Alabama Vipers

Alabama Vipers
Established 2000
Folded 2010
Played in Von Braun Center
in Huntsville, Alabama
Logo
League/conference affiliations
  • af2 (2000–2004)
    • National Conference (2000–2002)
    • American Conference (2003–2004)
      • South Central Division (2001)
      • Southern Division (2002–2003)
      • Midsouthern Division (2004)
  • United Indoor Football (2005)
    • Southern Division (2005)
  • af2 (2006–2009)
  • American Conference (2006)
  • National Conference (2007)
  • American Conference (2008–2009)
    • Southern Division (2006)
    • South Division (2007–2009)

Arena Football League (2010–2010)

  • American Conference (2010)
Team colors

Green, Black, White

              
Personnel
Owner(s) Doug MacGregor
President Corey Remillard
Head coach Dean Cokinos
Team history
  • Tennessee Valley Vipers (2000–2004)
  • Tennessee Valley Raptors (2005)
  • Tennessee Valley Vipers (2006–2009)
  • Alabama Vipers (2010–2010)
Championships

League championships (1)

Conference championships (1)

  • American (af2): 2008

Division championships (5)

Playoff appearances (8)
Home arena(s)

The Alabama Vipers were a professional arena football team, that played in the Arena Football League. For most of their history, the Vipers played as the Tennessee Valley Vipers in the now-defunct af2, the minor league for the original Arena Football League, where they won ArenaCup IX in 2008. They played their home games at the Von Braun Center.[1] They were coached by Dean Cokinos.

The team moved to Gwinnett County, Georgia for the 2011 AFL season and became a new incarnation of the Georgia Force.

Team history

af2

The team played in af2 for five seasons, from 2000–2004, and during that period was one of the league's most competitive teams. The then owner and operator of the team was Art Clarkson. Then following the 2004 season the team left the af2 and joined the United Indoor Football (UIF) league.

United Indoor Football (UIF)

The team joined the United Indoor Football league as the Tennessee Valley Pythons. But after legal threats from the AF2 for using the "snake" motif, the team changed its name again, this time to the Tennessee Valley Raptors. The Raptors, after an attendance decline in Huntsville, moved operations to Rockford, Illinois in 2005 and became the Rock River Raptors.

Return to af2

Logo used by the Vipers during their second stint in the af2

Meanwhile, the af2 returned to Huntsville in 2006. The new team, owned by HSV Sports, LLC (who also owns the local hockey team), was granted the rights to the Vipers name, trademarks, and history that had been vacated by the previous ownership. Prior to the 2007 season, controlling interest in the team was sold to Texas AF2 Holdings, LLC. The team still operated in conjunction with HSV Sports, LLC, now a minority partner with the team.

Alabama Vipers of the Arena Football League

For the 2010 season, the Vipers played in the new Arena Football League and changed their name to the Alabama Vipers.

After the season the team's owners announced it was leaving Huntsville and moving to Duluth, Georgia, becoming the new Georgia Force.[2]

Highlights

First Game
On March 31, 2000, the Tennessee Valley Vipers traveled to Birmingham to play the Birmingham Steeldogs in the inaugural game in af2 league history. The Vipers won the game 59–18 before a crowd of 14,781 at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center.
Largest Home Crowd
On July 15, 2000, the Tennessee Valley Vipers beat the Birmingham Steeldogs 61–50 in front of 7,042 fans at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville.
Arena Cup IX
The Vipers won ArenaCup IX by defeating the Spokane Shock 56–55 in overtime at Spokane Arena on August 25, 2008. On the road to the championship, the Vipers beat both conference #1 seeds, a league first. In addition, Arena Cup IX was the first championship game to go into overtime and it was also the first time that the road team had won the championship game. The attendance of Arena Cup IX was 10,662, which is the largest attended championship game in af2 history. In 2009, this game was voted by the league as the greatest game in af2 league history.
Win 100
The Vipers became the third franchise in af2 history to reach the 100 win mark after defeating the Florida Firecats 54–29 on June 20, 2009 at the Von Braun Center.

Season-by-season

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
Tennessee Valley Vipers (af2)
2000 10 6 0 2nd NC Won Round 1 (Tulsa)
Won Semifinal (Augusta)
Lost ArenaCup I (Quad City)
2001 14 2 0 1st NC South Central Won Round 1 (Tallahassee)
Lost NC Championship (Richmond)
2002 13 3 0 1st NC South Lost NC Round 1 (Birmingham)
2003 14 2 0 1st AC South Won AC Semifinal (Mohegan)
Lost AC Championship (Macon)
2004 12 4 0 1st AC Mid-South Lost AC Semifinal (Florida)
2005 played as Tennessee Valley Raptors (UIF)
2006 3 13 0 6th AC South –
2007 7 9 0 4th NC South –
2008 10 6 0 2nd AC South Won AC Round 1 (Florida)
Won AC Semifinals (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
Won AC Championship (Manchester)
Won ArenaCup IX (Spokane)
2009 11 5 0 1st AC South Lost AC Round 1 (Green Bay)
Alabama Vipers (Arena Football League)
2010 7 9 0 4th AC South[3] --
Totals 109 65 0 (including playoffs)

Coaching victories

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses

Seasons Coach W L
2000 Tom Luginbill 12 7
2001 Bret Munsey 15 3
2002–2004 Kevin Guy 40 12
2006 Chris Williams 2 8
2006–2007 Milt Theodosatos 8 14
2008–2010 Dean Cokinos 32 21

Notable players

Roster

Alabama Vipers roster
Quarterbacks

Fullbacks

  • 44 Billy Eubanks

Wide receivers

 Offensive linemen
  • 55 Lorenzo Breland
  • -- Germayle Franklin
  • 77 Joe Holmes
  • 85 Ray Norell
  • 68 Troy Reddick

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Kickers

  • 16 Brian Jackson
 Injured reserve
  • -- Travis Blanchard WR/DB
  • 21 Quentin Burrell DB
  •  3 Robert Durham DB
  •  5 Michael Johnson WR
  •  4 Alonzo Nix WR
  • 64 Steve Sene OL/DL

Exempt list

  • Currently vacant

Suspended list

Rookies in italics
Roster updated June 11, 2010
24 Active, 8 Inactive

→ More rosters

All-Arena players

The following Vipers players were named to All-Arena Teams:

Coaching staff

References

  1. ↑ McCarter, Mark (March 25, 2015). "Von Braun Center has celebrated much sports success, but also been graveyard for some franchises". The Huntsville Times (Huntsville, AL: Advance Publications). Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bryant, Bill (August 21, 2010). "It's official: Vipers have left the building". The Huntsville Times.
  3. ↑ AFL Final Standings for 2010. AFL. Retrieved: August 12, 2010.

External links

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