Football Hall of Fame

Moving up to the higher-level af2, the 2002 Pirates won the franchise’s second championship, making Peoria the first city to win professional arena/indoor football titles in two different leagues.

Coached by Bruce Cowdrey, the Pirates used several former NFL players throughout the season to finish with a 15-5 record. Among individual highlights during the season, QB Matt Pike threw eight TD passes in a playoff win at Birmingham and Lincoln Dupree set league records with four interceptions in one game and nine kick returns for touchdowns.

After winning the Midwest Division, the Pirates defeated Wichita, San Diego and Birmingham in the playoffs to reach the championship game, ArenaCup III. Dupree returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to spark a 29-point fourth-quarter run that lifted the Pirates past the Florida Firecats,  65-47, for the championship before a crowd of 7,552 at Carver Arena.