The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

. They were members of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and then again in 1996 and the Independence Arena (now the Bojangles' Coliseum) in 1995. They were owned by Allen J. Schwalb, Joanne Faruggia and former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

and

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

quarterback

Cliff Stoudt Clifford Lewis Stoudt (born March 27, 1955) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Birmi ...

History

The Rage were founded as an expansion team on October 10, 1991, by motion picture financier Allen J. Schwalb, who backed some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s including '' Rambo'', ''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish young wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dealer C ...

'', '' Moonstruck'' and '' Thelma & Louise''. They competed in the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

–

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

seasons. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum, then also home of the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

from 1992 to 1994 and again in 1996. They played the 1995 season at the much smaller Independence Arena. The team made the playoffs in 1993 and 1994, losing both times to the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League a ...

in the first round. They are best known for signing former

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

offensive lineman

Joe DeLamielleure Joseph Michael DeLamielleure ( ; born March 16, 1951) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL). He was an All-American playing college football for the Michigan State Spartans. H ...

, who played only a handful of games in 1992 before retiring from football for good. He was the only member of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

to have played in the AFL, a distinction that ended in 2017 when

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend f ...

, a three-year veteran of the AFL, was inducted. Their

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

consisted of an enraged bull which was both snorting fire and surrounded by it. The team was discontinued after the completion of the 1996 season. The AFL would return to the Coliseum for the 2003

season when the Carolina Cobras moved from

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...

Season-by-season

Players

Arena Football Hall of Famers

All-Arena players

The following Rage players have been named to All-Arena Teams: * OL/DL Robert Stewart (2) * K Mike Black (1) * OS Khevin Pratt (1)

Head coaches

External links

Charlotte Rage at ArenaFan.com
{{Defunct Arena Football League franchises American football teams established in 1992 Sports clubs disestablished in 1996 American football teams in North Carolina 1992 establishments in North Carolina 1996 disestablishments in North Carolina