af2 Inagural Hall of Fame Class Includes Former Yard Dawg
Published on August 17, 2009 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz News Release
OKLAHOMA CITY - The arenafootball2 league announced today the inaugural Hall of Fame class of 10 inductees, including former Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz Quarterback Craig Strickland. The group will be honored this Saturday, August 22 at the 2009 ArenaCup Championship in Las Vegas.
The final 10 includes four players, three coaches, two owners and one at-large contributor:
PLAYERS (4)
Mitch Allner
Kevin Prentiss
Matt Sauk
Craig Strickland
COACHES (3)
Skip Foster
Kevin Guy
Rich Ingold
OWNERS (2)
Jim Foster
Dan Newman
AT LARGE (1)
Jerry Kurz
The above list of 10 was trimmed from 15 by way of a final vote among the af2 Hall of Fame Committee, media and fans. Player nominations included only retired athletes while coach nominations included only those with three or more years of af2 tenure.
"I consider myself very fortunate to have been a part of this league for the past five years," said af2 President Jerry Kurz. "I'm also extremely grateful and humbled by my inclusion in the very first Hall of Fame class. It's an impressive list of individuals who have achieved great things in the af2 and are a big part of our league's 10-year history."
Craig Strickland played six seasons in the af2, finishing his career in 2006 with the Yard Dawgz as the league's all-time leader in pass completions (1,736), pass attempts (3,029), passing yards (22,688), and touchdown (481). He was the first player to reach 20,000 career passing yards in league history. Earlier this season, Strickland was named as the top Quarterback of all-time by the af2. In 2003, he won the ArenaCup Championship with the Tulsa Talons in 2003 and was named the ArenaCup MVP in that game. Strickland was named to the All-af2 First Team in 2004 and All-af2 Second Team in 2003 and 2006.
As a member of the Yard Dawgz, Strickland led the team to a 31-17 regular season record and three playoff appearances. He holds Yard Dawgz career passing records in both yards (12,179), and touchdowns (270). Strickland also holds the single season touchdown record with 98 TDs. Strickland's #9 jersey was retired by the Yard Dawgz on July 19, 2008. His number remains the only retired jersey for Oklahoma City to date. Strickland is a graduate of Carl Albert High School in Midwest City. He spent two seasons at Oklahoma State University followed by stints at Butler County Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso.
This Saturday, August 22, the American Conference Champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (16-3) take on the National Conference Champion Spokane Shock (18-1) in ArenaCup X at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game kicks off at approximately 7:00 p.m. PST, 10:00 EST. Tickets to ArenaCup X are available by visiting www.orleansarena.com, all Coast Casinos box offices, The Galleria at Sunset or by calling 800-675-3267 and mention code: ARENACUP.
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