Rock River Raptors
 |
|
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| League |
UIF 2005-2007 CIFL 2008-2009 |
| Team history | Tennessee Valley Raptors 2005 Rock River Raptors 2006-2009 |
| Based in | Rockford, Illinois |
| Arena | Rockford MetroCentre |
| Colors | Green, Black, & White |
| President | Bob Lowe |
| Head coach | Dave Jones |
| Championships | 0 |
| Division titles | 2 (2006 UIF Central, 2007 UIF East) |
| Dancers | Dynomites |
| Mascot | Vinnie |
This page is for the Continental Indoor Football League team, for the National Premier Soccer League team also based in Rockford, see Rockford Raptors.
The Rock River Raptors were a professional indoor football team based in Rockford, Illinois. The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League. The franchise was established in 2000 as the Tennessee Valley Vipers, a charter member of af2. The franchise was based at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2005, the franchise moved to United Indoor Football as the Tennessee Valley Raptors, to accommodate the Vipers' af2 return to Huntsville, as which point the team owner Art Clarkson announced that the franchise would relocate to Rockford. Coincidentally, Rockford was the site of the first-ever Arena Football game in 1986. The Owner of the Raptors was Art Clarkson. The Raptors played their home games at Rockford MetroCentre in Rockford, Illinois.
In November 2004, owner Ark Clarkson announced that the team would be leaving af2 and would be joining the newly formed United Indoor Football due to what Clarkson claimed as the af2 not performing its obligations to the team operators to meet increasing financial demands on the teams. The financial demands on the af2 member teams were such that since the league was founded in 2000, numerous teams had gone out of operation. They worked to make the league more financially viable and responsive to the needs of team operators, but were unable to get the organization to change, as well as changing their name to the Tennessee Valley Pythons. Clarkson wasted little time naming veteran coach, Dick Adams, as the team's head coach. In late January, the team changed their name to the Tennessee Valley Raptors, after the af2 objected that the Pythons would spark people to become confused with the former af2 Vipers.
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