Post by Free Agent Fan on Aug 14, 2007 17:37:10 GMT -5
www.courierpress.com/news/2007/aug/14/no-headline---14c01bluecats/
Fans mourn for their team
By GORDON ENGELHARDT (Contact)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Wearing Odest Shannon's No. 11 jersey, Jim Vollmer was decked out in style on Monday night for the final meeting of the FinHeads, the Evansville BlueCats' booster club, at Turoni's on Main Street.
"It's a sad day for football in general and the BlueCats and FinHeads," said Vollmer, the FinHeads' treasurer. "We are guys and gals who have been coming from the first game of the first season (2003). We're football lovers. It's something to do in the spring."
A single BlueCats' helmet sat on the FinHeads' table in the family room of Turoni's, serving as a reminder of the team's demise.
The BlueCats never had a winning season in their five years of existence and their average crowds of 2,100 to 2,500 fans the past three seasons wasn't enough to keep the franchise afloat. The BlueCats owners, the Voliva family, were never able to turn a profit. So they ceased operations, announcing on Aug. 1 they would put the United Indoor Football team up for sale.
"It's a sad note that the community didn't support a minor league professional football team," Vollmer said.
Although Evansville never finished above .500, the team qualified for the UIF playoffs in 2005 and '06. Vollmer is confident the BlueCats would have drawn better if they had been more successful on the field.
FinHeads president Mike Horn said it's a shame that the curious crowds of more than 7,000 who came to watch the first few BlueCats' games in 2003 didn't come back to watch far more talented teams in the succeeding seasons.
"It's been said before that part of the problem here was what we can draw (for players) from around the area," Horn said.
While there is no area football college team, the BlueCats did have a local and area presence on the field. Levron Williams, a former Bosse High School and Indiana University standout, and Sean Bennett, a Harrison, University of Evansville, NFL and Canadian Football League player, were both members of the BlueCats. Dale Jennings of Vincennes played all five seasons and Tarron Acuff of Mount Vernon also saw action for Evansville.
"I wasn't convinced that we had to have local talent to be successful," Horn said. "Personally I'm really disappointed. I was a UE grad back in the 1970s. I played for coach (Jim) Byers and we haven't had any (college or pro) football (since the Aces' football program disbanded in 1997).
"I'd like more options than high school football, but that's the way it is. Times are changing as far as what people want to do with their time and what their interests are."
Horn said what the BlueCats' owners had to deal with financially was like wadding up a $100 bill and watching it burn. "They gave it their best shot," Horn said.
Sue Ham took exception to the perceived notion that only young people liked the freewheeling indoor game.
"There are a lot of retired people who liked coming to the games," Ham said. "That was not true at all."
Horn said there was about $2,000 left in the FinHeads' coffers. The boosters donated about $500 worth of toys and BlueCats memorabilia to "C.J.'s Bus," which travels to Midwest disaster sites to comfort children. They plan to donate the rest of the money to various charities.
