steamrollers identity was the New England Steamrollers of the Arena Football League.

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1988 New York Knights Media Guide from the Arena Football League

New York Knights (1988)

November 8, 2011

The Knights were New York City’s first experience of the newly developed sport of Arena Football back in the summer of 1988. The roster included a collection of ex-replacement players from the 1987 NFL player strike along with refugees from the recently defunct United States Football League. The Knights lasted just one season and a mere six home games at Madison Square Garden before going out of business.

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Quarterback Clint Dolezel on the cover of the 1998 Houston ThunderBears Media Guide from the Arena Football League

Houston ThunderBears

October 1, 2011

Arena Football League (1998-2001) Born: December 1997 – Re-branded from Texas Terror Folded: 2001 First Game: May 1, 1998 (L 64-40 @ Nashville Kats) Last

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2001 Toronto Phantoms Media Guide from the Arena Football League

Toronto Phantoms

July 1, 2011

The Toronto Phantoms were the only Arena Football League team ever placed outside of the United States. The team’s arrival in 2001 created strife and controversy with the Canadian Football League and its Toronto Argonauts franchise, with whom the Phantoms’ season partially overlapped. Those protectionist fears proved overblown as the Phantoms quietly evaporated in 2002 after completing just two seasons.

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1988 Chicago Bruisers Media Guide from the Arena Football League

Chicago Bruisers

May 21, 2011

The Chicago Bruisers were one of four founding teams during the debut season of the Arena Football League in 1987.  The Bruisers debuted at the Rosemont Horizon on June 20th, 1987 against the Denver Dynamite with a national cable TV audience on ESPN.   The teams treated the announced crowd of 10,103 to the exactly type of hyperactive end-to-end scoring that the new sport envisioned.  The Bruisers blew an eight point lead and missed a game winning field goal attempt – all in the final 43 seconds of regulation – before falling 52-44 in overtime.

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