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.
Franchise 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 seven home games was 8,894.
The roster was full of players who had played at the University of Minnesota or other Minnesota colleges and universities. Tony Levine, a former Golden Gopher, joined the team and received 8 passes for a total of 83 yards and 1 touchdown. 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. The best-known ex-Pike is kicker Mike Vanderjagt, later a star in the CFL and NFL.
Ray Jauch was the head coach. He was assisted by John Coatta Jr. on offense and Frank Haege on defense.
The team's lack of exposure or advertising was the key reason for the team's folding at the end of the 1996 season. The team did not have a regional television deal to promote their games or have the games advertised in newspapers and other media.
The Pike's final game of the season against the Memphis Pharaohs was played in Tupelo, Mississippi, because the Pharaohs had been evicted from their arena.
The Pike's official mascot was a giant Pike named "Tackle." He was known to "dive" into a promotional hot tub at the arena.
Legacy In 2024, a revival of the Arena Football League brought it the Minnesota Myth, a team which played only two games (one at Target Center) before folding themselves.
Players
Final roster Minnesota Fighting Pike roster Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers Offensive linemen/Defensive linemen
Linebackers Defensive backs
Kickers
rookies in italics Roster updated August 16, 2012 32 Active, 0 Inactive, 0 PS
Coaches
Head coaches Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards W L T Win% W LRay Jauch1996410000
Coaching staff Minnesota Fighting Pike staff Front office Owner/President – Tom Scallen
Head coach Head coach – Ray Jauch
Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – John Coatta Jr. Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Frank Haege
1996 season results Arena Bowl ChampionsConference championsDivision championsWild card berthLeague leader
SeasonTeam League Conference Division Regular season Postseason resultsFinishWinsLossesTies 1996 1996 AFL American Western 4th 4 10 0Totals4100All-time regular season record (1996)00-All-time postseason record (1996)4100All-time regular season and postseason record (1996)
Date Opponent Home/Away Result April 27 Texas Terror Away W 36–24 May 4 Iowa Barnstormers Home L 43–59 May 10 St. Louis Stampede Home L 22–59 May 18 Albany Firebirds Away L 30–85 May 24 Tampa Bay Storm Home L 16–41 May 31 Anaheim Piranhas Home L 23–49 June 7 Arizona Rattlers Home L 27–59 June 15 Florida Bobcats Away L 28–63 June 28 Milwaukee Mustangs Home L 49–61 July 5 Connecticut Coyotes Away W 44–40 July 12 Orlando Predators Away L 12–56 July 19 Texas Terror Home L 51–54 July 26 San Jose SaberCats Away W 40–31 August 3 Memphis Pharaohs Away W 50–25
Statistics
Team leaders Leading rusher: Harry Jackson 22 carries, 26 yards and 0 touchdowns Leading passer: Rickey Foggie 224-443 for 2,269 yards, 40 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Leading receiver: Reggie Brown 79 catches, 964 yards 17, touchdowns
Offense
Passing Place Player Name Completions Attempts Comp% Yards TD's INT's Rating 1 Rickey Foggie 224 443 50.6% 2269 40 16 73.1 2 Jeff Loots 40 75 53.3% 484 7 8 57.2
Rushing Place Player Name Car Yards Avg TD's 1 Harry Jackson 22 26 1.2 0 2 Guy Howard 11 19 1.7 0 3 William Freeney 5 18 3.6 0 4 Rickey Foggie 17 17 1 4 5 Bruce LaSane 6 12 2 0 6 Wayne Hawkins 3 12 4 0 7 Willie Jennings 8 9 1.1 0 8 Kevin Wolfolk 2 8 4 0 9 Norman Brown 1 2 2 0 10 David Andrews 1 2 2 0 11 Jeff Loots 3 −2 −0.7 0
Receiving Place Player Name Rec. Yards Avg TD's 1 Reggie Brown 79 964 12.2 17 2 Alvin Ashley 69 971 14 19 3 Eric Jennings 29 230 7.9 0 4 Bruce LaSane 22 275 12.5 6 5 Wayne Hawkins 15 164 10.9 1 6 Harry Jackson 15 128 8.5 1 7 Kevin Guy 9 96 10.6 0 8 Tony Levine 8 83 10.4 1 9 Guy Howard 5 22 4.4 0 10 Franklin Thomas 3 43 14.3 0 11 D.J. McCarthy 2 53 26.5 1 12 Fernando Evans 2 23 11.5 0 13 Tony Harris 2 15 7.5 0 14 Nate Johnson III 2 14 7 0 15 Tony Young 1 45 45 1 16 Tracey Martin 1 14 14 0 17 Adrian Lunsford 1 7 7 0 18 Norman Brown 1 5 5 0
Touchdowns Place Player Name TD's Rush Rec Ret Pts 1 Alvin Ashley 19 0 19 0 114 2 Reggie Brown 17 0 17 0 102 2 Bruce LaSane 6 0 6 0 36 4 Rickey Foggie 4 4 0 0 24 5 Adrian Lunsford 2 0 0 2 12 6 Wayne Hawkins 1 0 1 0 6 7 Harry Jackson 1 0 1 0 6 8 Tony Levine 1 0 1 0 6 9 D.J. McCarthy 1 0 1 0 6 10 Tony Young 1 0 1 0 6
Defense Place Player Name Tackles Solo Assisted Sack Solo Assisted INT Yards TD's Long 1 Kevin Guy 52.5 49 7 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 Tony Harris 43.5 41 5 0 0 0 1 10 0 3 Adrian Lunsford 41 37 8 0 0 0 7 29 2 4 Alvin Ashley 28.5 27 3 0 0 0 2 42 1 5 Brian Krulikowski 25 19 12 1.5 1 1 0 0 0 6 Nate Johnson III 23 19 8 4.5 4 1 0 0 0 7 Norman Brown 22.5 21 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Mike Sunvold 21.5 18 7 4 4 0 0 0 0 9 Harry Jackson 19 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 Franklin Thomas 16 15 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Bruce LaSane 15.5 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Guy Howard 14.5 12 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Joe Fuller 11.5 11 1 0 0 0 1 13 0 14 Roosevelt Nix 10 8 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 Kevin Wolfolk 9.5 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Reggie Brown 9 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Scott Dolfi 8 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Randy Smith 6.5 6 1 0 0 0 1 21 0 19 William Freeney 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Wayne Hawkins 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Sheldon Haliburton 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Tony Levine 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Ty Stewart 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 D.J. McCarthy 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 25 Jeff Loots 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 Tony Young 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 Jon Garber 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 Fernando Evans 1.5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Ricky Foggie 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Eric Jennings 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 Macey Stephens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Special teams
Kick return Place Player Name Ret Yards TD's Long Avg Ret Yards TD's Long Avg 1 Alvin Ashley 52 951 0 2 Adrian Lunsford 22 393 2 3 Reggie Brown 3 23 0 4 Tony Harris 2 26 0 5 Wayne Hawkins 2 9 0 6 Kevin Guy 2 0 0 7 Eric Jennings 1 0 0
Kicking Place Player Name Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Pct. Pts 1 Ty Stewart 37 43 16 52 30.8 87 2 Mike Vanderjagt 7 10 2 6 33.3 13
1996 regular season
Week 1: vs Texas Terror
at The Summit, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 4,520
Week 2: vs Iowa Barnstormers at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 14,840
Week 3: vs St. Louis Stampede at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 8,726
Week 4: vs Albany Firebirds at the Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Attendance: 11,712
Week 5: vs Tampa Bay Storm at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 7,781
Week 6: vs Anaheim Piranhas at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 8,117
Week 7: vs Arizona Rattlers at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 8,207
Week 8: vs Florida Bobcats at the West Palm Beach Auditorium, West Palm Beach, Florida
Attendance: 4,450
Week 10: vs Milwaukee Mustangs at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 7,207
Week 11: vs Connecticut Coyotes at the Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Attendance: 9,249
Week 12: vs Orlando Predators at the Amway Arena, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 15,107
Week 13: vs Texas Terror at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 7,380
Week 14: vs San Jose SaberCats at the HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Attendance: 14,901
Week 15: vs Memphis Pharaohs at the BancorpSouth Arena, Tupelo, Mississippi
Attendance: 4,520
Other media The team appeared on the game EA Sports Arena Football as a hidden bonus team.
Notes All game scores and statistics are from arenafan.com
External links Minnesota Fighting Pike at ArenaFan.com Minnesota Fighting Pike statistics