Quad City Steamwheelers
| Quad City Steamwheelers | |||
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Established 1999 Folded 2009 Played in iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois |
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| League/conference affiliations | |||
| Team colors | Navy blue, gold and scarlet red |
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| Mascot | Steamwheeler Willie | ||
| Personnel | |||
| Owner(s) | Jim Foster | ||
| Head coach |
Frank Haege (2000–2001) Rich Ingold (2002–2004) Rick Frazier (2004–2006) Sean Ponder (2006–2009) |
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| Team history | |||
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| Championships | |||
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League championships (2) 2000, 2001 |
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Conference championships (2) 2000, 2001 |
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Division championships (3) 2001, 2003, 2004 |
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| Playoff appearances (8) | |||
| 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 | |||
| Home arena(s) | |||
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The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois.
The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was awarded an arena football franchise. Managing owner (and inventor of arena football) Jim Foster coined the team's nickname.
In December 2009, it was confirmed that the Steamwheelers had ceased operations, opting not to join the new Arena Football League after the bankruptcy of the Arena Football League and subsequent disbanding of af2.
The Steamwheelers played their inaugural season in 2000 and dominated the league for its first two seasons. They went undefeated in 2000 behind coach Frank Haege, even winning one game by a score of 103-3 over Greensboro in Greensboro, en route to capturing the first-ever ArenaCup Championship. In 2001, the Steamwheelers nearly repeated that accomplishment by finishing 18-1 and winning a second-straight league title. During this two season span, the Steamwheelers set a record for the longest winning streak in the af2 at 24 consecutive wins.
Allegations of rules violations plagued the Steamwheelers during the second season and they were eventually banned from the 2002 playoffs for salary cap violations under Haege.
Coached by Rich Ingold from 2002–2004, the Steamwheelers were still successful as they clinched two more division titles. However, the team failed to win any additional league championships and lost 14 games over that three-year span. Ingold left the Steamwheelers after the 2004 season and was replaced by Rick Frazier, former coach for the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League.
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