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The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in North America after the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) until the AFL closed in 2019.
The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The franchise was one of the original four that launched the Arena Football League for its inaugural season in 1987. The club was relocated to Tampa Bay area for the 1991 season, being the last of the original teams to either fold or leave its market. After 26 years in the Tampa market, the team ceased operations in December, 2017.
The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. The franchise was originally based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and then later in Las Vegas, Nevada, before relocating to Cleveland for the 2008 AFL season. The Gladiators qualified for the playoffs eight times in their history, reaching the ArenaBowl in 2014.
The Orlando Predators are a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team is currently owned by John Cheney, and play its home games at Kia Center.
Aaron Garcia is a former professional American football quarterback who played 19 seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL), from 1995 to 2014. He played college football at Washington State University before transferring to California State University, Sacramento. After retiring from the AFL, Garcia was named the head coach of the Las Vegas Outlaws in September 2014, and was formally introduced as the head coach of the Outlaws on October 11, 2014. Garcia is married to Bryn Garcia and has five children, Gigi, Bella, Anthony, Christian, and Jaxon.
Trumaine "Joe" Sykes is a former American football defensive end. He was originally signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Southern University.
Jay Michael Gruden is an American football coach and former quarterback. He previously served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins from 2014 to 2019 and as offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars. During his time in the Arena Football League (AFL), he won four ArenaBowls as a player and two more as a head coach. Gruden is the younger brother of former NFL head coach Jon Gruden and was an assistant coach of the 2002 Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl XXXVII.
Antoine "T. T." Toliver is a former arena football wide receiver. He played football and basketball at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1995, he was named the Class 5A Player of the Year in football and was also runner-up for Florida's Mr. Football Award. In basketball, Toliver helped Mainland win the Class 6A state championship in 1995 and 1996. He played college football and basketball at Hinds Community College, where he was named the 1997–98 Junior College Player of the Year as a quarterback. He later transferred to Bethune-Cookman University, where he played basketball but not football.
The Milwaukee Mustangs were a professional arena football team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They were members of the Arena Football League (AFL), which they joined in 2010 during the league's restructuring. They played their home games at the Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee.
Cory Lamont Fleming is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Nashville Kats, Carolina Cobras and Orlando Predators in the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the University of Tennessee.
Bernard Raphael Morris is a former American football quarterback. He was signed as a street free agent by the Arkansas Twisters in 2009. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd.
The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. As of 2024, they are members of the Indoor Football League (IFL).
Kyle Rowley is an American former arena football quarterback. He also played in the former af2. He played college football at Brown.
Thomas Grady is a former American football quarterback who primarily played in the Arena Football League (AFL).
Matthew Sauk is an arena football coach and former quarterback. He played college football at Utah State, was an af2 quarterback from 2001 to 2005, and an AFL quarterback from 2002 to 2008. He has been a football coach since 2008. After being the offensive coordinator for the Utah Blaze from 2011 to 2013, he became the Portland Thunder head coach in 2014. He was the head coach of the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2017 and the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League in 2019.
The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Angeles Kiss. The team played their home games at the Moda Center. They were known as the Thunder until the franchise went under league ownership in 2016 and became the Steel.
Varmah Sonie is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Northern Iowa.
Jake Atlee James Metz is an American football defensive end who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Shippensburg. He played for the Soul from 2015 to 2016, winning ArenaBowl XXIX in 2016. He is currently the defensive lines coach for the Souderton Area High School's football team in Pennsylvania.
The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the official Hall of Fame of the Arena Football League (AFL). The inaugural class was announced in 1998 and the Hall was not formally organized until 2011. Prior to 2011, there were four classes: 1998–2000 and then another in 2002. The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the highest honor for players, coaches, and contributors involved in the AFL. The voting process consists of fans and current Hall of Fame members voting on the finalists. The finalists are selected by the League Office in which they collect ballots from the Arena Football Hall of Fame Advisory Board, a group which consisted of former players, executives, journalists and media personnel with a long-time involvement in the league. The league began to decline in 2015, so no Hall of Fame announcements have been made since this year. The league folded for a second time in 2019. After the league's second closure, ArenaFan, a long-running fan site, announced it had taken over operations of the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
The 2017 Arena Football League season was the 30th season in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL). Prior to the start of the season, the league contracted to five teams. Due to this, for the first time since 1991, the league was not divided into conferences or divisions. The 14-game regular season began on April 7, 2017, when the two new teams, the Baltimore Brigade and the Washington Valor, faced off in the Verizon Center, and ended on August 5, 2017, when the Tampa Bay Storm lost against the Philadelphia Soul.
References
- ↑ "Steamwheelers Add 13-Year AFL Veteran Fleming" . Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ↑ "Flint Fleming". federalfootball.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
- ↑ Greene, Jerry (May 11, 1996). "Fleming Tackles More Than Football Foes". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
- ↑ "25 Greatest Players: No. 20 Alvin Rettig". arenafootball.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2014.