The West Michigan ThunderHawks were an indoor football team based in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. The team was most recently a member of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

. From their inception in 2007 until 2009, the ThunderHawks were known as 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 ...

and played at

L.C. Walker Arena The Trinity Health Arena is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Muskegon, Michigan, United States. It was built in 1960 in partnership with philanthropist and industrialist Louis Carlisle Walker at a cost of $2 million, and on October 27, 1960, was ...

(in their first two seasons they played in 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 ...

). In 2010, the team moved to Grand Rapids, MI. This is where the downfall of the team took place. The season started off hopeful with a 5–2 record. After week 7 the players were promised money at a later date as long as they played (money that they never received). Starting in 2010 the ThunderHawks played their home games at the DeltaPlex Arena, in nearby

Walker, Michigan Walker is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 23,537 at the 2010 census. Walker was originally organized as Walker Township in 1837 and later incorporated as a city in 1962. It is part of the Grand Rapid ...

. The Thunderhawks did not field a team in 2011.

Franchise history

2007

For their first season, the Thunder had Shane Fairfield as head coach. Fairfield was an accomplished local high school football coach, as he led the Holton Red Devils to a conference championship as well as two back to back district championships against Muskegon Catholic. Prior to that he coached his alma mater Muskegon Catholic Central, and Muskegon High School. For their first season with their brand-new identity, the head coach and defensive coordinator was

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

native, Terry Foster. Foster was once a star for the

Grand Valley State University Grand Valley State University (GVSU, GV, or Grand Valley) is a public university in Allendale, Michigan. It was established in 1960 as Grand Valley State College. Its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids. The universit ...

team, and played in 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 ...

for 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. ...

. In 2006, Foster was an assistant coach for the Rampage. Offensive coordinator Brent White almost mirrored Fairfield's path from Muskegon to Holton, playing for the Big Reds from 1999 to 2002 and then stepping off the field as assistant JV coach at Holton. Soon afterwards, he quickly became offensive coordinator for the Holton Red Devils, where he led his team to some record-breaking performances.

Schedule

Standings

2008

Schedule

Standings

2009

On January 18, 2009, Adam Pringle, a former player who started at Nose Guard, part-owner of the club, and son of the club's president, died from injuries sustained in a snowmobile accident.Muskegon Thunder rocked by Adam Pringle's death
MLive.com article. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.

2010

Season-by-season results

Notable players

Stephen Wasil Stephen "Steve" Wasil (born April 14, 1984) is a former Arena football quarterback who played for the Muskegon Thunder, Texas Copperheads, Albany Firebirds, Alabama Vipers, Kansas City Command and Tampa Bay Storm. He is currently the Offensive C ...

- QB *

Cullen Finnerty Cullen Finnerty (August 18, 1982 – May 27, 2013) was an American football quarterback. He was originally signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Grand Valley State. Finnerty led the ...

- QB

References

External links

Official website

Thunder's 2007 stats
{{CIFL 2007 establishments in Michigan 2010 disestablishments in Michigan American football teams established in 2007 American football teams disestablished in 2010 Sports in Grand Rapids, Michigan Defunct American football teams American football teams in Michigan Defunct sports teams in Michigan