Editor's Note: The author, Jason Dixon, served on the Storm radio broadcast team for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2010 until he took a position as a program director for a sports radio station in Raleigh, NC. He first joined the Storm as a producer and spotter for game day radio broadcasts in 1993. Dixon continues to stay involved with the team filling in on game broadcasts from time to time, as well as providing content for tampabaystorm.com. During this Silver Anniversary season, Dixon will revisit Arena Football memories from during his time with the team.This week the Storm takes on The Pittsburgh Power. Of course the Storm was born in The Steel City as The Pittsburgh Gladiators before moving to Tampa Bay in 1991.
The Storm has been a franchise that has always embraced its heritage, even when it comes to the infamous Zubas uniforms.
The Storm had transitioned out of the red, white and blue Zubas and into their Blue, Black and Silver color scheme for the 1993 season. Late in the year the Storm were hosting the lowly Miami Hooters at The Thunderdome in St. Petersburg. The Storm were flat throughout the first half and faced a deficit going into the halftime break.
As the halftime clock wound down, there was not the usual trickle of players coming out on the field to warm up. One could only assume that the team was getting the riot act read to them by head coach Larry Kuharich.
That was not the case at all. Owner Bob Gries had planned a little wardrobe change for the Storm. The team came out of the tunnel rocking the red, white and blue Zubas. The 19 thousand plus at the Dome went nuts.
The team fed off that energy. They put together a great half of football. Tampa Bay scored a total of nine touchdowns on the way to putting up a season-high 65 points in a 65-46 win over Miami.