The 1987 Arena Football League season was the 1st season, also known as the "demonstration season", of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Denver Dynamite

Denver Dynamite (arena football)

This article is about the former Arena Football League franchise. For the Professional Arena Soccer League soccer club, see Denver Dynamite ....

, who defeated the Pittsburgh Gladiators

Tampa Bay Storm

The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa....

 in ArenaBowl I

ArenaBowl I

Arena Bowl '87 was the Arena Football League's very first Arena Bowl. In this match-up, it pitted the #2 Denver Dynamite against the #1 Pittsburgh Gladiators...

.

Events

The Arena Football League played its inaugural season in 1987 with four teams to introduce the sport to the American public. The Chicago Bruisers

Chicago Bruisers

The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. They played their home games in the former Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena, home of the Chicago Rush.-History:...

, Denver Dynamite

Denver Dynamite (arena football)

This article is about the former Arena Football League franchise. For the Professional Arena Soccer League soccer club, see Denver Dynamite ....

, Pittsburgh Gladiators

Tampa Bay Storm

The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa....

 and Washington Commandos

Washington Commandos

The Washington Commandos were an Arena football team that operated from 1987 to 1990.-Inaugural season :The Washington Commandos were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the initial four-team "demonstration season" of 1987....

 comprised the 4-team league that ran a schedule from mid-June to August 1. The AFL drew an impressive average of 11,000 fans per game and TV coverage on ESPN. The four teams Pittsburgh (12,856), Denver (12,098/game), Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 (11,525) and Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 (8,638) drew fairly well in their respective facilities. Denver played out of the old McNichols Arena

McNichols Sports Arena

McNichols Sports Arena was an indoor arena, in Denver, Colorado, USA, adjacent to Mile High Stadium. Completed in 1975, at a cost of $10 million, it seated 16,061, for hockey games, 17,171, for basketball games and contained 27 luxury suites, which were installed as part of the 1986 renovation. It...

, Pittsburgh in the Civic Arena, Washington at the Capital Centre

Capital Centre

The Capital Centre was an indoor arena located in Landover, Maryland, unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland; a suburb of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1973, the arena sat 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey....

 in Landover, Maryland

Landover, Maryland

Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...

 and Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon

Allstate Arena

Allstate Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in Rosemont, Illinois.It is home to the Chicago Rush, of the Arena Football League, DePaul University's men's basketball team, the Chicago Wolves, of the AHL, and the Chicago Sky, of the WNBA.It is located near the intersection of Mannheim Road and...

 in Rosemont, Illinois

Rosemont, Illinois

Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that...

.

The AFL kicked off on Friday, June 19, 1987 when the host Pittsburgh Gladiators hosted the Washington Commandos at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh before 12,177 fans.

AFL football officially began at 7:37 pm EDT that night when Washington's Dale Castro

Dale Castro

Dale Castro is an American former football player and coach. He played college football at the University of Maryland as a record-setting placekicker. He had originally intended to play college baseball, and joined the football team as a walk-on...

 kicked the ball into the slack net (the mesh between the field goal posts) resulting in a touchback. The Gladiators took over on their own five-yard line. The very first play from scrimmage saw Pittsburgh quarterback Mike Hohensee

Mike Hohensee

Michael Louis Hohensee is an American Arena Football League coach who is regarded as one of the best coaches in the history of the AFL. He was hired to guide the Soul's resumption of play after a two-year hiatus starting in 2011. He resigned on July 27, 2011...

 hit WR/DB Russell Hairston on a 45-yard touchdown pass; the play would set the tone for the league's wide-open, high-scoring mandate that the game's inventor, James Foster, envisioned. The Gladiators, featuring future Arena Football League Hall of Famer Craig Walls playing against his brother Kendall, went on to win the game 48-46.

The head coaches of the four AFL teams in 1987 were former CFL

Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

 great Ray Jauch

Ray Jauch

Ray Jauch was a coach in the Canadian Football League, USFL, and the Arena Football League.A star high school athlete, Jauch played running back for the 1958 National Champion University of Iowa Hawkeyes, leading the nation in yards per carry. He played in the 1959 Rose Bowl against California...

 (Chicago), future longtime AFL coach Tim Marcum (Denver), Joe Haering (Pittsburgh) and Bob Harrison (Washington).

Some of the notable performers for Chicago in 1987 included QB Mike Hold, FB/LB Billy Stone

Billy Stone

William John Stone was a professional American football halfback and defensive back in the All-America Football Conference and the National Football League. He attended Bradley University....

, WR Reggie "Super Gnat" Smith, DB Durwood Roquemore

Durwood Roquemore

Durwood Roquemore Durwood Roquemore Durwood Roquemore (born January 19, 1960 in Dallas, Texas is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League, United States Football League, and Arena Football League. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 1982...

 and future NFL head coach QB Sean Payton

Sean Payton

Patrick Sean Payton is the current head coach of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. Payton was a quarterback at Naperville Central High School and Eastern Illinois University and played professionally in 1987 and 1988...

, who saw limited action during the season.

The Denver Dynamite would also featured a backup QB that would go onto an NFL head coaching career: Marty Mornhinweg

Marty Mornhinweg

Marty Mornhinweg is the offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, having joined the Eagles in 2003 as the assistant head coach. He was named offensive coordinator on January 6, 2006, after the Eagles previous offensive coordinator Brad Childress was hired as the head coach of the...

, who backed up Whit Taylor

Whit Taylor

Whit Taylor , an assistant principal and athletic director at a Tennessee high school, is most widely known for his college and professional football careers. He was an all-Southeastern Conference quarterback for the Vanderbilt from 1979–1982, a period which included a trip to the 1982 Hall of Fame...

. Also on the Dynamite roster that year was FB/LB Rob DeVita, WR Durrell Taylor and future AFL Hall of Fame WR Gary Mullen

Gary Mullen

One Night of Queen is a touring two-hour stage show, paying tribute to the stage theatrics and music of Queen. It is performed by Gary Mullen and The Works, a five piece band headed by Stars in Their Eyes winner and Freddie Mercury sound-alike Gary Mullen on vocals, with Davie Brockett on Guitar,...

.

Continuing the theme of quarterbacks who would go onto future coaching opportunities was Gladiators QB Mike Hohensee, who yielded the starting role with Pittsburgh early in the season to Brendan Folmar. Hohensee would return to the ArenaBowl nineteen years later in July 2006 by capturing ArenaBowl XX

ArenaBowl XX

ArenaBowl XX, held on Sunday, June 11, 2006, was played to determine the championship of the 2006 season of the Arena Football League. For the second consecutive year, the game was played at the neutral site of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It pitted the National Conference...

 as head coach of the Chicago Rush

Chicago Rush

The Chicago Rush is an arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. It is a member of the Central Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League. The team was founded in 2001 and is co-owned by Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame player and coach.The Rush have qualified for the...

.

Gladiators WR Russell Hairston had a 67 catches in 1987, good for 1,126 yards and 18 touchdowns (in just 6 games) and would go onto win AFL MVP honors. Also notable on the Pittsburgh roster was DB Mike Stoops

Mike Stoops

Michael J. Stoops is a former American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the University of Arizona, a position he held from 2003 until his firing in 2011. Stoops previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and the...

 who went onto to coach the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

 in 2005.

The Washington Commandos featured a high-scoring unit that had WR Dwayne Dixon

Dwayne Dixon

Dwayne Keith Dixon is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League and Arena Football League...

 (68 catches, 11 TDs) and QB Rich Ingold

Rich Ingold

Richard Ingold is a former Arena Football League quarterback who played with the Washington Commandos, and the Detroit Drive. He holds the all-time record for most career head coaching wins in af2 history, coaching the Quad City Steamwheelers and, more recently, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton...

, who led the AFL with 29 TD passes and 1,726 yards.

ArenaBowl I

ArenaBowl I

Arena Bowl '87 was the Arena Football League's very first Arena Bowl. In this match-up, it pitted the #2 Denver Dynamite against the #1 Pittsburgh Gladiators...

 that year featured the Gladiators hosting the Dynamite at Civic Arena; the Pittsburgh fans, however, went home disappointed as the Dynamite walked away with a 45-16 victory, a win that was the first of seven ArenaBowl titles for Denver coach Tim Marcum.

Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	Percentage	PF	PA
Pittsburgh Gladiators Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa....	4	2	0.667	268	199
Denver Dynamite Denver Dynamite (arena football) This article is about the former Arena Football League franchise. For the Professional Arena Soccer League soccer club, see Denver Dynamite ....	4	2	0.667	261	252
Washington Commandos Washington Commandos The Washington Commandos were an Arena football team that operated from 1987 to 1990.-Inaugural season :The Washington Commandos were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the initial four-team "demonstration season" of 1987....	2	4	0.333	288	273
Chicago Bruisers Chicago Bruisers The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. They played their home games in the former Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena, home of the Chicago Rush.-History:...	2	4	0.333	217	310

• Green indicates clinched playoff berth
• Purple indicates best regular season record

Playoffs

# of Teams	Expansion Teams	Folded Teams	Suspended Teams	Returning Teams	Relocated Teams	Name Changes
4	Chicago Bruisers Chicago Bruisers The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. They played their home games in the former Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena, home of the Chicago Rush.-History:... Denver Dynamite Denver Dynamite (arena football) This article is about the former Arena Football League franchise. For the Professional Arena Soccer League soccer club, see Denver Dynamite .... Pittsburgh Gladiators Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.... Washington Commandos Washington Commandos The Washington Commandos were an Arena football team that operated from 1987 to 1990.-Inaugural season :The Washington Commandos were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the initial four-team "demonstration season" of 1987....

External links