Minnesota Fighting Pike - Franchise History

Franchise History

In November of 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.

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. After the game, the Pike ceased operations. There were no announcements nor press releases; players left town and staff did not receive their final paychecks.

The Pike's official mascot was a giant Pike named "Tackle." He was known to "dive" into a promotional hot tub at the arena.