The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

. They played their home games at the

Amarillo Civic Center The Amarillo Civic Center is a multi-purpose convention center in Amarillo, Texas. It consists of multiple facilities including: * A 2,848-seat auditorium with 2,324 permanent seats used for concerts, Broadway shows and other events. * The Ca ...

. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

, a small indoor football league based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. They won the championship in their first and only season with the Intense Football League. In 2005, the Dusters became the first team to leave the Intense Football League and join the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) 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 ru ...

, the minor league of the

Arena Football League 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 ...

, where they played for four seasons until the AF2's folding in 2009. At that point, the team held a fan vote as to whether to join some of their AF2 brethren in the new

Arena Football 1 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 N ...

(later gaining rights to the name as Arena Football League) or enjoy numerous Texas rivalries in the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

. In 2009, it was announced that the Dusters would be moving to the Indoor Football League for the 2010 season. It was then announced that the Dusters would have to be renamed because the Arena Football League owned the rights to the Dusters name and logo and the team became the Venom. The Venom then joined the

Lone Star Football League The Lone Star Football League (LSFL) was a regional professional indoor football minor league that played three seasons from 2012 to 2014. All of the LSFL's charter teams were based in the state of Texas, with five teams coming from the Southern ...

for the 2012 season, which eventually merged into

Champions Indoor Football Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from ...

(CIF) prior to the 2015 season. Prior to the 2021 season, the Venom withdrew from the CIF and later formed the

Arena Football Association The Arena Football Association (AFA) is a professional indoor football league based in Texas, Kansas and Mississippi, United States. The league began operation in June 2021 with five teams, known that season as the Lone Star Series. The league ...

for the 2022 season. However, the team suspended operations in February 2022. The team was featured on an episode of ''Only in America'', a show that aired on the

Discovery Times Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

channel.

History

Amarillo Dusters (2004–2009)

Expansion championship (2004)

The Amarillo Dusters were led by head coach Don Carthel and finished their only season in the

with a 13–3 record en route to a league championship over the

Lubbock Lone Stars Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

. The Dusters left the league to play in the

the following season.

Move to AF2 (2005–2009)

In their first year in the AF2, the Amarillo Dusters reached the playoffs with an 8–8 record, which was good enough for a wildcard. The Dusters, quarterbacked by Julian Reese, came from 21 points down at the start of the fourth quarter to win Round 1 over the

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an arena football team. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the Arena Football League's minor league af2 before becoming a member of the AFL in 2010. Formerly a tenant of the Ford Center from 2004 u ...

. The Dusters fell in Round 2 to the eventual champion

Memphis Xplorers The Memphis Xplorers were a professional arena football team. They were a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They played their home games at DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi (a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee). The team's logo featur ...

. The Dusters tried to build on the moderate success they had in 2005. However, in 2006, the team suffered many injuries and failed to make it to the AF2 playoffs. Quarterback Steve Panella was injured early in the season, forcing numerous backups to take the job. They ended the season with a 4–12 record. Carthel left to take the head coaching job at

West Texas A&M West Texas A&M University (WTAMU or WT) is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Colleges ...

two games into the Dusters first AF2 season. For 2007, Steve Perdue took over the head coaching job and lead the team playoffs and a first round victory over the

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgs The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an arena football team. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the Arena Football League's minor league af2 before becoming a member of the AFL in 2010. Formerly a tenant of the Ford Center from 2004 u ...

. Looking to rebound after the previous losing season, injuries plagued the Dusters' offense. After a win against the

Lubbock Renegades The Lubbock Renegades were an expansion member of the AF2. The team played its home games at the City Bank Coliseum, which was the former home of the IFL/ NIFL team, the Lubbock Lone Stars/Gunslingers. The team was owned by Doug McGregor, Ric ...

the Dusters struggled for the remainder of the year but were still able end the

Quincy Carter LaVonya Quintelle "Quincy" Carter (born October 13, 1977) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Georgia and for the National Football League teams Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets. Outside the NFL, he also was a ...

-led Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings' perfect season with a 51–49 upset. On July 5, 2008, Dusters

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Donte Newsome was shot to death outside of a nightclub in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

, home of his alma mater

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

. In 2008, under the leadership of head coach Chris MacKeown and quarterback Julian Reese, the Amarillo Dusters went 10–9 and played for the AF2 National Conference

ArenaCup The ArenaCup was the af2's championship game. For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, the 2005 ArenaCup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana. The 2006 Aren ...

Finals. Following the Dusters most successful season in their AF2 history, MacKeown moved up to the

as the offensive coordinator for

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway played college f ...

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspend ...

. On December 21, 2008, the Dusters introduced a new color scheme for the team with crimson, grey, and black.

Amarillo Venom (2010–2022)

Moving to the IFL (2010–2011)

With the AF2 breaking up and its larger market teams moving to the newly reformed

, the Dusters were forced to find a new league. On October 9, 2009, it was announced that, because of a 65–35 percent margin in the fan vote, the Dusters would be moving to the Indoor Football League for the 2010 season. Owner Randy Sanders applied for his team's spot in the

(IFL) and they were accepted as an expansion franchise. It was announced on January 28, 2010, that the Dusters would have to be renamed, because the

owned the rights to the Dusters' name and logo. On February 8, the new Amarillo Venom name and logo was unveiled.

=2011 season

Move to the LSFL (2012–2014)

In August 2011, the Venom were sold to local couple Stephanie and Toby Tucker, with Stephanie taking on the role of general manager. For the 2012 season, the Venom joined the

(LSFL). In their inaugural season in the LSFL they won the 2012 championship. Under the leadership of quarterback Nate Davis and coach Julian Reese, the Venom finished the 2013 season with a 9–3 record. In the playoffs, the finished off the

Abilene Bombers The Abilene Bombers were a professional indoor football team. The Bombers played their home games at the Taylor County Expo Center, in Abilene, Texas. Team history The Bombers began play as the Katy Ruff Riders, a 2007 expansion team of the In ...

, 70–40. On July 13, 2013, they faced the

Laredo Rattlesnakes The Laredo Rattlesnakes were a professional indoor football team in the Lone Star Football League that began play in the 2012 season. Based in Laredo, Texas, the Rattlesnakes played their home games at the Laredo Energy Arena. Previously, the Ra ...

, where they won 70–69, winning back-to-back championships in the LSFL. Davis won the MVP of the Game.

Champions Indoor Football (2015–2020)

In 2014, after the completion of their third season in the LSFL, the league merged with

Champions Professional Indoor Football League The Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) was an indoor football minor league based along the Midwestern United States region. The league began play in February 2013. In August 2014, the CPIFL and Lone Star Football League (LSFL) c ...

to become

. The Venom qualified for the playoffs in each of the next five seasons, including making it to the 2016 championship game where they lost to the

Wichita Force The Wichita Force are a professional indoor football team based in Wichita, Kansas, with home games in Wichita Ice Center. The team was founded in 2014 as an expansion franchise in the Champions Indoor Football league for the 2015 season. The Fo ...

48–45. Prior to the start of the 2020 season, the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused the season to be cancelled.

Lone Star Series and Arena Football Association (2021–2022)

The 2021 season was then delayed, but the local capacity and interstate travel restrictions in Texas led the Venom and the

West Texas Warbirds The West Texas Warbirds are a professional indoor football team and a member of National Arena League. The Warbirds are based in Odessa, Texas, with home games at the Ector County Coliseum. The team was originally a member of Champions Indoor Fo ...

to withdraw from participating in the 2021 CIF season. The Venom and Warbirds instead launched the Lone Star Series, a series of games between the two CIF Texas teams and a few other Texas-based semiprofessional teams. Amarillo lost the series championship game to West Texas, 79–60. Amarillo and West Texas officially left the CIF and turned their Lone Star Series from the previous season into the Arena Football Association (AFA) in November 2021. The new league also announced its initial membership consisting of former Lone Star Series member Texas Jets, former

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL o ...

champions North Texas Bulls, the dormant

Rio Grande Valley Dorados The Rio Grande Valley Dorados were a professional arena football team. They began playing in 2004 as an expansion member of af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Obra Homes Field at Dodge Arena in ...

, and the Texas Crude. On February 17, 2022, team co-owner Stephanie Tucker announced the team had withdrawn from participating in the AFA for the 2022 season and that the team was for sale.

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Amarillo Dusters (Intense) , - , 2004 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st League , , Won Round 1 ( S.A. Stampede 41–29)
Won Intense Bowl I ( L. Lone Stars 62–47) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Amarillo Dusters (af2) , - , 2005 , , 8 , , 8 , , 0 , , 4th NC Midwest , , Won NC Round 1 (

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

59–56)
Lost Semifinals (

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

30–71) , - , 2006 , , 4 , , 12 , , 0 , , 5th NC Midwest , , , - , 2007 , , 3 , , 13 , , 0 , , 4th NC Central , , , - , 2008 , , 8 , , 8 , , 0 , , 3rd NC Central , , Won NC Round 1 (

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

65–62)
Won NC Semifinals ( Bossier-Shreveport 59–45)
Lost NC Championship (

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

49–79) , - , 2009 , , 3 , , 13 , , 0 , , 3rd NC Central , , , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Amarillo Venom (IFL) , - , 2010 , , 11 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st IC Lonestar West , , Won IC Round 1 (

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

56–36)
Lost IC Semifinals (

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

31–46) , - , 2011 , , 4 , , 10 , , 0 , , 3rd Lonestar , , , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Amarillo Venom (LSFL) , - , 2012 , , 10 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st League , , Won Round 1 (

56–42)
Won Lone Star Bowl I (

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

62–40) , - , 2013 , , 7 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd League , , Won LSFL Semifinals ( Abilene 70–42)
Won Lone Star Bowl II ( Laredo 70–69) , - , 2014 , , 5 , , 7 , , 0 , , — , , — , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Amarillo Venom (CIF) , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , 7 , , 5 , , 0 , , 6th League , , Lost Semifinals (

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

52–83) , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , 8 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2nd Southern , , Won Southern Wildcard (

Dodge City Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...

98–56)
Won Southern Championship (

57–53)
Lost Champions Bowl II ( Wichita 48–45) , - ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , 9 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st South , , Won South Conference Semifinal ( Duke City 70–41)
Lost Southern Conference Championship (

71–77) , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , 8 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2nd South , , Lost Conference Semifinal (

45–56) , - ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , 8 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2nd South , , Lost Conference Championship ( Duke City 62–70) , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, , colspan=5; align=left , ''Season cancelled due to

'' , - , 2021 , , 3 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2nd Lone Star Series, , Won semifinal (Texas Jets 49–15)
Lost Lone Star Series Championship (

60–79) , - !Totals , , 134 , , 125 , , 0 , , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

Players

Roster

Awards and honors

Notes

External links

Official website

Amarillo Dusters at ArenaFan

2008 af2 Stats
{{Panhandle Sports Intense Football League teams Af2 teams Arena Football League in Texas Former Indoor Football League teams Lone Star Football League teams Champions Indoor Football teams Defunct American football teams in Texas Sports in Amarillo, Texas American football teams established in 2003 American football teams disestablished in 2022 2003 establishments in Texas 2022 disestablishments in Texas