Nashville to Peoria: The design mind behind a Rivermen rebrand to the Illinois Flying Carp

PEORIA — Tyler Earles is no fish out of water when it comes to creating re-branding themes for professional teams in minor league hockey, baseball, NASCAR and more.

The architect of the Illinois Flying Carp drove in from Nashville to see the SPHL team reel in another victory over Quad City, 3-2, before 2,644 on Friday at Carver Arena.

"I'm working full-time out of Nashville," Earles said. "Live the dream. Whatever the team and the fans want, I can do it. I'm having a blast with this, and it's a building business. It was so cool tonight to see that Carp logo on merchandise people were wearing in the building.

"I had to buy something for my nephew. Especially when he said, 'My uncle made that.' "

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The Peoria Rivermen, in their 41st season, became the Flying Carp for one night, re-branding along the same lines the Peoria Chiefs baseball team has done in recent seasons.

It's a concept gaining in popularity in minor league pro sports.

Flying Carp, Orange Barrels, Tenderloins and Distillers

The baseball Chiefs, in recent years, have played games as the Peoria Orange Barrels, the Peoria Pork Tenderloins and the Peoria Distillers, with special logos and jerseys for those games, and merchandise available for each.

The Rivermen sold 75 Flying Carp jerseys, auctioned their game-worn versions after Friday's win and sold 120 Carp ballcaps, countless pucks and more.

That's a win for the team as big as the one on the ice.

"We sold it out for the most part," Rivermen co-owner Bart Rogers said. "We pride ourselves in being unique in our promotions. That stayed on pace with all our specialty jerseys. It's been incredible.

"In the grand scheme of things we'll continue the Carp for a night next year and choose a Navy Blue color scheme for their jersey. And we might do a second re-brand night, too."

How the Flying Carp caught on

Rogers watched as Earles designed re-brand logos and jerseys for SPHL teams Huntsville, Fayetteville, Knoxville and saw how well they were marketed.

"Bart called me and had interest," said Earles, 32. "We brainstormed some names, they really liked the idea of the Carp, everyone in the Peoria area knows about them. Did some preliminary sketches … it took about a month to finish.

"We can get a jersey turned around in a month. Once the designs are finalized, we ship everything off to a jersey manufacturer (OT Sports) which produces them. Numbers, letters, colors, every logo and every aspect is made from our specs."

Background: Peoria Rivermen get their first win, and a new name as the Illinois Flying Carp

And so the SPHL's Fayetteville Marksmen team turned into the Cape Fear Catfish and then the Carolina Reapers. The Knoxville Ice Bears became Preds Night. Huntsville Havoc became Viva Huntsvegas.

Baseball's Nashville Sounds turned into Hit City (a batter taking a swing on a record album). And so many more, from theme nights and championship jerseys for Huntsville and Knoxville, to a NASCAR circuit, indoor football … He works with Mississippi-based Pivot Brand Group on design and art direction for various NASCAR projects.

"That's the thing, it's kind of the Wild West," Earles said. "The antitheses of the normal design world. I get to do everything from concept to design as one person. It's me and a team's GM and we get to put out a whole product.

"I've done 10 re-brand nights and north of 60 special jerseys for SPHL teams in the last decade. It's so fun."

Tyler Earles, by design

Tyler Earles Design is based out of Nashville. Earles is owner, designer and illustrator, and he's done projects for the NFL, NHL, NBA, NBA G-League, MiLB, NCAA, SPHL, USHL and NASCAR.

Working for Slate Shepherd a year ago, he designed interior graphic branding campaigns for Stanford University, the San Jose Sharks, the National Medal of Honor Museum and more.

In 2021 he was the graphic design manager for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies after spending two years as its graphic designer. He worked for several design houses from 2009 to 2014, then landed with the SPHL Knoxville franchise and spent three years designing specialty jerseys and logos for the team.

He earned a bachelor's degree from the Nossi College of Art in Nashville.

"It goes back to how I was raised, grew up watching minor league sports in Nashville like the Kats (arena football) and Ice Flyers (minor-league hockey). I cut my teeth with the Knoxville Ice Bears," Earles said. "I wanted to work in sports any way I could, so I interned with the Ice Bears and that turned into designing jerseys and special theme nights.

"The fan reaction of getting rid of their team's name for just one night was amazing. It's exciting to see how it works. Huntsville gives me free rein now because of the success they've had with it."

And there was another hockey team for him that was part of his sports foundation: The Peoria Rivermen.

Earles' wife, Robyn, is from a Morton family of Rivermen season ticket holders. He made the drive from Nashville to Peoria many times and watched the Rivermen when they were the Triple-A team of the St. Louis Blues.

"I have good memories of the Rivermen," Earles said. "It's a thrill for me to be doing a project with such a storied team."

The Carp had designs on the win column

Earles saw his re-brand creation in action Friday at Carver Arena, as the Rivermen became the Illinois Flying Carp for one game and beat Quad City.

The Flying Carp didn't get their first lead until the midway point of the third period.

After a scoreless first period, the Carp pulled into a 1-1 tie at 8:46 of the second period on a next-level play from center Joe Widmar.

He fought off a back-checking defender trying to break up a 2-on-1, and still got a pass across to JM Piotrowski for a one-timed finish inside left post.

The Flying Carp stunned Quad City for a 2-2 tie with 18.5 seconds to go in the period as defenseman Zach Wilkie partially fanned on a shot from left hashmarks.

The puck floated through traffic to the endboards, ricocheted back into the crease and was poked in from the doorstep by Joe Drapluk.

Piotrowski notched the game-winner with a one-timer on the fly down the slot off a perfect wait-and-feed from Jordan Ernst at 9:42, a big play from two very experienced players.

And that was it. The Flying Carp went into the record books at 1-0-0. Veteran goaltender Eric Levine beat Quad City for the sixth time this season.

And the Carp maintained their SPHL lead and added Fayetteville to the list of teams they've now locked behind them in the playoff seed chase.

They are guaranteed a top-seven finish.

Where will the Carp go?

The Illinois Flying Carp will not fade into obscurity. Rogers says they will return next season.

"Tyler Earles has done work for Knoxville, Fayetteville and Huntsville on a lot of theme nights and they had great success with it," said Rogers, who explained the team paid a fee to hold the Carp rights for one year, and can re-up those rights for an encore next season. "We chose Flying Carp as a name that tied in with our community, is very recognizable here.

"We branded merchandise to go along with it. We thought we should jump on the bandwagon and it worked."

Like shooting fish in a barrel.

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River Readings

The Rivermen brought back defenseman Roy Kanda and he played Friday. Kanda has been on a journey in his rookie pro season in the SPHL. He came over from Japan to play for Peoria, was traded to Vermilion County, stranded when that team folded and now has returned to Peoria. … Rivermen winger Alex Carrier is on 21-day IR with a cut on his face from a high stick. … The SPHL officially announced its order of finish for playoff eligibility will be determined by pointsmaking percentage, as expected. Tiebreakers will be head-to-head records. … Knoxville's Rex Moe appealed his 10-game SPHL suspension for going onto the Roanoke bench and fighting — and luring several of his teammates off the Bears bench for a team-wide brawl. The league reduced it to eight games on Friday. … Evansville signed Connor Jean, a center who played at College of the Holy Cross this season and turned pro for 18 games at ECHL Fort Wayne and Indy. He debuted Friday with two goals, including a game-winner in OT against Macon. … The Rivermen have a 7:15 p.m. rematch Saturday against Quad City in Carver Arena. Peoria will wear St. Patrick's Day-themed jerseys, and the first 1,000 fans to arrive will get replica championship rings. Also, 12-ounce domestic draft beers are $2. … The Rivermen close their three-game, three-nights homestand with a 3:15 p.m. game Sunday against Evansville. It's Sunday Family Fun Day, and kids get upper bowl tickets for just $7.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Inside the Peoria Rivermen's rebrand as the Illinois Flying Carp