The Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings were an

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 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

team based in

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state, state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ...

. They played at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City and took their name from the metropolitan area that consists of Bossier City and neighboring city Shreveport in the

Ark-La-Tex The Ark-La-Tex (a portmanteau of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas; also stylized as Arklatex or ArkLaTex) is a socio-economic region where the Southern United States, Southern U.S. states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas join together. ...

corridor. Playing in the defunct

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 r ...

from their inception in 2001 until the league's folding in 2009 (and called the Bossier City Battle Wings from 2001–2003), the team had its best seasons in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

having clinched division titles in the latter two years. They were also the only seasons in which the team had more wins than losses. In 2007, the Battle Wings clinched their first-ever playoff berth, beating the Arkansas Twisters and Rio Grande Valley Dorados before being beaten by the eventual Arena Cup champion

Tulsa Talons Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-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 ...

. Despite having little success in their earlier days, the Battle Wings turned out some players who went on to appear in both the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

and for other teams the

, in which the team itself played for a single season after the AFL emerged from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and resumed operations. Following the 2010 season, the team moved to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

for the 2011 AFL season and became a successor to the

New Orleans VooDoo The New Orleans VooDoo were a professional arena football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They were members of the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2015. The VooDoo were the second team to play in the Arena Football League and play in ...

. Bossier City was considered as a potential site for the 2024 revival of the AFL, but CenturyLink Center did not have enough open dates to accommodate a team, and thus the Louisiana AFL franchise, also named the VooDoo, was given to Lake Charles

Front office

Dan Newman

Dan Newman bought the Battle Wings from previous owner Michael Plaman at the end of the 2003 season. Newman has lived in the Shreveport-Bossier City area since 1970 and graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in 1971. While Attending

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

, Dan met his future wife of 31 years, Mary Ann. Newman started his career at Louisiana Tech as a sports journalist. For ten years, he served as a play-by-play analyst for the Louisiana Tech University Football Network. Newman also worked as an announcer for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, doing the play-by-play for college basketball games. He retired from his journalism career when he bought the Battle Wings. While in ownership, Newman served on 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 r ...

Board of Directors Executive Committee, the AF2 Broadcast Committee, and the AF2 Insurance Committee.

Butch Bellah

Butch Bellah was the general manager of the Battle Wings from 2007 to 2009, leading the team to their most successful seasons off the field. Butch brought 20 years of experience in advertising, sales, and marketing to the team. Before joining the Battle Wings in January 2007, Butch served as Executive Vice President of Harrison Company. Butch Bellah resigned on November 17, 2009

Coaching staff

Jon Norris

Jon Norris was born in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Norris received a bachelor's degree from

American International College American International College (AIC) is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. History American International College was originally established on July 18, 1885 by Calvin E. Amaron who sought to create an institution of higher ...

and graduated from Stratford High School in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He received his master's degree at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. Norris had experience in the football community, playing for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

, the NFL

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

, the

's Denver Dynamite. After retiring from football, Norris began his coaching career. He was the head coach for the AF2

, leading the Talons all the way to the playoffs in their inaugural season. Norris later became a defensive line coach in the AFL, but after his first season with the Oklahoma Wranglers, the team collapsed. After having minor coaching roles with two other AFL teams, Jon Norris signed with the Shreveport-Bossier Battle Wings as head coach. In 2007 Jon guided the Battle Wings to their first playoff berth in team history.

Jon Lyles

Jon Lyles was the final offensive coordinator and assistant head coach of the Battle Wings. Lyles, who is from Eastern Texas, led the Amarillo Dusters to a championship in the

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

as an offensive coordinator. Lyles also played for in the AF2 for the Bossier City Battle Wings in 2001.

Other coaches

John Lewis served as an assistant for the Battle Wings. He served as an offensive assistant and special teams coach. He spent six seasons with Battle Wings. Martino Theus coached the defensive backs.

Final roster

Season-by-season

Arena

The team played at the CenturyTel Center in

, when it was known as the Bossier City Battle Wings (2001–2003) and Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings (2004–2010) in the

Becoming the Voodoo

On September 14, 2010, it was announced that the Bossier City-Shreveport Battlewings would move to New Orleans and be re-established as the

, taking over all of their stats, records, and mascots.

References

External links

Official website

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings at ArenaFan

VooDoo Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings 2001 establishments in Louisiana 2010 disestablishments in Louisiana American football teams established in 2001 American football teams disestablished in 2010 Battle Wings Defunct American football teams in Louisiana