Utah Blaze Information & Utah Blaze Links at HealthHaven.com

	Utah Blaze
Conference	American
Division	Western
Year founded	2006
Home arena	Delta Field at EnergySolutions Arena
City, State	Salt Lake City, Utah
Head Coach	Ron James
ArenaBowl championships	None
Conference titles	None
Division titles	None
Wild Card berths	3:; 2006, 2007, 2008
Owner(s)	John and Robert Garff,; Brett Hopkins
Current status	Inactive
	Current uniform

The Utah Blaze is an Arena Football League team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They began play as a 2006 expansion team. They are currently coached by Ron James.

[edit] History

The Utah Blaze began play on January 28, 2006, playing the San Jose SaberCats on the road. The team is coached by longtime Arizona Rattlers coach Danny White and plays its home games at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, home of the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz. The team is owned by automobile businessmen John Garff, Robert Garff, and Brett Hopkins.

On Saturday, February 11, 2006, the Blaze lost to the New York Dragons 84-81 in the second highest scoring game in the history of the Arena Football League. The Blaze's performance was also the second highest score for a losing team in the AFL's 20-year history.

In their first season, the Blaze had the highest average attendance in the Arena Football League, with 15,498 fans per game. They narrowly edged out Philadelphia's 15,463. Prior to the 2006 season, the Blaze had said EnergySolutions Arena held 13,000 fans due to poor sight lines in most of the building. After 16,705 people attended the home opener, that figure was changed to near 15,000. The Blaze topped that figure 5 of the 8 games their first season.

Despite a losing record of 7-9, the Blaze got into the playoffs as an AC Wildcard (the conference's #6 seed). Unfortunately, the newly formed Blaze were given the boot as they lost to the Arizona Rattlers with a final score of 57-34.

The team's mascot is a dalmatian named "Chief". The Blaze were winners of the league"Commissioners Award" in 2006 and won the "Support Staff of the Year Award" in back-to-back seasons (2006-2007), an award that goes to the league's best training and equipment staff, which was headed by Hagen Featherstone and Kevin Seamans in the inaugural season and Kevin Seamans and Darin Featherstone in 2007.^[1]

During the 2008 season the Blaze became the first, and only, professional football team to record three 1,500 yard receivers in the same season, with Huey Whittaker, J.J. McKelvey, and Aaron Boone.^[2] This also marks the first time three players each caught 120 or more passes in the same season.

Name	Rec	Yards	TDs
Huey Whittaker	126	1,541	32
J.J. McKelvey	121	1,529	38
Aaron Boone	135	1,527	23

[edit] Season-by-season

Main article: List of Utah Blaze seasons

[edit] Retired Numbers

3 Justin Skaggs - WR/LB - March 29, 2008 (died of brain tumor in 2007)

[edit] AFL Hall of Famers

Danny White

[edit] Coaches

Head coach	Tenure	Regular season record (W-L)	Post season record (W-L)	Most recent coaching staff	Notes
Danny White	2006 - 2008	21-27	0-3	DL / LB Coach: Lindsay Hassell DC / Dir. Player Personnel: Ron James ST Coordinator / Dir. Football Ops.: Scott Lieber	Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback. 1993 Coach of the Year 1993 All-Star game - coach Arena Football League Hall of Fame Class of 2002.
Ron James	2009	0-0	0-0	OC: Tony Kimbrough GM / DC: Jeff Russell ST Coordinator / Dir. Football Ops.: Scott Lieber	DC / Director of Player Personnel (2007 - 2008).

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

[0] UtahBlaze.com - Fuel The Fire

[1] Arena Football 2008 Receiving Stats

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