The Detroit Fury were an

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

Auburn Hills, Michigan Auburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Auburn Hills is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 24,360. Auburn Hills is home to ...

. They were a member of the original

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 ...

from 2001 to 2004 and played at

The Palace of Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly known as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Shock of the ...

, also the home of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. They were the first team to play in Detroit since the Detroit Drive, four-time

ArenaBowl The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...

champions, before that franchise relocated to

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, and were rebranded the

Massachusetts Marauders The Massachusetts Marauders were a professional arena football team that was based in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1994. The team was established in Detroit in 1988, as the Detroit ...

. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, who owned the Pistons, along with William Clay Ford, Jr., son of the owner of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

History

Eight years after the departure of the Detroit Drive to Massachusetts,

owner Bill Davidson and William Clay Ford, Jr., son of

owner William Clay Ford, Sr., came together to purchase an expansion franchise in the original

. A name the team contest was held in 2000 to generate public interest with over 3000 submissions. The name Detroit Fury, submitted by teenager Todd Nye, was selected as the winner. The Fury played their home games at

, home of the Pistons at the time and had three coaches in four years: legendary coach

Mouse Davis Darrel "Mouse" Davis (born September 6, 1932) is a retired American football coach and former player. A veteran coach at the high school, college, and professional levels, he last coached with Jerry Glanville at Portland State University and with ...

, former

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

and XFL head coach Al Luginbill and his son

Tom Luginbill Tom Luginbill (born January 3, 1974) is a former professional American football quarterback and coach. He is currently a college football analyst for ESPN. Playing career Luginbill was the starting quarterback for three colleges over his f ...

, who coached the

Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

. The Fury made the playoffs in their first season and again in 2003. Unfortunately, the Fury did not have the same success as its predecessors before them. The owners were unable to find a buyer for their franchise and, on September 20, 2004, the AFL announced the termination of this franchise, and that its players would be made available to the remaining teams in a

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when an existing team folds or is merged into another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in closed leagues and are in ...

Season-by-season

, - , 2001 , , 7 , , 7 , , 0 , , , , Lost Wild Card Round (

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

) 52–44 , - , 2002 , , 1 , , 13 , , 0 , , , , , - , 2003 , , 8 , , 8 , , 0 , , , , Won Wild Card Round (

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

) 55–54
Lost Quarterfinals (

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

) 52–48 , - , 2004 , , 5 , , 11 , , 0 , , , , , - !Totals , , 22 , , 41 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

Notable players

Individual awards

All-Arena players

The following Fury players were named to

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

Teams: OL/DL R-Kal Truluck (2)

All-Rookie players

The following Fury players were named to All-Rookie Teams: OL/DL R-Kal Truluck

References

External links

Detroit Fury at ArenaFan.com
American football teams in Michigan 2001 establishments in Michigan {{Michigan-sport-team-stub