Post by Banana Cat on Nov 17, 2011 20:53:57 GMT -5
From Oursportscentral:
Indoor Football Team unveils team name, logo and ownership group
November 17, 2011 American Indoor Football (AIF)
Fayetteville's professional indoor football team unveiled its team name, logo and ownership group at a press conference earlier today at the Crown Coliseum. The team will be known as the Cape Fear Heroes paying tribute to our many local heroes in and around the Fayetteville area from military personnel, fire and rescue squads, school administrators and teachers as well as the average citizen that does something spectacular in the community. The team will support the colors of red, white, silver and blue in their logo as well as their custom uniforms.
The ownership group consists of four individuals John Morris, Barbara Spigner, Jimmy Diamantopoulos and Charles Gunnings four of which reside locally and have strong ties to the community. The combination of this group brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from both a business and industry model. As a group the Heroes have been working hard behind the scenes since early last summer and have already secured many of the items needed for the 2012 season such as the teams artificial turf playing field and wall pad system. In addition the team has acquired its own team bus as well as a team training facility in which the players will be able to view film, meet with coaches, and have their own dining facility and game room area. The team will also be able to house its rookie players at the facility.
"Minor league pro football is a weird universe filled with bounced checks, unpaid bills, empty promises, out-right lies, empty arenas, endless women, endless booze, occasionally drugs, endless trips on rented buses to towns on the outskirts of the Big Time and, for one night a week, a football game." -- Bill Shea
Heroes welcomed as Fayetteville's latest indoor football team
Nov 18, 2011 By Sammy Batten / Staff writer
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham Co-owners of the Cape Fear Heroes professional indoor football team John Morris, Barbara J. Spigner and Charles Gunnings unveiled team name and logo Thursday at a press conference at Crown Coliseum.
Despite a rocky past in the sport, professional arena football will again be played in Fayetteville in 2012.
A new franchise featuring three local owners that will play in a fledgling league was introduced Thursday at the Crown Coliseum.
The Cape Fear Heroes will begin at least a 10-game regular season in March as a member of the American Indoor Football League. Local business people Barbara J. Spigner and Dimitrios "Jimmy'' Diamantopoulos, indoor coach and ex-player Charles Gunnings and AIF founder John Morris form the ownership group.
"It wasn't such a great ending last season,'' Morris said Thursday. "But we know what this community is about. They've supported teams through thick and thin. We felt like this was a great situation for us to come in and assist last year with the idea of coming back this year with a group of local owners, which we've done.''
Morris stepped in late last season to prop up the Fayetteville Force over the final four games season. The Force, a first-year franchise playing in the Southern Indoor Football League, experienced financial issues that put the team on verge of shutting down before Morris purchased the team.
The Force was the latest in a string of arena franchises to have failed to stand the test of time in Fayetteville. The Cape Fear Wildcats played in the arenafootball2 between 2002-04 before moving to Albany, Ga.
The Fayetteville Guard replaced the Wildcats, playing in both the National Indoor Football League and the AIFA between 2005-10 before going under.
"We realize we have some rebuilding to do,'' Morris said.
Part those rebuilding efforts centered around securing local ownership.
Spigner previously owned the Florence (S.C.) Phantoms of the American Indoor Football Association. Morris was the co-founder of the franchise, which won the AIFA title in 2008.
"I wanted to bring something that would be stable, exciting, honest, transparent and just exciting to our community,'' Spigner said when asked about her involvement with the Heroes. "The year 2012 will be our year. I brought a championship to Florence, S.C., and I will bring one to Fayetteville, N.C.''
Morris declined to reveal which of the owners holds the majority stock in the Heroes.
"I don't want to do that because it's private information,'' Morris said. "But Barbara is a substantial owner.
"My whole purpose for coming here and saving this team was to find local ownership. I want to roll on and run this league, build it and try to make it the best I can. I don't plan on being an owner here long. I will, if I've got to, fund it myself. But my ultimate goal is to find a couple more local people along with Barbara to turn this over to and let them run with it.''
Gunnings was instrumental in putting the ownership group together. The Laurinburg native has been part of the Fayetteville indoor scene as a player, assistant and head coach off and on since 2002. He will serve as head coach of the Heroes in addition to his ownership role.
Gunnings admits that the way things ended with the Force last season had him wondering if it was smart to bring another arena team to Fayetteville.
"I was one of those naysayers, to be honest with you,'' Gunnings said. "I was one of those who thinking in the back of my mind that football is done in Fayetteville. I've seen teams disappear for a year or two at this level and never come back. I didn't want that to happen in Fayetteville.
"So we got this great ownership group together. I know it's going to be an uphill battle. But we're going to play football.''
"Minor league pro football is a weird universe filled with bounced checks, unpaid bills, empty promises, out-right lies, empty arenas, endless women, endless booze, occasionally drugs, endless trips on rented buses to towns on the outskirts of the Big Time and, for one night a week, a football game." -- Bill Shea
Administrator: #LFL-US Pacific Cup: Seattle Mist 27, Los Angeles Temptation 25 (FINAL) #IndoorScores
Dec 7, 2013 2:03:30 GMT -5
Banana Cat: This board was revised and updated on 7 December in preparation for the 2014 season. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
Dec 7, 2013 6:38:21 GMT -5
Banana Cat: LFL-AU kicks off inaugural season; New South Wales Surge 44, Queensland Brigade 6 (FINAL)
Dec 7, 2013 7:47:46 GMT -5
Banana Cat: LFL-AU: Victoria Maidens 32, Western Australia Angels 26 (FINAL)
Dec 14, 2013 21:58:09 GMT -5
Banana Cat: Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos for the Super Bowl. Who will win?
Jan 22, 2014 22:00:38 GMT -5
CF4L: Grand Island is up 13-0 early on over Lincoln
Feb 10, 2014 20:24:08 GMT -5
CF4L: 19-0 GI after a quarter.
Feb 10, 2014 20:38:55 GMT -5
Banana Cat: Did you go to the game CF4L?
Feb 17, 2014 11:34:51 GMT -5
danger10: Watching first night of IFL Regular season lets go Danger!
Feb 21, 2014 21:21:56 GMT -5
BNDC: Football bandits.
Mar 2, 2014 17:26:50 GMT -5
dubyaessoh: Sure is quiet in here this year!
Mar 14, 2014 19:15:50 GMT -5
halaroo: Does anyone know where I can watch away games for the AIF online?
Mar 22, 2014 9:53:41 GMT -5
Doom: this shoutbox at the bottom noone really sees it is prolly why its always quiet
Apr 12, 2014 19:11:41 GMT -5
Banana Cat: Everyone's on the facebook group now too, which makes it even more quiet. This shoutbox was quiet when it was at the top this past year, so maybe I should just shut it down.
Apr 14, 2014 20:55:38 GMT -5
Bring Back CFL to KC: so what are the guess about chances for indoor football back in kc
Sept 8, 2014 20:19:30 GMT -5
superpicker: Merry Christmas to all.
Dec 25, 2014 9:29:43 GMT -5
superpicker: Happy New Year 2015 to all fans, friends, players, owners, coaches and anyone else involved with the great sport of Indoor Football.
Jan 10, 2015 12:00:39 GMT -5
superpicker: Happy 2016 to all fans, friends, players, owners, coaches and anyone else involved with the great sport of Indoor Football.