The Daytona Beach ThunderBirds were an

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

team based in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

. They were founded in 2005 as the Daytona Beach Hawgs playing 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 ...

. In 2006, they changed their name to the Daytona Thunder and played in three different indoor football leagues over three seasons: the

American Indoor Football League 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 ...

in 2006, the

World Indoor Football League The World Indoor Football League was an indoor football league that was to begin in 1988 to compete with the Arena Football League, which was playing its second season in 1988. Some of the teams in the league ran into financial trouble before th ...

in 2007, and 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

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 ...

's developmental league, in 2008 (when their name was changed to the ThunderBirds). They folded after the 2008 season. The Marquee player for the Thurnderbirds was 6'3" 230 pound Left handed Quarterback Matt Bohnet, an Eastern Michigan Graduate, who completed 160 out of 307 passes for 1,890 Yards 28 Touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

History

NIFL Era

The team began play in 2005 as the Daytona Beach Hawgs. They had a rollercoaster season. But it was a successful season with a record of 8–6, with most of the wins coming at home, including wins over Rome and losses to teams like Miami. The Hawgs shutout the

New Jersey Xtreme 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 ...

, 54–0. The Hawgs would have qualified for a playoff spot, but were suspended for rules violations.

AIFL Era

In February 2006, the franchise left the NIFL over the suspension from the playoffs and later joined the

, under coach Ervin Bryson and owners Kevin and Zack McDonald, and Jay Burton as the Daytona Beach Thunder . The team made some pre-season headlines when former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and FOX broadcaster

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

signed an actual players contract in a "blatant publicity stunt" at a Daytona Beach speaking engagement. Bradshaw, citing back problems, never played. The team also garnered attention for its unique logo and its 45-foot sleeper bus that transported the team to its away games and delivered relief supplies to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. A partnership with the local PBS station produced a 30-minute show that aired weekly during the season. On Friday, March 24, 2006, after losing their first three games, the Thunder got their first-ever win 49–24 against the Augusta Spartans on the road. The team put itself in position for a playoff berth at 5–4, but a three-game losing streak all but denied the Thunder the post-season. The team finished its inaugural season with a 6–8 record, with six losses coming at a combined margin of 19 points. On Monday, June 12, 2006, the Thunder parted ways with Bryson. After an extensive search, the Thunder named former CFL Rookie of The Year, FSU Seminole, New York Giant and Tampa Bay Buc

Leon Bright Leon "Pop" Bright, Jr. (born May 19, 1955 in Starke, Florida) is a former Gridiron football player in the Canadian Football League for four years and in the National Football League for five years. He played high school football at Merritt Isl ...

as Head Coach/Director Of Football Operations.

WIFL Era

The team later decided to join the newly formed

for the 2007 season as a charter member, joining their former AIFL rival, the Augusta Spartans and two other teams. Tragedy struck the team on February 26, 2007, when defensive back

Javan Camon Javan () was the fourth son of Noah's son Japheth according to the "Generations of Noah" (Book of Genesis, chapter 10) in the Hebrew Bible. Josephus states the traditional belief that this individual was the ancestor of the Greeks. Also servin ...

was killed after a hard but clean hit during a game with the

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia and are a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance. The were a founding member of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season. The Lions were f ...

. The player, once a captain at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, likely broke his neck in the hit. Major arena news hit Daytona Beach with the word that

Barry Wagner Barry Wagner (born November 24, 1967) is a retired American football player in the Arena Football League for the Orlando Predators, with whom he won his first ArenaBowl Championship, and the San Jose SaberCats, with whom he won two championships. ...

(former

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

WR/DB) would be joining the team after getting cut from the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

at the beginning of the 2007 AFL season. The Thunder finished at 4–10, last in the league, and was the only team out of the four in the league not to qualify for the postseason. On September 19, 2007, Daytona Beach announced they were leaving the WIFL in hopes of joining

for either the 2008 or 2009 season. The WIFL ceased operations soon afterwards.

af2

On November 20, 2007, the team announced they had successfully joined the AF2, and would begin play there for the 2008 season. They changed their name to the ThunderBirds so as not to conflict with their fellow AF2 franchise the

Mahoning Valley Thunder The Mahoning Valley Thunder was a professional af2 arena football team from 2007 to 2009. Having entered af2 as an expansion team in 2007, the Thunder played its home games at Cortland Banks Field at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown, ...

;AF2.com—The Official Web site of the Arena Football League 2
/ref> they were the second team to bear that name in Daytona Beach football history; an outdoor team played in the Southern Professional Football League from 1962 to 1964 under the same name. According to AF2 website the Thunderbirds have folded as they are not on the team list.

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Daytona Beach Hawgs (NIFL) , - , 2005 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 3rd Southern , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Daytona Beach Thunder (AIFL) , - , 2006 , , 6 , , 8 , , 0 , , 5th Southern , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Daytona Beach Thunder (WIFL) , - , 2007 , , 4 , , 10 , , 0 , , 4th League , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Daytona Beach ThunderBirds (af2) , - , 2008 , , 2 , , 14 , , 0 , , 4th AC South , , -- , - !Totals , , 12 , , 32 , , 0

Retired numbers

* 12 – Javan Camon

Notes

External links

Official website

Dayton Beach Thunderbirds at ArenaFan

Thunder's 2007 Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daytona Beach Thunderbirds American Indoor Football Association teams American Indoor Football League teams American football teams in Florida Arena Football League in Florida Defunct af2 teams American football teams established in 2005 American football teams disestablished in 2008 Sports in Daytona Beach, Florida World Indoor Football League (2007) teams 2005 establishments in Florida 2008 disestablishments in Florida