The Arizona Thunder were a professional indoor soccer club that played for three seasons between 1998 and 2000 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Many members of the Thunder roster and coaching staff had ties to Phoenix’s earlier pro indoor teams including the Phoenix Pride and the Arizona Sandsharks. The club quietly went out of business following the 2000 season.
The Phoenix Cobras were a short-lived pro roller hockey promotion that set up shop at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum during the summer of 1994. Cobras players were mostly minor league ice hockey players picking up a modest paycheck during their summer vacation. The Cobras’ all-time top scorer, former Harvard star Mike Vukonich, previously skated three seasons with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League.
The Phoenix Racquets were a popular entry in the original World Team Tennis league of the 1970’s. The co-ed promotion lured top tour pros into hockey & basketball arenas for an ambitious 44-match spring/summer schedule. The Racquets signature attraction was American superstar Chris Evert, the world’s #1 ranked female player, who signed a two-year contract with the team in November 1975.
A 1990’s minor league outfit that was one of countless iterations of the “Phoenix Roadrunners” hockey brand to set up shop in the Arizona city. This 1989 re-boot was named in tribute to the original Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League and the World Hockey Association, who played from 1967 to 1977. Like previous versions of the ‘Runners, this International Hockey League club played at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Phoenix’s original Roadrunners hockey team of the Western League (1967-1974) and the World Hockey Association (1974-1977) is covered in this entry, along with the first of the many Roadrunners minor league revivals, the Central Hockey League/Pacific Hockey League Roadrunners of 1977 to 1979.
Publisher receives compensation for affiliate advertising on this website.
*Like our new look? Next up: site speed. You can help with a tip for our Speed Fund today. Thank you!
