The Alabama Vipers were a professional

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

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

. For most of their history, the Vipers played as the Tennessee Valley Vipers in the now-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 ...

, the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

for the original

, where they won ArenaCup IX in 2008. They played their home games at the

Von Braun Center The Von Braun Center (known as Von Braun Civic Center until 1997) is an entertainment complex, with a maximum arena seating capacity of 9,000, located in Huntsville, Alabama. The original facility debuted in 1975 and has undergone several signi ...

. They were coached by Dean Cokinos. The team moved to

Gwinnett County, Georgia Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the ...

for the 2011 AFL season and became a new incarnation 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 ...

Team history

af2

The team played in af2 for five seasons, from 2000 to 2004, and during that period was one of the league's most competitive teams. The then owner and operator of the team was Art Clarkson. Then following the 2004 season the team left the af2 and joined the

United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor American football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a ...

(UIF) league.

United Indoor Football (UIF)

The team joined the United Indoor Football league as the Tennessee Valley Pythons. But after legal threats from the AF2 for using the "snake" motif, the team changed its name again, this time to the Tennessee Valley Raptors. The Raptors, after an attendance decline in Huntsville, moved operations to

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

in 2005 and became the

Rock River Raptors The Rock River Raptors were a professional indoor football team based in Rockford, Illinois. The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League. The franchise was established in 2000 as the Tennessee Valley Vipers, a ...

Return to af2

Meanwhile, the af2 returned to Huntsville in 2006. The new team, owned by HSV Sports (who also owned the local hockey team), was granted the rights to the Vipers name, trademarks, and history that had been vacated by the previous ownership. Prior to the 2007 season, controlling interest in the team was sold to Texas AF2 Holdings, LLC. The team still operated in conjunction with HSV Sports, LLC, now a minority partner with the team.

Alabama Vipers of the Arena Football League

For the 2010 season, the Vipers played in the new

and changed their name to the Alabama Vipers. After the season, the team's owners announced it was leaving Huntsville and moving to Duluth, Georgia, becoming the new

Highlights

;First Game :On March 31, 2000, the Tennessee Valley Vipers traveled to Birmingham to play the

Birmingham Steeldogs The Alabama Steeldogs, originally known as the Birmingham Steeldogs, were incorporated in 2000 as one of the charter teams in the AF2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League. Entering their eighth season as of 2007, they were the ...

in the inaugural game in af2 league history. The Vipers won the game 59–18 before a crowd of 14,781 at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. ;Largest Home Crowd :On July 15, 2000, the Tennessee Valley Vipers beat the Birmingham Steeldogs 61–50 in front of 7,042 fans at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville. ;Arena Cup IX :The Vipers won ArenaCup IX by defeating the

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divis ...

56–55 in overtime at Spokane Arena on August 25, 2008. On the road to the championship, the Vipers beat both conference #1 seeds, a league first. In addition, Arena Cup IX was the first championship game to go into overtime and it was also the first time that the road team had won the championship game. The attendance of Arena Cup IX was 10,662, which is the largest attended championship game in af2 history. In 2009, this game was voted by the league as the greatest game in af2 league history. ;Win 100 :The Vipers became the third franchise in af2 history to reach the 100 win mark after defeating the Florida Firecats 54–29 on June 20, 2009 at the Von Braun Center.

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Tennessee Valley Vipers (af2) , - , 2000 , , 10 , , 6 , , 0 , , 2nd NC , , Won Round 1 (

Tulsa 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 Tul ...

)
Won Semifinal ( Augusta)
Lost ArenaCup I (

Quad City The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

) , - , 2001 , , 14 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st NC South Central , , Won Round 1 (

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

)
Lost NC Championship (

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

) , - , 2002 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st NC South , , Lost NC Round 1 (

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

) , - , 2003 , , 14 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st AC South , , Won AC Semifinal (

Mohegan The Mohegan are an Indigenous people originally based in what is now southeastern Connecticut in the United States. They are part of the Eastern Algonquian linguistic and cultural family and historically shared close ties with the neighboring ...

)
Lost AC Championship ( Macon) , - , 2004 , , 12 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st AC Mid-South , , Lost AC Semifinal (

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

) , - , 2005 , , colspan="6" align="center" , ''played as

Tennessee Valley Raptors The Rock River Raptors were a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Rockford, Illinois. The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League. The franchise was established in 2000 as the T ...

(UIF)'' , - , 2006 , , 3 , , 13 , , 0 , , 6th AC South , , – , - , 2007 , , 7 , , 9 , , 0 , , 4th NC South , , – , - , 2008 , , 10 , , 6 , , 0 , , 3rd AC South , , Won AC Round 1 (

)
Won AC Semifinals ( Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
Won AC Championship (

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

)
Won ArenaCup IX (

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

) , - , 2009 , , 11 , , 5 , , 0 , , 1st AC South , , Lost AC Round 1 ( Green Bay) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Alabama Vipers (Arena Football League) , - , 2010 , , 7 , , 9 , , 0 , , 4th AC SouthAFL Final Standings for 2010
. AFL. Retrieved: August 12, 2010. , , -- , - !Totals , , 109 , , 65 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

Head coaches

Note: ''W = Wins, L = Losses''

Notable players

Final roster

All-Arena players

The following Vipers players were named to

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

Teams: * FB Dan Alexander (1) * DB

Vince Hill Vincent Brian Hill (16 April 1934 – 22 July 2023) was an English traditional pop singer, best known for his cover version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune " Edelweiss" (1967), which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. He record ...

(1)

Coaching staff

* Dean Cokinos – Head coach * John Kirk – Offensive line coach * Demetrius Derico – Defensive backs coach

References

External links

Official Alabama Vipers site
*
Alabama Vipers at ArenaFan.com

Alabama Vipers Booster Club
{{Af2 Defunct 2000 establishments in Alabama 2010 disestablishments in Alabama American football teams established in 2000 American football teams disestablished in 2010