The Battle Creek Crunch were a professional indoor football team based in

Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...

. The team was a charter member of the

Great Lakes Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL ...

joining the league in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. The Crunch were the first professional indoor football team to be based in Battle Creek. The Crunch were owned by Mike Powell. They played their home games at the

Kellogg Arena Kellogg Arena is a 6,200-seat multi-purpose arena located in Battle Creek, Michigan. History Kellogg Arena was built in 1980. It seats 4,675 for basketball games, 4,859 for ice shows, 4,433 for the circus, 1,500 for theatrical shows and conce ...

Franchise history

The Crunch were announced to the City of Battle Creek in September 2005 that they would begin play in 2006 as an

in the newly formed

by owner and general manager, Mike Powell. On September 27, 2005 the team named Bob Kubiak as their head coach. The Battle Creek Crunch office is officially open to the public on January 16. In their first ever game, the Port Huron Pirates defeated the Crunch by the score of 62-22. The team was also featured on

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

, as writer Ted Kluck tried out for the team. He participated in the first game as a long snapper for two extra point attempts. Kluck wrote a book called, ''Paper Tiger'' which captured the entire 2006 season from a player's prospective. Despite the team's lackluster 4-6 record, the team qualified for the playoffs as the league's 4th and final seed. The team was eliminated from the playoffs by the Port Huron Pirates by a score of 74-3. Despite the team's struggles on and off the field, Eric Gardner was named the inaugural GLIFL Defensive Back of the Year.

2006 GLIFL standings

Even though they hoped to play in 2007, financial troubles and the forming of the

Kalamazoo Xplosion The Kalamazoo Xplosion was an indoor football team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Xplosion began play in 2007 expansion team of the Continental Indoor Football League. They played their home games at Wings Stadium. History Original team ow ...

marked the end of the Crunch's only year of existence.

Logos

The team name refers to Battle Creek's position as the corporate headquarters of the

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

cereal company. The tiger in the logo is derivative of

Tony the Tiger Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (also known as Frosties) breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. Tony has also been the mascot for related cereals such as Tony's Cinnamon Krunc ...

Players of note

Roster

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Battle Creek Crunch players who won GLIFL awards.

Coaches of note

Season-by-season results

References

{{GLIFL American football teams in Michigan Former Continental Indoor Football League teams Sports in Battle Creek, Michigan American football teams established in 2005 American football teams disestablished in 2006