The Chicago Bruisers were a professional

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

team based in Rosemont, Illinois. They were founded in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

as a charter member of 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 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL). They played their home games at Rosemont Horizon.

History

Founding (1987)

The Bruisers were an outgrowth of the Chicago Politicians, a team put together by Jim Foster to play an exhibition game to prove the feasibility of the sport the previous year. The team logo depicted a

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

. One of the founders of the Bruisers was former

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

linebacker and

WSCR WSCR (670 AM radio, AM) – branded 670 The Score – is a Commercial radio, commercial sports radio station, licensed to Chicago, Illinois, which serves the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WSCR is a clear-channel station wit ...

host Doug Buffone. The Bruisers were part of the 1987 "Showcase Game", losing to the Miami Vise by a score of 33–30. The Bruisers took a chance with a young team that averaged 25 years of age. The Bruisers' lost their first game in franchise history, 44–52 in overtime, to the Denver Dynamite. The Bruisers struggled in their second game, giving up 45 points in the first half before losing 23–60 to the Pittsburgh Gladiators. Despite getting off to a 2–3 start, the Bruisers had an opportunity to make it to ArenaBowl I with a win in the final week of the season against the Dynamite. The Bruisers however would lose 35–52. They finished with a record of 2–4 and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Bruisers' play-by-play announcer on radio and TV for all three of their seasons was Les Grobstein and their color commentator was Chicago Bears tight end Emery Moorehead.

Moss and ArenaBowl II (1988)

The Bruisers, like the Pittsburgh Gladiators but unlike the other two charter teams, the Denver Dynamite and the Washington Commandos, returned to play in the 1988 season. In February, the team hired

Perry Moss Perry Lee Moss (August 4, 1926 – August 7, 2014) was an American football player, coach, and executive. Moss played tailback at the University of Tulsa and quarterback at Illinois during the 1940s. As a Tulsa tailback, he was on the Orange ...

as the franchise's second coach. Moss also served as general manager. The team competed in ArenaBowl II that year, losing 24–13 to the Detroit Drive.

End of the Bruisers (1989)

The Bruisers would be disbanded after competing in the

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

season. The final two games they played were in exhibition games overseas against the Detroit Drive in

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and then

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in October 1989. The rights to the Bruisers name and history were purchased by Arena Football 1 in December 2009, along with the rest of the Arena Football League. There was a possibility that the AF1's new expansion team in Chicago would adopt the Bruisers name, but said team instead decided to adopt the identity of the Chicago Rush instead. Since the Rush and the Bruisers never played at the same time, it was conceivable that the new Rush would adopt the history of both the old Rush and the Bruisers.

2011 Honors

In 2011, the Chicago Rush celebrated its 10th season in the

and honored the Chicago Bruisers. In the Rush home opener on March 18, 2011 against the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...

, Chicago wore black uniforms similar to the Bruisers with a patch featuring the original Bruiser Bulldog. In the game, Chicago won the game 62–28. The Rush also adopted a real

from a local Chicago pound that can be seen during games around the arena. Starting during the 2011 season, the Chicago Rush began wearing black uniforms more often over their traditional navy home jerseys the team has worn from 2001 to 2010 to honor the Bruisers.

Notable players

Final roster

Arena Football League Hall of Famers

Individual awards

Chicago Bruisers All-Arena players

The following Bruisers players have been named to All-Arena Teams: * QB Ben Bennett (1) * FB/LB Billy Stone (1) * WR/DB Reggie Smith (2), Carl Aikens, Jr. (2) * OL/DL Brent Johnson (1), Jeff Faulkner (1), Osia Lewis (1) * DS Durwood Roquemore (1) * K Nick Mike-Mayer (1), Marco Morales (1)

Other notable players

* QB Jimbo Fisher (1988) – Threw just four passes for the Bruisers. He later served as the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies from 2018 to 2023.

Notable coaches

Head coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 1989 Arena Football League season.''

Season-by-season

, - , 1987 , , 2 , , 4 , , 0 , , 3rd , , -- , - , 1988 , , 10 , , 1 , , 1 , , 1st , , Won Semifinals (

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

29-16)
Lost ArenaBowl II (

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

23-14) , - , 1989 , , 1 , , 3 , , 0 , , 4th , , Lost Week 1 (

43-10) , - !Totals , , 13 , , 8 , , 1 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

Media

The Chicago Bruisers are also featured in the film '' Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects'', directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson. The game shown sees the Bruisers visit the Los Angeles Cobras. It was released in early 1989. *The team appeared on the game '' EA Sports Arena Football'' as a hidden bonus team.

References

External links

Chicago Bruisers at ArenaFan.com
{{Defunct Arena Football League franchises American football teams established in 1987 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1989 Rosemont, Illinois Bruisers Defunct Arena Football League teams American football teams in Illinois 1987 establishments in Illinois 1989 disestablishments in Illinois