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Inaugural Season
The original Fort Wayne Freedom was founded by Richard Coffey. Operating
under Indiana Indoor Football, the Freedom joined the National Indoor Football League. Rich Huff was named head coach and
the team played its first game at the newly refurbished Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on March 22, 2003. In front
of a reported crowd of 9,162 the Freedom battled a fellow expansion team, the Evansville BlueCats down to the wire for a hard-fought
41-40 victory. This was the first of two consecutive victories to open the season for Fort Wayne, but soon found
itself falling under .500 with three consecutive losses. Two of them at the hands of eventual champion Ohio Valley and one
to the Tenn. Riverhawks on the road. After the losses, Fort Wayne responded by winning five straight in impressive
fashion. The Freedom outscored their opponent's 301 - 98 during that span to put themselves back in the playoff
hunt with a 7-3 record. With four games remaining and the next three on the road, Fort Wayne looked to be in solid
shape heading to Sioux Falls and Myrtle Beach, both of whom had lost earlier in the season to Fort Wayne. In both
cases the Storm and Stingrays avenged their earlier losses by winning at home 51-49 and 50-41 respectively. Those losses put
Fort Wayne in a position of needing to sweep Lexington over the final two games. The Horsemen quickly
ended any playoff hopes by downing Fort Wayne 59-43 in Rupp Arena. Fort Wayne went onto beat Lexington the following
week at home to finish 8-6.
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| The Fort Wayne Freedom introductions opening night. |
Top five in tackles for 2003
Pat Cavanaugh .....114
Rachman Crable....97
Lewis Carter..........91
Andrae Brooks......84
Bobby Petras........53
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| Opening night at the War Memorial Coliseum. |
Game-by-Game results
| Date |
Opponent |
Result |
Record |
| Mar 22, 03 |
vs, E-ville BlueCats |
W 41-40 |
(1-0) |
| Mar 29, 03 |
vs. Tupelo Fire Ants |
W 57-22 |
(2-0) |
| Apr 12, 03 |
vs. OV Greyhounds |
L 41-54 |
(2-1) |
| Apr 19, 03 |
at Tenn. Riverhawks |
L 48-65 |
(2-2) |
| Apr 25, 03 |
at OV Greyhounds |
L 42-48 |
(2-3) |
| May 03, 03 |
vs. SFalls Storm |
W 55-19 |
(3-3) |
| May 17, 03 |
vs. MB Stingrays |
W 51-25 |
(4-3) |
| May 24, 03 |
at E-ville BlueCats |
W 62-33 |
(5-3) |
| May 30, 03 |
at Lac. Night Train |
W 59-06 |
(6-3) |
| Jun 06, 03 |
vs. Tenn. Riverhawks |
W 74-15 |
(7-3) |
| Jun 14, 03 |
at SFalls Storm |
L 49-52 |
(7-4) |
| Jun 21, 03 |
at MB Stingrays |
L 41-50 |
(7-5) |
| Jun 26, 03 |
at Lex. Horsemen |
L 43-59 |
(7-6) |
| Jul 05, 03 |
vs. Lex. Horsemen |
W 76-62 |
(8-6) |
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Head Coach - Rich Huff
A graduate of Yale University where he starred in football earning All-Ivy League
honors, Huff comes to his first head coaching job after stints as an assistant at Plymouth State and Brown. Huff also played
in the World League and the AFL.
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| Andrae Brooks - DB from Eastern Michigan |
Fort Wayne averaged 7,760 fans per game.
Freedom finished 2nd in overall attendence and had an opening night crowd of 9,162.
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| Fans welcome indoor football to Fort Wayne. |
Top Players
Quarter Backs - Quarterback time was spilt between two very talented QB's in Antoine Taylor and Julian
Reese. Taylor played in eight games with a passer rating 103.12 and completed 94 of 160 pass attempts
for 1180 yards and 30 TD's.
Reese played in nine games where he connected on 108 of his 187 attempts and 33 TD's. Julian also racked up
1375 yards through the air and added 340 yards on the ground, including seven rushing TD's.
Running Backs - Rocky Harvey instantly became a crowd favorite playing all 14 games and rushing
for a team high 807yards on 206 carries. With chants of "Rocky" reigning through the air, Harvey scored 25 rushing
TD's and added six more through the air.
Recievers - Jeremy Dutcher led all Fort Wayne receivers during his 14 starts with 68 catches
for 980 yards. Jeremy averaged 14.4 yards per catch with a long of 49 yards and 30 TD's for
a season average of 70.0 yards per game.
2003 Inaugural Season
For complete stats and paticipation for the 2003 season please click
here.
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