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22-736: After only one year of existence, the Fusion folded and a new version of the Fort Wayne Freedom was formed for the Continental Indoor Football League . The franchise was announced in November, 2006 as an expansion team of the af2 . Jeremy Golden was announced as the team's owner and general manager, and secured a lease with Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for home games. The team also announced that Arena Football League legend, Eddie Brown , would be

44-651: A lease with Randy Brown and the Memorial Coliseum. Brown opted to go with the AF2 franchise. The team had been heavily rumored to move to AF2 for quite some time, and Coffey sold the assets to Golden on November 10, 2006. Golden had already applied for and was awarded an AF2 franchise, but because only the assets and not the Freedom's corporate entity were sold, the Fort Wayne Fusion AF2 franchise

66-461: Is not a continuation of the UIF team. In October 2007, the group Fort Wayne Sports Partners owned by Todd Ellis, John Christener and Mike McCaffrey, adopted the name Freedom as a new franchise in 2008. Only the name, and some players from the 2003–2006 teams were associated with the original franchise. . The team also announced that Eddie Brown , who had coached the Fusion the season before, would be

88-540: Is the official fan club of the Fort Wayne Freedom. Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2009 Continental Indoor Football League season . Head coach Offensive coaches Defensive coaches Tennessee Valley Raptors Continental Indoor Football League (2008–2009) The Rock River Raptors were a professional indoor football team based in Rockford, Illinois . The team

110-636: The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum . In 2004, the Freedom set the single game record for attendance at 10,225. # = set single game indoor football attendance record with 10,225 fans. The 2005 season was the best season in franchise history. This was the first year in the UIF, the team moved to the association, after two years in the NIFL . Finishing a league-best 14-2, and winning the UIF Midwest Division. In

132-671: The Fort Wayne FireHawks , replaced the Freedom in the CIFL. The owner of the second version of the Freedom was Bill Fahlsing. The Freedom played their home games at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne. The original Fort Wayne Freedom was a professional indoor football team. They were most recently a member of the United Indoor Football league (UIF), and played their home games at

154-634: The National Indoor Football League . The Freedom were the original indoor football team to be based in Fort Wayne. After four years of being the only indoor team in Fort Wayne, the franchise was sold to AF2 and the Fort Wayne Fusion was established as part of the AF2 in 2007. After a failed year in AF2, the Freedom came back in 2008 with new ownership and continued through the 2009 season. In 2010, another indoor team,

176-715: The University of St. Francis , an NAIA institution, and NCAA Division II Hillsdale College in Michigan. Pifer also was a high school assistant and played quarterback at the University of California in Pennsylvania. After completing its fourth year of football, the assets of the Freedom were sold to Jeremy Golden, who moved the franchise to AF2. Meanwhile, leaders with United Indoor Football did find an ownership group (that included investor Bill Bean) that also sought

198-656: The 2009 season players were not paid promptly and then not at all. Team Co-owners Bill Fahlsing and Mark Chappius were forced to ask for public support to help get the team through the season. Despite the financial issue with salaries, the players continued to play for the Freedom and won the Eastern Conference Championship over the Marion Mayhem but lost the 2009 CIFL championship game to the Chicago Slaughter. The Freedom Force

220-469: The af2 on March 31, 2007 against the Green Bay Blizzard , who were the then-defending American Conference champions. In July, 2007, the news surfaced that Owner Jeremy Golden had been removed as the owner of the Fusion by af2 Commissioner, Jerry Kurz . The Fusion finished the season 5-11, but with the loss of Golden during the season, the Fusion playing again in 2008 was very remote. In October,

242-431: The ban and allowed the team to join the CIFL in 2008. In September, 2008, the Freedom announced that former Freedom Assistant GM Brad Harris (who was with the original Freedom from 2003–2005) had been hired as GM. Head coach Matt Land also returned for the 2009 to coach the team for the full season. In 2008, Land, who had been the team's head coach for the 2005 campaign, was asked by team co-owner William Fahlsing to lead

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264-423: The city learned that Kurz had determined that the Fusion would not return in 2008. The Fort Wayne Fusion's schedule for the 2007 season is as follows: (Home Games in bold) Fullbacks Wide receivers Defensive linemen Defensive backs Special teams rookies in italics Roster updated July 15, 2007 21 Active, 8 Inactive Note: Statistics are correct through

286-528: The end of the 2007 af2 season . Head coach Offensive coaches Defensive coaches Fort Wayne Freedom United Indoor Football (2005–2006) Continental Indoor Football League (2008–2009) UIF: 2005 The Fort Wayne Freedom was a professional indoor football team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana . The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League , but originally began play in 2003 as an expansion team in

308-534: The first-round of the UIF playoffs. The Tennessee Valley Raptors upset Freedom 57-22. As Matt Land left the Freedom to become head coach at Tri-State University in NCAA Division III . The Freedom selected offensive coordinator Dan Pifer to be their new head coach. Pifer would later serve as the offensive coordinator for NCAA Division III Tri-State, later renamed Trine, under former coach Matt Land. He had worked previously as an assistant coach at

330-446: The head coach for the Freedom, who would be joining the Continental Indoor Football League . Since the Fusion ownership had failed mid season in 2007, Brown and McCaffrey made majority owner Todd Ellis guaranteed them both that if the team ran into financial trouble they would not be responsible for any of the unpaid bills. The teams poor financial history left every part of owning the franchise more difficult, even as far as ownership of

352-606: 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

374-399: 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

396-511: The team first head coach. In January, the team named Mike McCaffrey as the team's General Manager to handle day-to-day operations for the Fusion. In February, the team announced the team colors would be Burnt Orange, Regal Purple and Pearl White. With the team struggling to find a quarterback through their exhibition games, the Fusion traded for Cody Hodges of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz . The Fusion played their first game in

418-509: The team for the final four games of the season when original head coach Willie Davis, Jr. was fired the morning of the May 17 game against the Chicago Slaughter. With only 15 minutes of practice, Land's second term began with a 41-33 loss to the Slaughter, despite a solid performance by the Freedom defense. In 2009, the Freedom had success on the field but struggled financially. Toward the end of

440-461: 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

462-520: The team's turf. The team's new ownership also showed signs of financial trouble right away, as they were banned from the CIFL in January 2008, for failing to pay league dues. These troubles made Brown and McCaffrey question the ownership, and Ellis fired them both, replacing Brown with Willie Davis Jr. and McCaffrey with himself. The Freedom were able to work out a deal with CIFL Commissioner, Jeff Spitaleri, and paid their $ 22,500 league fee, which removed

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484-658: 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

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