The Montgomery Bears were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at the Garrett Coliseum in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. They are a member of the

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 ...

. The team began play as the Montgomery Maulers of 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, ...

and won the Atlantic Conference Central Division Championship in 2005. The 2005 season ended in the conference playoff semifinals of the

Rome Renegades 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, ...

, who went on to appear in the NIFL Championship Indoor Bowl V. The team folded in October 200

Entire team fired

Late in April 2006, the second year of the club's existence, Donald Jackson, an attorney representing members of the team said the club had not paid the players, staff or coaches in more than a month. The team's owner (Jamie LaMunyon) made national news on April 27, 2006, by terminating the contracts of all players and announcing that replacements would be hired

New ownership

On May 3, 2006, the Maulers came under new ownership. After losing five of their first six games, the team has rallied under new management, winning five of the next six (the lone defeat was a 1-point overtime loss in an away game). The Maulers showed their renewed tenacity most recently in the Osceola rematch. After a downed Montgomery player was speared in the back of the head (with no penalty having been assessed), the teams broke out into a 17-minute bench clearing brawl resulting in 19 players being ejected. Montgomery managed to overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull off the 1 point win. Although this was officially the second time these teams have played, the first meeting was actually fielded by players from the Southern States Football League, SSFL's Gulf Coast Raiders (a team owned by Michael Mink) due to the previously mentioned contract disputes. Following the loss, Michael Mink and John Morris decided to become more involved with arena football and purchased the Maulers franchise with Mink becoming head coach and Morris becoming general manager. Subsequently, a number of Raiders players have been signed to the Maulers roster, which has brewed speculation that the Raiders will be used as a farm team for the Maulers.

2006 playoffs

Following a drumming by the top ranked

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 ...

, the Maulers were 6-7 overall and surprisingly made the playoffs. Tied for 7th place in the conference with the

Charleston Sandsharks The Charleston Sandsharks were a professional indoor football team based in North Charleston, South Carolina, a suburb of the metropolitan area of Charleston, South Carolina, with home games at the North Charleston Coliseum. The team played in ...

who was scheduled in the final game of the regular season, the winner was to receive the final playoff spot (only 6 teams per conference would qualify). The Maulers lost the game 28-39, but Charleston's general manager Al Bannister had already stated the organization would skip the playoffs and focus on next season. It was noticed that the official NIFL web site had an asterisk by the team's name and stated no team with outstanding operational items (stats) would be eligible for the playoffs. Later, it was revealed the franchise had cheated by using at least six illegal players and also had outstanding fines due to administrative issues (not exchanging film with opponents or keeping statistics at home games). Subsequently, the Sandsharks were banned from the playoffs for the infractions, with the Maulers being awarded the sixth Atlantic conference spot. However this all proved academic as the Maulers lost in the first week of the playoffs on July 8 at Lakeland. Falling behind 27-0 in the first quarter, Montgomery stormed back but could not make the comeback falling 70-62; they ended their season 7-8. After the 2006 season, the team announced they were changing their name to the Montgomery Bears and moving to the

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Montgomery Maulers (NIFL) , - , 2005 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 1st Atlantic Central , , Won AC Quarterfinal ( M. Morays)
Lost AC Semifinal (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) , - , 2006 , , 7 , , 7 , , 0 , , 2nd Atlantic East , , Lost AC Quarterfinal ( Lakeland) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Montgomery Bears (AIFA) , - , 2007 , , 5 , , 9 , , 0 , , 5th Southern , , -- , - !Totals , , 21 , , 24 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

2007 season schedule

Current roster

Former players

* Jeff Aaron 6'3" 215 lb QB UAB * Curtis Chance 6'3" 290 lb DL USF * Chrys Chukwuma 6'1" 240 lb RB

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 ...

* Tim Daniels 6'2" 265 lb DE Southern * Octavius "Gator" Day 5'7" 160 lb WR

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

* Jamaal Fletcher 6'2" 205 lb DB ASU * Derrick Graves 6'1" 230 lb LB

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

* Antoine Hill 5'11 177 lb DB ASU * Roger Medlock 6'5" 320 lb OL ASU * Rodrice Merkerson 6'3" 220 lb WR Concordia College, Selma * Julius Mills 5'11" 190 lb DB ASU * Jay Newton 5'9" 175 lb WR ASU * Machion Sanders 5'9" 190 lb WR ASU * J.D. Verchuere 6'3" 290 lb C

* Edward Grimes III 6'3" 230 lb WR

External links

Official Website

Bears' 2007 Stats
{dead link, date=February 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Sports in Montgomery, Alabama American Indoor Football Association teams American football teams in Alabama