The Georgia Rampage were a professional indoor football team based in

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the ci ...

. They were members of

X-League Indoor Football X-League Indoor Football (X-League) was a professional indoor football minor league that began play in 2014. The league was co-chaired by Michael Mink and Kacee Smith. On September 19, 2015, the league announced a merger with the future "North ...

(X-League). The Rampage joined the X-League in 2014, after a few members of the

Ultimate Indoor Football League The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) was a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011 as the Ultimate Indoor Football League before playing as the United Indoor Football League in 2012 ...

(UIFL) had planned on making a new league. The Rampage originally began play in 2012 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 ...

of the UIFL, going by the name of the Rome Rampage. The Rampage played their home games at the

Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center The Dalton Convention Center is a multi-purpose venue in Dalton, Georgia built in 1991. Owned by the city of Dalton and by Whitfield County, the Convention Center is operated by the general manager and director of tourism, Doug Phipps and Margar ...

in Dalton.

Franchise history

The team was initially named the Rome River Dogs, but licensing issues forced the name change (which licensing issues are unknown, however, as the team would have been the first indoor/arena team named the River Dogs, while most notably 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 ...

had the

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena. ...

.) The Rampage was originally based in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

and became Rome's second indoor football team; their first since the

Rome Renegades The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

which played in the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...

for 2005 and later the

American Indoor Football League American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

for 2006 (In both leagues, they went to the championship game, losing both times). The Rampage is Dalton's first indoor football team. The Rampage is owned by Amer W. Awad and Kacee Smith (who also owns the North Georgia Bulldogs semi-pro team).

2012

On June 7, 2011, Joe Micco was named the first head coach in Rampage history.Rampage Introduce Coaches
/ref> The Rampage were originally owned by Cecil Van Dyke with Kacee Smith as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. However, a few weeks before the start of the season, Van Dyke was arrested for theft by taking putting the Rampage's season in doubt. After the arrest, Smith did all he could to save the season but was unable to find the funding to do so on a full scale, instead making the team a travel team in order to keep the Rampage name alive. While doing his personal taxes, Smith ran into Amer W. Awad who at the time was the

office manager Office management is a profession involving the design, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance of the process of work within an office or other organization, in order to sustain and improve efficiency and productivity. Office management i ...

for

Liberty Tax Service Liberty Tax, is a chain of franchise and company-owned locations that provide tax preparation services. It is known for its wavers, people in Statue of Liberty costumes and Uncle Sam costumes, used as a form of guerrilla marketing. It is the thi ...

Calhoun, Georgia Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,949. Calhoun is the county seat of Gordon County. History In December 1827, Georgia had already claimed the Cherokee lands that be ...

. Awad inquired about potentially becoming a business partner stating he had always wanted to own a football team. After months of dialogue and attending the April 15, 2012 game versus the

Eastern Kentucky Drillers The Kentucky Drillers were a professional indoor football team based in Pikeville, Kentucky. The franchise started as the Eastern Kentucky Drillers and joined the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) in 2013 after playing their first two sea ...

, Awad and Smith came to an agreement and became business partners moving the team to Dalton. The partnership will officially begin with the 2013 season.

2013

With the new ownership of Kacee Smith and Amer Awad, the Rampage moved to

, where they changed their name to the Georgia Rampage. During an October press conference, the team announced that Mark Bramblett as the franchise's second ever head coach.

2014

For the 2014 season, the Rampage was a charter member of the

Logos

File:RomeRiverDogs.jpg, Original Logo File:RomeRampage.PNG, 2011 Logo File:GeorgiaRampage.jpg, 2012 Logo

Roster

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Georgia Rampage official website
{{UIFL American football teams in Georgia (U.S. state) Former Ultimate Indoor Football League teams X-League Indoor Football teams Dalton, Georgia American football teams established in 2013 American football teams disestablished in 2015 2013 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 2015 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)