Las Vegas Gladiators

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Las Vegas Gladiators
Las Vegas Gladiators
Conference American
Division Western
Year founded 1997
Home arena Thomas & Mack Center
City, State Las Vegas, Nevada
Wild card titles 3:
1997, 1998, 2003
Division titles 1:
2002
Conference titles none
ArenaBowl championships none

History

New Jersey Red Dogs (1997-2000)

The New Jersey Red Dogs entered the Arena Football League in 1997, along with the Nashville Kats and the New York CityHawks. Their ownership group, which was led by New Jersey radio entrepreneur E. Burke Ross, also included several ex-NFL players, such as Joe Morris, Carl Banks, and Harry Carson. The Red Dogs played at Continental Airlines Arena in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

The AFL's intention was to add only New Jersey and Nashville for 1997. However, well after the awarding of the Red Dogs and Kats franchises, the owners of Madison Square Garden in New York City requested a franchise of their own, and the league granted this request. And so the CityHawks also began play in 1997. This had an impact on the Red Dogs, in that the league then prevented the Red Dogs from advertising in New York. While North Jersey itself is very populous in its own right, the Red Dogs had hoped to be the team for the entire New York metropolitan area.

Despite this setback, the Red Dog management built a good team, which opened its history in memorable fashion. The team won 8 of its first 9 games, including a victory in their inaugural game on a last-second game-winning field goal, a thrilling overtime victory against the Albany Firebirds, a thorough thrashing of the Iowa Barnstormers (runners-up in the previous year's ArenaBowl X), and also one game in which they scored a then-record 91 points against the Texas Terror. (This record has since been surpassed by the New York Dragons, who scored 99 in a game against the Carolina Cobras in 2001.)

The Red Dogs were led by head coach John Hufnagel, who had been a quarterback and offensive coordinator for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, and who has since gone on to be an offensive coach for several National Football League teams, including the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

Hufnagel brought in several players with CFL experience to the Red Dogs, including QB Rickey Foggie, a fearless -- sometimes reckless -- player whose unpredictablity kept defenses on their toes; and offensive specialist Larry Ray Willis, a stern-faced, intense receiver who had great hands and was very difficult to tackle.

The team's other main receiver was Alvin Ashley, a player whose small size (150 lb.) made him unlikely to play in the NFL, but who was perfectly built for the Arena game (illustrating the differing physical requirements of the two games).

The Red Dogs slumped late in their first season, winning only 1 of their final 5 games (the win coming against the CityHawks) to finish 9-5, then losing to the Orlando Predators in the first round of the playoffs.

The team returned intact for 1998, and had another winning campaign, going 8-6, including a road victory up in Albany. The Red Dogs also won their first playoff game in their second year, a thrilling road victory against their biggest rivals, the Firebirds. (It is worth noting that the Firebirds and not the floundering CityHawks became the Red Dogs' main rivals.)

During the 1998 season, the Red Dogs traded their back-up quarterback to the Iowa Barnstormers. The Barnstormers had gone to two ArenaBowls under their star QB, Kurt Warner; but Warner signed with the NFL's St. Louis Rams, whom he went on to lead to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season, while being named the game's Most Valuable Player as well as the league's regular season MVP. (Warner would be named NFL MVP once again in 2001.) The quarterback the Red Dogs sent to Iowa was Aaron Garcia, who has remained with that franchise ever since, moving with them when the franchise became the New York Dragons in 2001. Garcia has since become one of the greatest QBs in AFL history, throwing for well over 700 touchdowns. Garcia ranks no. 1 or no. 2 in virtually every statistical category, occasionally trading places on the all-time lists with another veteran QB, Andy Kelly.

Hufnagel left the Red Dogs after the 1998 season for a job with the NFL's Cleveland Browns, and he was replaced by Frank Mattiace, who had played on the defensive line for New Jersey Generals of the USFL.

Without Hufnagel -- and without Larry Ray Willis, who had been traded to the Milwaukee Mustangs -- the Red Dogs slumped in 1999 to their first losing season, going 6-8. This, despite winning 3 of their first 4, including yet another one-point victory over Albany (a controversial victory in which an Albany receiver was penalized for taking his helmet off during a touchdown celebration, thus adding yards to the extra-point attempt, which was then missed).

The Red Dogs made a huge trade following the 1999 season, but it was one which they never got to benefit from. New Jersey sent Alvin Ashley to the Orlando Predators for wide receiver/defensive back Barry Wagner, widely regarded (indeed, almost undisputedly regarded) as the greatest player in the league's history. However, soon after the trade, the league and its players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that resulted in several veteran players -- including Wagner -- achieving free agency. Wagner then signed with the San Jose SaberCats, leaving the Red Dogs with neither him nor Ashley.

In 2000, the Red Dogs, with no Wagner and no Ashley, and also without their other offensive mainstay, wide receiver/linebacker Chad Lindsey, fell to 4-10. Not even the presence of another AFL legend, former Tampa Bay Storm and Detroit Drive offensive specialist George LaFrance, could stave off the collapse.

Foggie lost his job as starting QB, replaced by Tommy Maddox, who had had a disappointing NFL career up until that point, and who later returned to the NFL to have several excellent seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Mattiace also lost his job, replaced mid-season on an interim basis by Kevin Guy, a former defensive back/wide receiver who had played two full seasons with the Red Dogs.

New Jersey Gladiators (2001-2002)

Before the 2001 season, the New Jersey team was sold to Jim Ferraro, a lawyer from Miami. Ferraro changed the team name to the New Jersey Gladiators. The new ownership appointed as head coach the ex-CityHawk boss Lary Kuharich, who had won ArenaBowl VII in 1993 with the Tampa Bay Storm, and acquired Connell Maynor from Orlando to be the starting QB.

Maynor had led the Predators to victory in ArenaBowl XIV the previous season, and was named the game's MVP. An all-around threat, Maynor had played with the CityHawks under Kuharich in 1997, but took only one snap all season behind Mike Perez. Instead, the CityHawks used him as a wide receiver/linebacker, and one week he even won the award for the league's best "ironman" (player who plays both on offense and defense, as 6 of 8 players must do in Arena Football).

The Gladiators reached the lowest ebb in the history of the franchise in 2001, winning only 2 out of 14 games that season. The club's top receivers attained roughly half the amount of yards that Larry Ray Willis had done in each of the franchise's first two seasons, and the rushing leader was QB Maynor himself.

In 2002, the club had another new coach, Frank Haege, who had been a Red Dog assistant under John Hufnagel. After leaving the Red Dogs, Haege went on to coach the Quad City Steamwheelers of the AFL's minor-league circuit af2. Haege's Quad City team dominated the af2 for two seasons, even winning one game by a score of 103-3. (Haege was later charged by the AFL with violating the af2 salary cap rules at Quad City, and was fined heavily by the league. Also, the Quad City team was banned from the af2 playoffs in 2002.)

The Gladiators' new QB for 2002 was Jay McDonagh, who had played under Haege at Quad City. Former Red Dog Alvin Ashley was back with the club, seeing limited duty; however, this time around the main New Jersey receiver was Mike Horacek, who had starred for the Iowa Barnstormers, and has since returned to that franchise to play for the Dragons. The Gladiators' fortunes turned around, and they had their first winning season since 1998, going 9-5 and hosting a playoff game for the first time (a loss to Orlando).

The New Jersey Gladiators looked all set to go for the 2003 season. The 2003 season would be the first one to begin in February instead of April, and it would be the first one in which the league's games would be televised weekly by NBC.

However, with only weeks to go before the start of the season, owner Ferraro moved the team to Las Vegas. The move came as a shock to the team's fans, as the Gladiators were sending out ticket package offers even through their last week in New Jersey.

The AFL schedules for the 2003 season had already been devised, so the Las Vegas Gladiators would play that season in the Eastern Division of the National Conference, before shifting in 2004 to the American Conference's Western Division.

Las Vegas Gladiators (2003-present)

The Las Vegas Gladiators are an Arena Football League team based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team relocated to Las Vegas for the 2003 season and plays its home games at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, formerly the home venue of a previous Arena team, the Las Vegas Sting. The Gladiators currently compete in the Western Division of the AFL's American Conference.

Hosting ArenaBowl

For up to the next 3 years, Las Vegas will host the Arena Bowl, beginning with Arena Bowl XIX in June of 2005.

Head Coaches

John Hufnagel -- 1997-1998
Frank Mattiace -- 1999-2000
Kevin Guy -- 2000
Lary Kuharich -- 2001
Frank Haege -- 2002-2004
Ron James -- 2005-

Notable Players

Alvin Ashley - WR/DB
Clint Dolezel - QB
Joe Douglass - WR/LB
Rickey Foggie - QB
Mike Horacek - OS
Eric Houle - K
Matt Kinsinger - FB/LB
Steve Konopka - OL/DL
Mark Lewis - K
Chad Lindsey - WR/LB
Jay McDonagh - QB
Marcus Nash - OS
Junior Lord - WR/DB
Alonzo Spellman - DL
Steve Videtich - K
Larry Ray Willis - OS

Season-by-season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoffs
New Jersey Red Dogs
1997 9 5 0 2nd NC Eastern --
1998 8 6 0 2nd NC Eastern --
1999 6 8 0 2nd NC Eastern --
2000 4 10 0 4th NC Eastern --
New Jersey Gladiators
2001 2 12 0 4th NC Eastern --
2002 9 5 0 1st NC Eastern Lost Week 2 (Orlando Predators)
Las Vegas Gladiators
2003 8 8 0 3rd NC Eastern Lost Week 1 (Arizona Rattlers)
2004 8 8 0 4th AC Western --
2005 8 8 0 3rd AC Western --
*2006 1 1 0 T-1st AC Western -- 
*=Current Standing

External links