The Huntington Hammer were a professional indoor football team that began play as a charter member of the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) for its inaugural 2011 season. The Hammer were based in Huntington, West Virginia , with home games played at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena .
18-820: The Hammer were the third indoor football team to play in Huntington, succeeding the National Indoor Football League 's River Cities LocoMotives (2001) and the American Indoor Football Association 's Huntington Heroes (2006–2008). A team called the West Virginia Wild was set to play in the Continental Indoor Football League for 2009, but the franchise was revoked prior to the team's inaugural season. The team
36-643: A 7–7 record, earning a playoff berth while winning the final game of the season. However, the Hammer experienced a season-low point total for the season, scoring just four points in a Semifinal matchup with the Eastern Kentucky Drillers . The Hammer were set to return to the UIFL in 2012, with the league expanding to 16 teams. However, before the season started, the UIFL announced that 6 of the 16 teams announced for 2012 would be folding, this included
54-566: A mostly complete schedule, with few cancellations. Before the 2005 season, nine teams left the league to form United Indoor Football . That same year, the Intense Football League ceased operations and four teams from there joined the league. Those teams however, left the league before the 2006 season started. For the 2005 season, the NIFL had an agreement with NFL to handle referee assignment and training. The 2006 season,
72-775: The National Indoor Football League and won the Atlantic Conference Central Division Championship in 2005. The 2005 season ended in the conference playoff semifinals of the Rome Renegades , who went on to appear in the NIFL Championship Indoor Bowl V. The team folded in October 2007. [1] Late in April 2006, the second year of the club's existence, Donald Jackson, an attorney representing members of
90-603: The 2017 season. As of June 2016, the league was looking for local team ownership under the league's business model. Montgomery Maulers The Montgomery Bears were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama . They are a member of the American Indoor Football Association . The team began play as the Montgomery Maulers of
108-495: The Hammer. Running backs Wide receivers Defensive linemen Defensive backs Kickers Exempt list Practice squad This American football team article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a sports team in West Virginia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League ( NIFL )
126-549: The Maulers being awarded the sixth Atlantic conference spot. However this all proved academic as the Maulers lost in the first week of the playoffs on July 8 at Lakeland . Falling behind 27-0 in the first quarter, Montgomery stormed back but could not make the comeback falling 70-62; they ended their season 7-8. After the 2006 season, the team announced they were changing their name to the Montgomery Bears and moving to
144-466: The Maulers franchise with Mink becoming head coach and Morris becoming general manager. Subsequently, a number of Raiders players have been signed to the Maulers roster, which has brewed speculation that the Raiders will be used as a farm team for the Maulers. Following a drumming by the top ranked Fayetteville Guard , the Maulers were 6-7 overall and surprisingly made the playoffs. Tied for 7th place in
162-562: The NIFL. The league folded in 2008. The NIFL, based in Lafayette, Louisiana , was founded by Carolyn Shiver. The league started operations in 2001, with many teams coming from Indoor Football League being bought the previous year and folding operations. In 2002, the league added in the teams from the Indoor Professional Football League . 2003 was the most successful year for the league as 24 teams played
180-503: The conference with the Charleston Sandsharks who was scheduled in the final game of the regular season, the winner was to receive the final playoff spot (only 6 teams per conference would qualify). The Maulers lost the game 28-39, but Charleston's general manager Al Bannister had already stated the organization would skip the playoffs and focus on next season. It was noticed that the official NIFL web site had an asterisk by
198-451: The fourth quarter to pull off the 1 point win. Although this was officially the second time these teams have played, the first meeting was actually fielded by players from the SSFL 's Gulf Coast Raiders (a team owned by Michael Mink) due to the previously mentioned contract disputes. Following the loss, Michael Mink and John Morris decided to become more involved with arena football and purchased
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#1732793003861216-469: The next six (the lone defeat was a 1-point overtime loss in an away game). The Maulers showed their renewed tenacity most recently in the Osceola rematch. After a downed Montgomery player was speared in the back of the head (with no penalty having been assessed), the teams broke out into a 17-minute bench clearing brawl resulting in 19 players being ejected. Montgomery managed to overcome a 15-point deficit in
234-416: The returning teams. However, the teams were all poorly funded and had problems fielding competitive squads. The San Diego Shockwave were declared the official league champion. The league then officially folded prior to the 2008 season. In 2016, a new website announced that the league operations were relaunched by Carolyn Shiver with announced goal of bringing 34 teams into the former AFL markets starting in
252-417: The team said the club had not paid the players, staff or coaches in more than a month. The team's owner (Jamie LaMunyon) made national news on April 27, 2006, by terminating the contracts of all players and announcing that replacements would be hired. [2] On May 3, 2006, the Maulers came under new ownership. After losing five of their first six games, the team has rallied under new management, winning five of
270-478: The team's name and stated no team with outstanding operational items (stats) would be eligible for the playoffs. Later, it was revealed the franchise had cheated by using at least six illegal players and also had outstanding fines due to administrative issues (not exchanging film with opponents or keeping statistics at home games). Subsequently, the Sandsharks were banned from the playoffs for the infractions, with
288-732: Was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, AF2 , however, that changed briefly with their expansion into AFL markets such as Atlanta , Denver , and Los Angeles, and AF2 markets such as Fort Myers and Houston . Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur , Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson , New Orleans Saints quarterback John Fourcade and Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl running back Bam Morris , all played in
306-476: Was owned by principal owner, Cecil Vandyke, along with co-owners Bill Nichols and Rick Kranz. On January 6, 2011, Josh Resignalo was named the first head coach in Hammer history. Resignalo was relieved on his coaching duties following an April 9 loss to the Saginaw Sting . Defensive coordinator, Michael Owens, was named the interim head coach. The Hammer experienced and up and down season, but managed to earn
324-454: Was the most chaotic for the league to that point. Ten expansion teams were added to the league, but nine of them had problems that reflected badly on the league. The most notable situation was the owner of the Montgomery Maulers firing the entire team. None of the ten expansion teams returned to the league for the next season. The 2007 season started with the addition of several league-owned expansion teams, primarily to supplement games with
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