The Marion Mayhem were a professional indoor football team based in

Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Ohio, Marion County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United S ...

. 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 (GLI ...

(GLIFL), later renamed the

Continental 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 (GLIF ...

(CIFL), joining in 2006 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 Mayhem were the first professional indoor football team to be based in Marion, but were the second pro football team to be based in the area since the NFL's

Oorang Indians The Oorang Indians () were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio (near Marion). The franchise was a novelty team put together by Walter Lingo to market his Oorang dog kennels. All of the Indians players were Native Am ...

. The team folded during the 2010 season due to financial problems. The Owners of the Mayhem were Michael Burtch and

Stanley Jackson Sir Francis Stanley Jackson Jackson's obituary in the 1948 ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack''. This gives his full name as ''Francis'' Stanley Jackson, whereas Cricinfo and CricketArchive both give his full name as ''Frank'' Stanley Jackson. This ...

. They played their home games at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in

Franchise history

2006

The Mayhem were announced to the public on September 16, 2005, as the fourth expansion team for the newly formed

. Their inaugural owners of the Mayhem were 4th Down and Long LLC, run by R.A. Mallonn, Fred Horner, Tim Cugini, and John Slebodnik. The team hired Tracy Smith as their inaugural coach and general manager on November 2, 2005. The Mayhem suffered a losing inaugural season in 2006 (4-6), however the Mayhem were within one game of the 2006 GLIFL playoffs. The Mayhem missed the playoffs due to the Battle Creek Crunch holding the tie breaker between the two teams.

2007

Before the season began, 4th Down and Long LLC sold the team to Michael Burtch. Joining the team would be former

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. Jackson would later become a part owner of the franchise due to their small budget operation. Jackson went on to set league records for pass completions (177), pass attempts (348) and interceptions thrown (16). Marion finished 6-6 in 2007, good enough to make the CIFL playoffs. After knocking off the

Muskegon Thunder The West Michigan ThunderHawks were an indoor football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team was most recently a member of the Indoor Football League. From their inception in 2007 until 2009, the ThunderHawks were known as the Muskegon ...

in the first round of the CIFL playoffs, the Mayhem's season was ended by a loss to the Michigan (formally Port Huron) Pirates.

2008

Finishing with a 7-5 record in 2008, the Mayhem were eliminated from the 2008 CIFL playoffs. The Mayhem players had already turned in their equipment for the year when it was announced that the defending CIFL champion Rochester Raiders (12-0) had been suspended by the league and had to forfeit their playoff spot. The Mayhem were invited to replace the former champs in the CIFL Atlantic Conference Western Division playoffs where they would face their conference foe Saginaw. The Mayhem gathered their players back together and headed to Saginaw to face the Sting. The playoff game went down to the wire where a goal-line stand by the Saginaw defense with only seconds left on the clock ended the Mayhem's season. The final score Sting 41 - Mayhem 34.

2009

The Mayhem finished the regular season with a 9-3 record in 2009. This was good enough to earn them the 2009 CIFL East Division Regular Season Title and the opportunity to host the East Division Championship Game. This was the third season in a row the Mayhem made the playoffs. Their opponent in the East Division Championship Game was the

Fort Wayne Freedom The Fort Wayne Freedom was a professional indoor football team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League, but originally began play in 2003 as an expansion team in the National ...

(6-5). Coming into the game the Freedom had been experiencing money problems and up until three days before the East Division Championship Game the Freedom still were not sure they were going to show up in Marion. But when game time came the Freedom, whom brought a smaller than usual roster that had not practiced regularly for a couple of weeks, played with more heart and determination then the Mayhem and won 49-40.

2010

On Christmas Eve 2009, the Mayhem announced they would not be playing in Marion in 2010, citing the economic downturn. According to the ownership of the team, "if the situation in Marion improves they may entertain the idea of returning the Mayhem to Marion". As part of the disbanding of the Mayhem organization, all players, coaches, and staff were transferred to the new CIFL team starting play in 2010, the Columbus Aces. However, in late January 2010 rumors of the potential folding of the Columbus Aces started circulating. Then a couple of weeks into February 2010 a new rumor began that the Mayhem would be returning to Marion. This was confirmed in the Marion Star when it was reported that the Marion Mayhem had been purchased by Cheyenne Sports Group and would return to Marion. On May 27, 2010 after starting the season 3-3 it was announced that the Marion Mayhem would forfeit the remaining games on their schedule due to financial issues. When the franchise folded, the players fled to other teams in the league. A majority of the players ended up with the Fort Wayne FireHawks, who would go on to lose to the

Wisconsin Wolfpack The Wisconsin Wolfpack was an American football franchise based in Wisconsin. The Wolfpack name and brand was used for two teams: an indoor football team in the Continental Indoor Football League and a traditional (outdoor) football team in the ...

in the playoffs. The Marion Mayhem were the last remaining original GLIFL team left in the CIFL.

Players of Note

Final roster

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Marion Mayhem players who have won GLIFL or CIFL awards.

Coaches of note

Head coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2010 Continental Indoor Football League season.''

Season-by-season results

References

{{CIFL 2006 establishments in Ohio 2010 disestablishments in Ohio