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.
Arena football is a variety of indoor gridiron football played by the Arena Football League (AFL) and China Arena Football League (CAFL). The game is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented in 1981, and patented in 1987, by Jim Foster, a former executive of the National Football League and the United States Football League. The name is trademarked by Gridiron Enterprises and had a proprietary format until its patent expired in 2007. Due to the patent, other indoor American football leagues that launched following the popularity of the original AFL developed variants on the arena rules.
Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States. The seat of the eponymous county, it is on Lake Michigan's western shore. Ranked by its estimated 2014 population, Milwaukee was the 31st largest city in the United States. The city's estimated population in 2017 was 595,351. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee metropolitan area which had a population of 2,043,904 in the 2014 census estimate. It is the third-most densely populated metropolitan area in the Midwest, surpassed only by Chicago and Detroit, respectively. Milwaukee is considered a Gamma global city as categorized by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network with a regional GDP of over $105 billion.
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, which is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state is divided into 72 counties.
The team began play in 2009 as the Milwaukee Iron, and competed in af2, the AFL's developmental league. They joined the AFL after the league's restructuring in 2010. On January 27, 2011, the team officially changed its name to the Mustangs, after an older team that had played in the AFL from 1994 to 2001.[1] Their final head coach was Bob Landsee. The Mustangs were dormant for the 2013 season. In October 2013, the rights to the franchise were sold to Terry Emmert, who subsequently started the Portland Thunder in Portland, Oregon.
The Milwaukee Mustangs were a professional arena football team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The team was a member of the Arena Football League, playing from 1994 to 2001. The owner of the Mustangs was Andrew Vallozzi. The Mustangs played their home games at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Robert John Landsee is a former American football player and coach. He was also the head coach and owner of the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League (AFL) till the team folded. He is a former American football center and guard who played for two seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1986–1987. He was drafted by the Eagles in the sixth round of the 1986 NFL Draft. He played college football at Wisconsin.
Terry W. Emmert is an American businessman, entrepreneur and sports franchise owner from Clackamas, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. He is the founder and owner of Emmert International, an engineering and transport service company, the International Basketball League's Portland Chinooks and the Portland Thunder professional Arena Football League team. He has two children, Terry Michael Emmert, who is vice president of Emmert International, and Christine Vessey, the Vice President of Multrec Corporation.
The Milwaukee Iron were announced as an af2 expansion team in March 2008 when the team's ownership group announced a three-year lease agreement to play at the Bradley Center beginning with the 2009 season. The announcement came the day before the Milwaukee Bonecrushers kicked off play in the Continental Indoor Football League at Milwaukee's US Cellular Arena.
The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL). It was formed by Jeff Spitaleri, his brother Eric, and a third member, Cory Trapp, all from the Canton, Ohio, area.
Milwaukee had been without an arena football team since the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League folded in 2001 after not being allowed to play at the Bradley Center.[2]
The Iron played its first game on Thursday, March 12, 2009, a 60-0 exhibition shutout of the New Zealand Overstayers at the Bradley Center.[3] They opened the regular season on Friday, March 27, 2009 when they played host to the Iowa Barnstormers. The Iron lost 60–38.[4]
The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The Well".
The Iron entered the Arena Football League in 2010.[5] The team finished the year 11–5 and won the Midwest Division.
Milwaukee Mustangs
The team changed its name to the Mustangs on January 27, 2011. The name "Mustangs" was chosen as it was the name of the original franchise that existed from 1994 to 2001.[1] The team's dancers were called the Fillies. The Mustangs were covered locally by WAUK (540 ESPN MILWAUKEE) and Time Warner Cable Sports 32.
On October 2, 2013 the AFL announced that an ownership group led by Portland businessman Terry W. Emmert has been approved by the AFL’s Board of Directors to purchase a majority of the Milwaukee Mustangs and relocate the team to Portland, Oregon. The team began regular season play as the Portland Thunder in 2014 at the Moda Center (20,636), home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.[6]
The AF2 was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup championship in August. The AF2 continued to operate while the AFL suspended operations for its 2009 season. The league was effectively disbanded in September 2009 when no team committed to playing in 2010, but several of the stronger franchises transferred into the reconstituted AFL.
The New York Dragons were a professional arena football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Dragons participated in the Arena Football League's (AFL) National Conference as a member of the Eastern Division. The team was founded in 1995 as the original iteration of the Iowa Barnstormers, and relocated to New York in 2001. They played in New York until 2008, when the league folded. They played in the Eastern Division of the National Conference, and played their home games at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Their last coach was Weylan Harding.
The Oklahoma Wranglers were a professional arena football team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They were members of the Central (1996–1997) and Western (1998–2001) Division of the American Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). They previously played as the Memphis Pharaohs and Portland Forest Dragons. The team played at the Myriad, now known as the Cox Convention Center, in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Houston ThunderBears was a professional arena football team based in Houston, Texas. The team finished the 2001 season as a member of the Western Division of the American Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team joined the AFL in 1996 as the expansion Texas Terror. After their first two years of existence, the franchise changed their name to the Houston ThunderBears. Plagued with attendance problems through the majority of their existence, the team folded in 2001. Home games were played at the Compaq Center.
Todd Layne Hammel is a retired professional arena football player who played for 10 teams since his Arena Football League (AFL) career began in 1992. He is the great grandson of Oklahoma Indian Chief Quana Parker and a member of the Cherokee tribe. He is a distant relative of QB Sam Bradford.
The Spokane Shock were a professional arena football team based in Spokane, Washington, playing their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was part of the National Conference Pacific Division of the Arena Football League. The franchise folded in October 2015. A reorganized ownership group applied for a franchise in the Indoor Football League, known as the Spokane Empire, as the rights to the Shock name belonged to the AFL.
Matthew Louis D’Orazio is a former American football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football at Otterbein College.
D'Andrae Carnell Thurman is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Southern Oregon University.
Kyle Rowley is a arena football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He also played in the former af2. He played college football at Brown.
The 2012 Milwaukee Mustangs season was the fourth season for the franchise, and the third in the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was coached by Bob Landsee and played their home games at BMO Harris Bradley Center. The Mustangs finished the season 5–13 and did not qualify for the playoffs. Following this season, the Mustangs announced that they would suspend operations for 2013, with the hope of returning to play in 2014.
The 2014 Arena Football League season was the 27th season in the history of the league. The regular season began on March 14, 2014 and ended on July 26, 2014.
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.
Kenny Stucker is a former American football placekicker who played seven seasons in the Arena Football League with the Milwaukee Mustangs, Chicago Rush, New York Dragons and Tampa Bay Storm. He played college football at Ball State University.
Dexter Jackson is an American football linebacker for the Baltimore Brigade of the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football at the Bethune–Cookman University and attended Edward H. White High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He has also been a member of the Milwaukee Mustangs, Orlando Predators, Tampa Bay Storm and Jacksonville Sharks.
Raymond McNeil is an American football offensive lineman for the Atlantic City Blackjacks of the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football at Fort Valley State University and attended Jurupa Valley High School in Jurupa Valley, California. He has also been a member of the Green Bay Blizzard, Milwaukee Iron/Mustangs, Utah Blaze, Spokane Shock, San Jose SaberCats, Tampa Bay Storm and Jacksonville Sharks.
Tracy J. Belton is an American football defensive back who is currently a free agent. He played college football at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and attended Largo High School in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He has also been a member of the Arkansas Twisters, Green Bay Blizzard, Milwaukee Iron, Georgia Force, Jacksonville Sharks, Orlando Predators, New Orleans VooDoo and the Philadelphia Soul.
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