Bob Andelman's Article Archives: Tampa Bay Storm Founding Owner Bob Gries (Tampa Bay Life)

Tampa Bay Storm uniform image via Wikipedia

(The following story appeared in Tampa Bay Life in 1990.)

If the Buccaneers ever get into a playoff game, it's unlikely you'll ever see owners Hugh, Gay or Hugh Jr. hanging around the ticket line, greeting fans and chatting amiably. But that's exactly what Tampa Bay Storm owner Bob Gries did last summer at the Florida Suncoast Dome box office. He surprised arena football fans - many of whom camped out overnight - by introducing himself and saying hello as they reached the front of the line. "It's the little things," says the 34-year-old team owner. (He even loaned $3 to the first person in line when the fan came up short.) Gries is a different breed of sports franchise owner - as different as the 50-yard indoor arena game is from the 100-yard outdoor NFL contest. But not too different; his family owns 43 percent of the Cleveland Browns. When his Pittsburgh Gladiators averaged just 2,000 fans per game in 1990 - "I lost half a million dollars in eight weeks" - he relocated to Tampa Bay. The Storm lost its opening game but electrified over 10,000 curious fans, who multiplied to a league record of 25,000 as the season rolled on. Every football fan in town soon knew the touchdown combination of quarterback Jay Gruden and receiver Stevie Thomas - both local products - who led the wildly outfitted Storm to the arenaball championship in August. "I think what surprised me was how the whole community got caught up in it," says Gries. "George Steinbrenner called me the last week of the season - he needed 10 more tickets." A video of highlights from the winning season, "Taking Tampa Bay By Storm," is now on sale in local stores. Most of the squad returns this year under new head coach Larry Kuharich. Meanwhile, Gries - who sold his New York-based computer software company last fall to concentrate on the Storm - will bring another offbeat sports franchise to Tampa this summer: Team Tennis. His Tampa Bay ???????? will play matches at the Tampa Convention Center. "This is really Arena Football in tennis shorts," he says with a grin. "Same principle: just go out and win." Gries wants one more franchise, though. He'd like to bring an NBA basketball team to town.