Louisville Fire
| Louisville Fire | |
|---|---|
| Established 2001 Folded 2008 Played in Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
af2 (2001–2008)
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Fire engine red, black and flame gold |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Will Wolford |
| Head coach | Ron Selesky (2001) Jeff Brohm (2002) Wally English (2003) Tommy Johnson (2003–2008) |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (1) 2005 | |
| Division championships (3) 2001, 2003, 2004 | |
| Playoff appearances (4) | |
| 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
The Louisville Fire was an arena football team that played its home games at the Brown-Forman Field in Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. They were a 2001 expansion team of the af2. Their owner/operator was former Pro Bowl lineman and Louisville native Will Wolford. The team was somewhat successful. After a rocky first few seasons they finally found success in 2004 and then made it all the way to the Arena Cup in the 2005 season.
On December 19, 2001, Jeff Brohm was named the head coach of the Louisville Fire arena football team.[1] The Fire started the 0–7 before they defeated the Carolina Rhinos 31–28 to improve to 1–7. The Fire would finish the season 2–14.[2]
In 2003, English was hired to replace Brohm as the head coach of the Louisville Fire af2 team.[2] He was fired after just two games with a record of 2–2.[3]
In July 2007, it was announced that the team planned on selling portions of the team to local ownership (aka the NFL's Green Bay Packers) in an attempt to boost season ticket sales and then buy the shares back in time before the team joined the AFL.[4]
In November 2008, the Louisville Fire ceased operations.[5]
Award winners
[edit]- 2004 – Takua Furutani – International Player of the Year
- 2005 – Matthew Sauk – Offensive Player of the Year
- 2005 – Danny Kight – Kicker of the Year
- 2006 – Brett Dietz – Rookie of the Year
- 2006 – Rob Mager – Offensive Player of the Year
- 2008 – Elizabeth "Liz" Horrall – Miss Louisville Fire Football
Season-by-season
[edit]
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 6th NC Midwest | -- |
| 2002 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 4th NC Midwest | -- |
| 2003 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 3rd NC Midwest | -- |
| 2004 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2nd NC Midwest | Won NC Round 1 (Quad City 53–48) Lost NC Semifinal (Tulsa 49–42) |
| 2005 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 2nd AC East | Won AC Round 1 (Macon 55–54) Won AC Semifinal (Manchester 69–56) Won AC Championship (Florida 70–40) Lost ArenaCup VI (Memphis 63–41) |
| 2006 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 4th AC East | Lost AC Round 1 (Memphis 83–61) |
| 2007 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3rd AC Midwest | Won AC Round 1 (Spokane 62–35) Lost AC Semifinals (Green Bay 37–27) |
| 2008 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4th AC Midwest | -- |
| Totals | 62 | 71 | 0 | (including playoffs) | |
Coaching staff
[edit]| Louisville Fire staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coach
|
Offensive coaches
Defensive coaches
| |||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Jeff Brohm named as coach of Louisville Fire". www.bizjournals.com. American City Business Journals. December 19, 2001. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^ a b John R. Karman III (March 31, 2003). "Arena football officials hope to improve on, off field". www.bizjournals.com. American City Business Journals. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ "Fire name defensive coordinator as coach". www.bizjournals.com. American City Business Journals. April 8, 2003. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ Louisville Fire Press Release: Fire seek season ticket and ownership support in quest for AFL
- ^ Hall, C. Ray (2008-11-12). "Fire ceases operations as af2 team; Fair board says it recently received notice of the move". The Courier-Journal. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
External links
[edit]- "Louisville Fire on ArenaFan". Archived from the original on 2007-12-12.
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- Louisville Fire
- Defunct af2 teams
- American football teams in Louisville, Kentucky
- American football teams established in 2001
- American football teams disestablished in 2008
- 2001 establishments in Kentucky
- 2008 disestablishments in Kentucky
- Defunct sports clubs and teams in Louisville, Kentucky
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