I started a flag football league back in the Fall of 1990 in my hometown of Vanlue, OH with little more than an idea and some ambitious friends.  Little did I know that over the course of ten years the tiny league would continue to expand and evolve to what eventually became known as the Findlay Area Flag Football League.  Moving the league from roots in Vanlue to Findlay not only marked the league’s expansion, but it also signified the appeal of the sport of flag football throughout the Findlay and surrounding city markets.  By my own estimates, the league grew at it’s apex to proportions that included approximately 600 young men and women coming from various places around Northwest Ohio.  Simply put, the league was started from my love of the game of football.  When I graduated from Bowling Green State University and returned to my hometown area the idea for a league never entered my mind.  Flag football was an opportunity to continue to play a sport that I loved with the idea that I would still be able to go into work on Monday mornings.  Looking back, I would have to say that one of the most rewarding things that came out of my experience with the league aside from the games was the opportunity to meet and spend quality time with so many interesting people. 

I would like to thank Bill Pahl for inducting me into the league’s Hall of Fame and for recognizing the league’s prior accomplishments.  The league was always about people and if there is any advice that I would pass along to players today would be to keep putting people first because without quality people, the league cannot exist.  I would like to recognize a few special individuals who helped me in so many countless ways throughout the years.  I could not have accomplished my goals without their help.  Jason Thiel, Jeff Kloepfer, Dan Watson, Doug Thomas, Steve Baum, Chip Garnes, Mike Cihon, and Kenn Trout.

Brian Thiel

League Director/Player

Findlay Area Flag Football League

1990-2000