The Oklahoma Wranglers were a professional arena football team based in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. They were members of the Central (1996–1997) and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

(1998–2001) Division of the American Conference 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 previously played as the Memphis Pharaohs and Portland Forest Dragons. The team played at the Myriad, now known as the Cox Convention Center, in downtown

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

History

Memphis Pharaohs (1995–1996)

The Memphis Pharaohs played at the Pyramid Arena in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. The team was named the Pharaohs because the capital of

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

was

Memphis, Egypt Memphis (, ; Bohairic ; ), or Men-nefer, was the ancient capital of Inebu-hedj, the first Nome (Egypt), nome of Lower Egypt that was known as ''mḥw'' ("North"). Its ruins are located in the vicinity of the present-day village of Mit Rahina () ...

, and because they literally played their home games in a pyramid. Memphis saw a return of the sport with the Memphis Xplorers of

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 ...

Portland Forest Dragons (1997–1999)

After a winless 1996 season, the team relocated to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, where they played for three seasons as the Portland Forest Dragons. In years of 1997, 1998, and 1999, the Forest Dragons compiled records of 2–12, 4–10, and 7–7, never making the playoffs while in Portland. During the 1998 season the team featured receiver Oronde Gadsden, who won the league's Rookie of the Year award, and went on to sign with the NFL's

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

. Portland would see a return of the AFL in 2014 with the Portland Thunder, renamed the Portland Steel in 2016.

Oklahoma Wranglers (2000–2001)

After three seasons in Portland, the franchise relocated again, this time to

. The franchise moved after its owner attempted and failed to sell the team to an owner committed to keeping the team in Portland. After relocating, the team changed their name to the Oklahoma Wranglers. The team played in Oklahoma City for two seasons before being disbanded by the league after the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

season.

AFL return to Oklahoma City

The AFL's developmental league

welcomed the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz to play from 2004 to 2009. In 2010, nearly a decade after the Wranglers last played, the Yard Dawgz joined the newly reorganized AFL and played only one season before folding.

Season-by-season

Notable players

Arena Football Hall of Famers

Individual awards

All-Arena players

The following Wranglers players were named to All-Arena Teams: * WR/DB Darren Hughes (1), Brian Greene (1) * OL/DL Tom Briggs (1) * DS Mark Ricks (1) * K Daron Alcorn (2)

All-Ironman players

The following Wranglers players were named to All-Ironman Teams: * OL/DL Tom Briggs (1)

All-Rookie players

The following Wranglers players were named to All-Rookie Teams: * WR/LB Bobby McGowens * OS Oronde Gadsden

In popular culture

The character Colt Bennett portrayed by Ashton Kutcher in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series The Ranch says he was cut by the Portland Forest Dragons.

References

External links

* {{Defunct Arena Football League franchises 2000 establishments in Oklahoma 2001 disestablishments in Oklahoma American football teams established in 1995 American football teams disestablished in 2001