2001: A Grand Rapids Odyssey
The Red Wings failed to bring home the Stanley Cup. The rabid hockey fans of Detroit would have to wait one more season for their 10th NHL crown.
The Pistons had yet to evolve into a championship-level team.
The Tigers and Lions were mere prey, often devoured on their respective fields of play.
The Detroit sports scene was nothing special in 2001. But in another part of Michigan – one oft-times overlooked – something special was happening.
The Grand Rapids Rampage were off to a 5-0 start in the Arena Football League. It was time for Grand Rapids, the state’s second-largest city, to eclipse Detroit as No. 1.
The Rampage, behind emerging AFL star Clint Dolezel, would finish that magical season with an 11-3 regular-season record and the ArenaBowl XV title – courtesy of a 64-42 blowout of the Nashville Kats in front of 11,217 screaming Grand Rapids fans at Van Andel Arena.
“Yes, this is special. We like the idea of putting our part of Michigan in the national spotlight,” then-Rampage coach Michael Trigg said following the ArenaBowl win. “We don’t feel like our city, or our fans, are No. 2. At this moment – at least for today – they’re not.
“Grand Rapids gets to be the center of sports in Michigan. Even if just for today.”
The Rampage averaged 57.2 points per game in 2001 and won their last six games en route to ArenaBowl glory. It all began with a 60-59 overtime win at Indiana in Week 1.
“We knew that we had a good team that year,” said Tom Rich, a Grand Rapids transplant now living in Grandview, Mo. “As we watched the Rampage continue to win – at a time when the Tigers were pretty bad and the Red Wings couldn’t win the Stanley Cup – some of us thought this might be Grand Rapids’ time to shine. That 2001 Rampage team will always have a special place in my heart. That team gave us in Grand Rapids our own identity.”
The Rampage went 6-1 in front of their fans at Van Andel Arena in 2001. But it was three more wins at home – all during the postseason – that meant the most for this city, where the only other pro game available is the American Hockey League.
“This was our title and our town,” Rich said. “Even if the Arena League wasn’t yet seen as a major-league sport around much of the country, it was like winning the Super Bowl for us.”
Local politicians obviously agreed. The Kent County Board of Commissioners proclaimed Aug. 23 as Grand Rapids Rampage Day.
Others were paying attention, too.
The Kansas City Chiefs would sign Rampage offensive specialist and ArenaBowl MVP Terrill Shaw. Shaw opened many NFL eyes by catching a record five touchdown passes in the championship victory over Nashville.
Dolezel became a top-tier AFL quarterback in 2001. The East Texas State alum completed 364 of 556 pass attempts (67.3 percent) for 3,952 yards and 80 TDs and a 111.2 passer rating that season.
Dolezel has since moved on to Dallas, where he has Desperados fans dreaming of their own ArenaBowl championship after leading the team to a 13-3 record and a top seed in the 2006 playoffs. For his efforts, Dolezel has been named a finalist in the Arena Football League Writers Association Player of the Year voting.
The Rampage stumbled to a 5-11 record and missed the playoffs in 2006 – despite wide receiver/linebacker Timothy Marshall leading the league in all-purpose yards (2,734). Still, the memories of 2001 remain vivid in the minds of Grand Rapids fans.
The AFL Historical Committee recently listed the 2001 Rampage as the 12th-best team of all time.
“We hope we’ve done something special,” Trigg said at the time. “For ourselves and for this city.”
Indeed, the Rampage did.
