Minnesota Fighting Pike
| Minnesota Fighting Pike | |||||
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Established 1996 Folded 1996 Played in Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota |
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Arena Football League (1996–1996)
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| Team colors |
Green, Gold, White |
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| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) | Tom Scallen | ||||
| President | Tom Scallen | ||||
| Head coach | Ray Jauch | ||||
| Team history | |||||
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Minnesota Fighting Pike (1996) |
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| Championships | |||||
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League championships (0) |
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Conference championships (0) Prior to 2005, the AFL did not have conference championship games |
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Division championships (0) |
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Arena Football League (1996–1996)
Green, Gold, White
Minnesota Fighting Pike (1996)
The Minnesota Fighting Pike were an Arena football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1996 as an expansion team. The Fighting Pike were the first ever attempt at an arena/indoor football team in the state of Minnesota. The owner of the Fighting Pike was Tom Scallen. The Fighting Pike played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team colors were green and gold. In a 2012 AFL Poll, the Fighting Pike were voted as the 8th greatest nickname in AFL history.
In November 1995, the announced that they would be nicknamed the "Fighting Pike" and that Art Haege was named the team's Head Coach.
During the team's first tryout, Haege walked out, stating he was going "Back to Iowa." The next day, Haege faxed in his resignation to team owner Tom Scallen.
The Pike were 0-7 at home, and the average attendance for the 7 home games was 8,894.
The roster was full of players that had played at the University of Minnesota or other Minnesota colleges and universities. Former Gopher Rickey Foggie was the quarterback and he struggled adapting to the Arena Football League after many years in the Canadian Football League. Once during the season he was benched in favor of Southwest State's Jeff Loots, who threw four interceptions in a game. Loots was playing on his third expansion team in three seasons. Another player from Southwest State was Alvin Ashley. Perhaps the best-known ex-Pike is kicker Mike Vanderjagt, later a star in the CFL and NFL.
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