West_Michigan_ThunderHawks
West Michigan ThunderHawks
Sports team
The West Michigan ThunderHawks were an indoor football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team was most recently a member of the Indoor Football League. From their inception in 2007 until 2009, the ThunderHawks were known as the Muskegon Thunder and played at L.C. Walker Arena (in their first two seasons they played in the Continental Indoor Football League). In 2010, the team moved to Grand Rapids, MI. This is where the downfall of the team took place. The season started off hopeful with a 5–2 record. After week 7 the players were promised money at a later date as long as they played (money that they never received). Starting in 2010 the ThunderHawks played their home games at the DeltaPlex Arena, in nearby Walker, Michigan. The Thunderhawks did not field a team in 2011.
| West Michigan ThunderHawks | |
|---|---|
| Established 2007 Folded 2010 Played in DeltaPlex Arena[1] in Grand Rapids, Michigan | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
Continental Indoor Football League (2007–2008)
Indoor Football League (2009–2010)
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Navy blue, powder blue, gold |
| Personnel | |
| President | Don Pringle |
| General manager | Rob Preston |
| Head coach | Terry Foster |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) 0 | |
| Conference championships (0) 0 | |
| Division championships (0) 0 | |
| Playoff appearances (2) | |
| 2007, 2008 | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
2007
For their first season, the Thunder had Shane Fairfield as head coach. Fairfield was an accomplished local high school football coach, as he led the Holton Red Devils to a conference championship as well as two back to back district championships against Muskegon Catholic. Prior to that he coached his alma mater Muskegon Catholic Central, and Muskegon High School.
For their first season with their brand-new identity, the head coach and defensive coordinator was Detroit native, Terry Foster. Foster was once a star for the Grand Valley State University team, and played in the Arena Football League for the Grand Rapids Rampage. In 2006, Foster was an assistant coach for the Rampage. Offensive coordinator Brent White almost mirrored Fairfield's path from Muskegon to Holton, playing for the Big Reds from 1999 to 2002 and then stepping off the field as assistant JV coach at Holton. Soon afterwards, he quickly became offensive coordinator for the Holton Red Devils, where he led his team to some record-breaking performances.
Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 24 | Summit County Rumble | Neutral (Steubenville) | Won 42-21 |
| March 31 | Marion Mayhem | Away | Lost 20-48 |
| April 13 | Summit County Rumble | Home | Won 54-12 |
| April 21 | Port Huron Pirates | Home | Lost 13-47 |
| April 28 | Chicago Slaughter | Home | Lost 40-57 |
| May 5 | Kalamazoo Xplosion | Away | Lost 37-41 |
| May 12 | Port Huron Pirates | Away | Lost 37-76 |
| May 19 | Springfield Stallions | Away | Won 49-25 |
| May 26 | Springfield Stallions | Home | Won 52-36 |
| June 9 | Chicago Slaughter | Home | Lost 34-58 |
| June 16 | Kalamazoo Xplosion | Home | Lost 28-34 |
| June 23 | Lehigh Valley Outlawz | Home | Lost 54-55 |
| June 29 | Marion Mayhem (Playoffs) | Away | Lost 57-68 |
Standings
| Team | Overall | Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||
| Great Lakes Conference | |||||||||||
| Michigan Pirates-y | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Kalamazoo Xplosion-x | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | |||
| Chicago Slaughter-x | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | |||
| Marion Mayhem-x | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | |||
| Muskegon Thunder-x | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | 4 | 7 | 0 | .364 | |||
| Miami Valley Silverbacks | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | |||
| Summit County Rumble | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Springfield Stallions | 0 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 11 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Atlantic Conference | |||||||||||
| Rochester Raiders-y | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| New England Surge-x | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | |||
| Lehigh Valley Outlawz-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | |||
| Chesapeake Tide-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | |||
| Steubenville Stampede | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | |||
| NY/NJ Revolution | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 11 | 0 | .000 | |||
2008
Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 8 | Marion Mayhem | Home | Lost 34-33[2] |
| March 21 | Rock River Raptors | Home | Won 44-36[3] |
| March 29 | Milwaukee Bonecrushers | Away | Won 60-35[4] |
| April 4 | Kalamazoo Xplosion | Home | Won 44-37 (OT)[5][6] |
| April 12 | Fort Wayne Freedom | Home | Won 39-33[7] |
| April 25 | Chicago Slaughter | Home | Lost 10-27 |
| May 3 | Kalamazoo Xplosion | Away | Lost 19-49[8] |
| May 10 | Flint Phantoms | Away | Won 55-42[9] |
| May 17 | Milwaukee Bonecrushers | Home | Lost 46-51 |
| May 24 | Fort Wayne Freedom | Away | Lost 38-42 |
| May 31 | Chicago Slaughter | Away | Lost 35-38 |
| June 6 | Saginaw Sting | Away | Lost 23-60 |
| June 14 | Kalamazoo Xplosion (Playoffs) | Away | Lost 33-50 |
Standings
| Team | Overall | Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||
| Great Lakes Conference | |||||||||||
| East Division | |||||||||||
| Kalamazoo Xplosion-y | 11 | 1 | 0 | .917 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | |||
| Muskegon Thunder-x | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | |||
| Fort Wayne Freedom | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .333 | |||
| Miami Valley Silverbacks | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | |||
| West Division | |||||||||||
| Chicago Slaughter-y | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Rock River Raptors-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Milwaukee Bonecrushers | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Atlantic Conference | |||||||||||
| East Division | |||||||||||
| New England Surge-y | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | |||
| Lehigh Valley Outlawz-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | |||
| New Jersey Revolution | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | |||
| Chesapeake Tide | 2 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | |||
| West Division | |||||||||||
| Rochester Raiders-z | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Saginaw Sting-y | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Marion Mayhem-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Flint Phantoms | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | |||
2009
On January 18, 2009, Adam Pringle, a former player who started at Nose Guard, part-owner of the club, and son of the club's president, died from injuries sustained in a snowmobile accident.[10]
2010
| League Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Wild Card Berth | League Leader |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| 2007 | 2007 | CIFL | Great Lakes | 5th | 4 | 8 | Lost Great Lakes Division Qualifier 57-68 (Marion) | ||||
| 2008 | 2008 | CIFL | Great Lakes | East | 2nd | 5 | 7 | Lost Divisional 33-50 (Kalamazoo) | |||
| 2009 | 2009 | IFL | United | Atlantic | 5th | 1 | 13 | ||||
| 2010 | 2010 | IFL | United | Atlantic East | 3rd | 5 | 9 | ||||
| Totals | 15 | 37 | All-time regular season record (2007–2010) | ||||||||
| 0 | 2 | - | All-time postseason record (2007–2010) | ||||||||
| 15 | 39 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2007–2010) | |||||||||
- Stephen Wasil - QB
- Cullen Finnerty - QB
- "West Michigan ThunderHawks win DeltaPlex debut". 27 February 2010.
- "Mayhem open season with victory". The Marion Star. Marion, Ohio: Gannett Company. 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-04-23.Archived 2008-04-23.
- "Raptors fall on the road". WREX TV. Retrieved 2008-04-28. [dead link]
- Nickel, Lori (2008). "'Just atrocious' loss". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Journal Sentinel Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
- Kendra, Tom (April 5, 2008). "XplosionD-fused". Kalamazoo Gazette. Booth Newspapers. Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
- "Kalamazoo vs Muskegon (Apr 04, 2008)". CIFL Statistics. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
- Clardie, Stacy (April 13, 2008). "Freedom's offensive woes spell doom in loss". Journal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
- "Xplosion get payback vs. Thunder". Kalamazoo Gazette. Booth Newspapers. May 4, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- "After slow start, Thunder explode in CIFL win over Phantoms". Muskegon Chronicle. Booth Newspapers. Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- Muskegon Thunder rocked by Adam Pringle's death MLive.com article. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.