The Rage were founded as an expansion team on October 10, 1991, by motion picture financier Allen J. Schwalb, who backed some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s including
Rambo,
Rain Man,
Moonstruck and
Thelma & Louise. They competed in the
1992–
1996 seasons. They played their home games at the
Charlotte Coliseum, then also home of the
Charlotte Hornets of the
National Basketball Association from 1992 to 1994 and again in 1996. They played the 1995 season at the much smaller
Independence Arena. The team made the playoffs in 1993 and 1994, losing both times to the
Arizona Rattlers in the first round. They are best known for signing former
Buffalo Bills offensive lineman
Joe DeLamielleure, who played only a handful of games in 1992 before retiring from football for good. He was the only member of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame to have played in the AFL, a distinction that ended in 2017 when
Kurt Warner, a three-year veteran of the AFL, was inducted. Their
logo consisted of an enraged bull which was both snorting fire and surrounded by it. The team was discontinued after the completion of the 1996 season. The AFL would return to the Coliseum for the 2003
Arena Football League season when the
Carolina Cobras moved from
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Season-by-season ==Players==