The Cape Fear Heroes were a professional indoor football team based in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

. They last played in the

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 ...

in 2019. The Heroes were owned by Barbara Spigner. They began play in 2012 as an expansion member of

American Indoor Football American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

(AIF). The Heroes fared very well in their first three seasons of play, going to back-to-back-to-back AIF Championship Games, going undefeated in 2012. The Heroes finished as runner-up in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, it was announced that the Heroes would be leaving the AIF, and joining the

X-League Indoor Football X-League Indoor Football (X-League) was a professional indoor football minor league that began play in 2014. The league was co-chaired by Michael Mink and Kacee Smith. On September 19, 2015, the league announced a merger with the future "North ...

(X-League). In June 2015, the team's season was abruptly ended when they were suspended by the league. They have won one conference title, in their only season playing in a conference, while finishing with the best regular season record in the AIF for three consecutive seasons. The Heroes played their home games at the

Crown Coliseum The Crown Coliseum (originally the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum) is a multi-purpose arena in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that is part of the Crown Complex. The stadium broke ground in 1995 and opened in 1997, and is currently home to the Fa ...

History

The Heroes are the fourth arena/indoor football team to be based in Fayetteville, following the

Cape Fear Wildcats A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

arenafootball2 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 ...

(which played from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

until

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

after which they to

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the seat of Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in southwest Georgia, it is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia ...

and became the

South Georgia Wildcats The South Georgia Wildcats were a professional arena football team based in Albany, Georgia. They were member of the South Division of the American Conference of Arenafootball2 (AF2). The Wildcats joined the AF2 in 2002 as an expansion team, aft ...

), the

Fayetteville Guard The Fayetteville Guard was a professional indoor football team in the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) and American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played home games at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum from 2005 to 2010. The G ...

which played in the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) 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, A ...

(

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

–

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

) and

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

(

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

–

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

), and the

Fayetteville Force The Fayetteville Force was a professional ice hockey team. based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The franchise was a member of the Central Hockey League (1997–2001). They played their home games at the Crown Coliseum. Background In 1996, the C ...

which only played in the

Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...

for the 2011 season, after which both the Force and the SIFL folded. Despite the AIF's purchase of the Force, the Heroes are considered a completely new franchise.

American Indoor Football: 2012–2014

The Cape Fear Heroes were founded as an expansion team in the 2012 American Indoor Football season by a partnership headed by Barbara Spigner. Jack Bowman, who was also the director of the league, also operated the Heroes as president and general manager, while Charles Gunnings was named the head coach. The Heroes went 7–0 during their inaugural regular season and defeated the

California Eagles California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

79–27 in the AIF Championship Game. In the 2013 season, Spigner became the sole owner of the team and the Heroes went 7–1 in the five-team league. The Heroes returned to the AIF championship game and fell to the

Harrisburg Stampede The Harrisburg Stampede were a professional indoor football team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Stampede participated in several different leagues over their history: the American Indoor Football Association in 2009 and 2010, the Southern ...

57–42. Following the 2013 season, owner Barbara Spigner took over as general manager from Jack Bowman. In December, 2013, Spigner named Josh Resignalo the team's head coach. The team finished as the top seed in the 2014 regular season and appeared in their third-straight championship game, losing to the

Baltimore Mariners The Baltimore Mariners were an indoor football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The team was a member of American Indoor Football. The team was founded when the American Indoor Football Association expelled the Baltimore Blackbirds for negotia ...

X-League: 2015

On July 31, 2014, the Cape Fear Heroes announced that they have joined the

(X-League). After falling to 4–4, it was announced that the X-League had suspended the Heroes for the remainder of the season for not being in good standing with the leagues rules. Just days later, the Heroes announced that they would be leaving the X-League entirely and operating independently the rest of the season.

2016: Suspension of operations

On August 23, 2015, it was announced that the Heroes would be the charter member of

Supreme Indoor Football Supreme Indoor Football (SIF) is an inactive professional indoor football league based in the Southeastern United States. The SIF was originally the creation of the Cape Fear Heroes ownership. During the league's initial launch in 2015, it was ...

(SIF), one of the two leagues (along with the

Continental Indoor Football League 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 (GLIF ...

) which comprises the

Indoor Football Alliance Supreme Indoor Football (SIF) is an inactive professional indoor football league based in the Southeastern United States. The SIF was originally the creation of the Cape Fear Heroes ownership. During the league's initial launch in 2015, it was ...

. However, after the CIFL effectively disbanded in January 2016 when the

Erie Explosion The Erie Explosion was a professional American indoor football team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2007 as the Pittsburgh RiverRats, the Explosion played in the Professional Indoor Football League, the United Indoor Football League, the ...

(the last remaining CIFL team) announced they would take the season off and only one of the SIF's teams (the

Buffalo Lightning The Buffalo Jr. Sabres are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Buffalo, New York. They are a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League. Its current head coach and general manager is Nick Tuzzolino, who played in the organization during its Buffalo ...

) were ready to play a 2016 season, the Heroes announced that it would sit out the 2016 season on March 3.

SIF and AAL: 2017–2019

Heroes' owner Barbara Spigner again relaunched Supreme Indoor Football (SIF) as a league with the Heroes as one of the charter members. They went on to win the championship against the previously undefeated

Triangle Torch The Triangle Torch (also known as the East Carolina Torch) was a professional indoor football team playing in North Carolina. The team first played as the Triangle Torch in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was named after the larger Research Triangle ...

. During the offseason, many of the SIF members joined the newly formed

(AAL). On August 23, 2017, the Heroes also announced they would be joining the new league. During their second season in the AAL, owner Barbara Spigner had health issues and had to step down from team operations. The team then suspended operations before the 2020 season. All team websites have since gone defunct.

Statistics

Season-by-season results

Head coaches' records

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2019 American Arena League season.''

References

External links

Official website
{{SIF Supreme Indoor Football teams Indoor Football Alliance teams Sports in Fayetteville, North Carolina American football teams in North Carolina American football teams established in 2011 Former American Indoor Football teams Former X-League Indoor Football teams 2011 establishments in North Carolina