The Lincoln Capitols were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at Pershing Auditorium in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

, United States. They originally planned on becoming the Nebraska Knockout, but the name was scrapped. From 1999 to 2000, they were the Lincoln Lightning of the original

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 ...

before the IFL was bought out. The Lightning then played in the Arena Football's farm league during the 2001 season, before leaving the league and joining 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 ...

as the Capitols. During their four-year run, the franchise's most prominent player was a former Nebraska Cornhusker running back named Damon Benning and the franchise's owner was Andrew Cheesman. In 2005 through 2006 they had 3 standout players, Nate Jacks from Atlanta, Ga, a graduate from Clinton High School, Mike Carrawell from St. Louis, MO and Brian Guthrie from National City,CA (San Jose State)The trio with Coach Chris Simpson, brought the key players in to play many roles. Brian Guthrie came in as a DB/LB/RB and later played for the Wyoming Cavalry (2007-2008). Mike was an All-American slot receiver from Quincy University and Nate was a shutdown corner back from KU. This team in Lincoln has been a pushover for most of the team's history, despite being successful in the regular season. They are the only team to lose in two shutouts, a rarity in the NIFL. The league, hoping to kill off their APFL competition and make the Capitols better, talked with the

St. Joseph Explorers ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

of the APFL and interested them in merging with the Lincoln Capitols and becoming the St. Joseph Storm. The team was still bad and was later bought by the league and made a traveling team. The end result was prospective owners saw NIFL as a league to avoid which was a major factor in the league's problems in 2007.

Season-By-Season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lincoln Lightning (IFL) , - , 1999 , , 7 , , 5 , , 0 , , 1st Southern , , Lost Semifinal ( Green Bay) , - , 2000 , , 10 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2nd Southern , , Lost Round 1 (

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, ...

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lincoln Lightning (af2) , - , 2001 , , 6 , , 10 , , 0 , , 7th NC Midwestern , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lincoln Capitols (NIFL) , - , 2002 , , 10 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st Pacific Northern , , Lost Round 1 (

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

54, Lincoln 51) , - , 2003 , , 9 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd Pacific Northern , , -- , - , 2004 , , 3 , , 11 , , 0 , , 4th Pacific Northern , , -- , - , 2005 , , 1 , , 13 , , 0 , , 5th Pacific Western , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lincoln Capitols/St. Joseph Explorers , - , 2006 , , 0 , , 14 , , 0 , , 3rd Pacific Western , , -- , - !Totals , , 46 , , 69 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

References

External links

Lincoln Lightning on ArenaFan.com
* https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182802/http://www.wyomingcavalry.com/stats/WYO623.HTM * http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3159363 American football teams in Nebraska Defunct af2 teams Indoor Football League (1999–2000) teams National Indoor Football League teams Sports in Lincoln, Nebraska American football teams established in 1998 American football teams disestablished in 2006 1998 establishments in Nebraska 2006 disestablishments in Nebraska {{Nebraska-sport-team-stub