The San Antonio Talons were a professional

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

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. They played in 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 ...

(AFL). Their home arena was the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

, following their relocation to San Antonio for the 2012 season. The team was founded in 2000 as the Tulsa Talons of

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, a charter member of the AFL's defunct developmental league,

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 Talons played in the af2 for ten seasons, and joined the Arena Football League in 2010 following its reorganization. After the 2011 season the team announced they would relocate to San Antonio. The Talons have won

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 ...

championships in

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and

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 ...

, won eight af2 division championships, one AFL division championship, and made a total of eleven playoff appearances.

History

af2 Days

The Talons began in 2000 in

as the Tulsa Talons, a charter member of the now-defunct minor league of Arena football Arena Football 2, also known as

. In 2009 the Talons moved from their original home field at

Tulsa Convention Center The Cox Business Convention Center (formerly the Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa Convention Center, and Maxwell Convention Center) is a 310,625 square foot convention center located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Cox Business Convention Center (C ...

to the new 18,041 seat arena called the

BOK Center The BOK Center, or Bank of Oklahoma Center, is a 19,199-seat multi-purpose arena and a primary indoor sports and event venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. Designed to accommodate arena football, hockey, basketball, concerts, and similar even ...

. In terms of victories and championships, the Talons were a successful af2 franchise. The Talons had more wins than any other team in af2 history. The Talons were the first af2 franchise to reach 100 overall franchise victories. During the existence of the league, the Talons did not have a losing season and appeared in all ten af2 playoffs. Also, the Tulsa Talons won two af2 championships, known as the

, in the last eight years of the league. The Talons are also the team with the longest streak of consecutive seasons in the AFL system. Former Head Coach Mitch Allner is the only person in af2 history to win a championship as both player and head coach. In 2004 the Talons were sold to a group led by Henry Primeaux, the owners of automobile dealerships in Oklahoma, and Paul Ross, an investor. In 2009 three new owners were added to the group.

Transition to AFL

In 2010, some af2 teams joined with a handful of AFL teams which had remained in operation after the cancellation of the 2009 season formed a new league that was to be named AF1. The Talons moved from the af2 and joined the league, which became the highest level of

indoor American 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 a ...

. However, the league soon decided to use the former Arena Football League name rather than AF1.

Move to San Antonio

On September 21, 2011, Talons chairman Paul Ross announced the team was moving to San Antonio due to less than desirable attendance and ticket sales. The team was purchased by a group led by California businessman Jason Lohe and the Talons were introduced to the city of San Antonio on September 27, 2011. The Talons then made a big play in free agency by signing veteran quarterback Aaron Garcia, who was fresh off of leading the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

to their first ever ArenaBowl victory. Despite AFL tradition to adopt previous AFL team names and identities for new teams in previous markets, the Talons chose to keep their nickname and not adopt the identity of the long-defunct

San Antonio Force The San Antonio Force were a professional arena football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team was a member of the Arena Football League that competed in the 1992 season only. The team owner of the Force was Red McCombs. The team's colors ...

, due in part to the preexistence of the

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

(a similar issue forced the

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference (AC) in the Arena Football League (AFL). Founded in 2011, the Power ...

to adopt its current name instead of the

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

). In March 2012, Lynd Sports LLC, became a partial owner of the Talons. Just days later, Lohe was forced to return to California with family issues, and David Lynd became the principal owner of the franchise. In December 2013, Lynd was sued for breach of contract when his real estate company (Lynd Company) failed to follow through on a $1.7 million purchase. On January 9, 2014, it was reported that the league had seized control of the franchise, and began immediately looking for new ownership. The league has been in talks with Spurs Sports & Entertainment, owners of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

, WNBA's

San Antonio Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the ...

and

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sold ...

hockey team, but neither AFL commissioner Jerry Kurz nor a Spurs spokeswoman could comment about the talks at the time. On October 13, 2014, the AFL announced that the Talons would not be returning to play in 2015 and are dormant.AFL Talons won’t play in San Antonio next season, former team executive says
W. Scott Bailey, ''San Antonio Business Journal'', October 13, 2014

Notable players

Final roster

Individual awards

All-Arena players

The following Talons players were named to All-Arena Teams: *FB

Odie Armstrong Odie Armstrong (born September 30, 1981) is a former American football fullback. He played college football at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Orlando Predators in 2008. Early life Armstr ...

Mykel Benson Mykel “Boom Boom” Benson (born December 30, 1987) is an American football fullback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Milwaukee Mustangs as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played college football and college baseball at ...

*WR

Donovan Morgan Andrew Vassos (born January 10, 1976) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Donovan Morgan. Best known for his near five-year run as a Pro Wrestling NOAH mainstay in Japan and Ring of Honor in the United States, M ...

*DL Gabe Nyenhuis,

Victor DeGrate Victor DeGrate, Jr. (born February 8, 1985) is a former American football defensive end. He was signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Oklahoma State. DeGrate was also member of the Detroit ...

Tim McGill Tim McGill (born June 24, 1979) is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a retired . He was signed by the Carolina Cobras as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He played college football at Illinois. McGill has also been a member ...

, Joe Sykes *LB

Steve Watson Steven Craig Watson (born 1 April 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player. He was formerly the manager of club Chester. As a player, he was a right-back or midfielder. He played in the Premier League and Football ...

Jamar Ransom Jamar may refer to the following: People Given name *Jamar Beasley (born 1979), American football player *Jamar Butler (born 1985), US basketball point guard *Jamar Chess (born 1980), US music publisher * Jamar Davis (born 1984), American streetb ...

(2) *DB J. C. Neal, Fred Shaw,

Kelvin Rodgers The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and phys ...

All-Ironman players

The following Talons players were named to All-Ironman Teams: *WR/KR Jeff Hughley

Notable coaches

Head coaches

Staff

Season-by-season

References

External links

Official Website

Official Message Board
{{Texas sports 2012 establishments in Texas 2014 disestablishments in Texas