The Alabama Hammers were a professional
indoor football team based in
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
. The team played in the
Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) from 2012 to 2015. The Hammers originally began play as an
expansion team
An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...
in the
Southern Indoor Football League in 2011. The Hammers are the fourth indoor football team to play at the Von Braun Center; these were the
Alabama Vipers of the AFL (2010), the
Tennessee Valley Vipers of 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 ...
(2000–2004 and 2006–2009), and the
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 ...
of 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 ...
league (2005).
The owner of the Hammers is Southern Sports Entertainment, LLC. The Hammers play their home games at the
Von Braun Center. Their name comes from the
Yellowhammer
The yellowhammer (''Emberiza citrinella'') is a passerine bird in the Emberiza, bunting family that is native to Palearctic, Eurasia and has been introduced species, introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the br ...
, the state bird of Alabama.
Franchise history
2011
On November 5, 2010, it was announced that indoor football was to stay at the
Von Braun Center in the form of the Alabama Hammers who would be playing in the
Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL).
The nickname "Hammers" was chosen due to the state bird of Alabama being the yellowhammer. On December 19, 2010, the Hammers announced that Marty Hammond, who had coached the
Rio Grande Valley Dorados from 2006 to 2009, as their first ever head coach. On March 19, 2011, the Hammers took the field for their first ever game as a franchise, losing 20–67 to the
Columbus Lions. The Hammers achieved the first victory in forfeit fashion, as the
Mobile Bay Tarpons forfeited their April 29 game. The Hammers finished the regular season with a 4–8 record, failing to qualify for the postseason.
2012
Before the season began, the Hammers joined the
Professional Indoor Football League after the Southern Indoor Football League dissolved. The Hammers went 3–9 in 2012, failing to making the playoffs.
2013
For the 2013 season, the Hammers hired former
Alabama Vipers coach
Dean Cokinos to be their head coach.
The Hammers have achieved the level of success expected of coach Cokinos, who has a great winning percentage in lower level indoor football. They won their first championship when they won the PIFL title over the
Richmond Raiders 70–44.
2014
The Hammers did not return to their championship form in 2014, losing their first 4 games of the regular season. After the Hammers seemed to have righted the ship with 3-straight wins, they went on another 4-game losing streak. The Hammers finished the season 4–8, tied for 4th placed in the American Conference, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
2015
During the offseason, Cokinos took a job as the head coach of 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 ...
of 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 ...
. He was replaced with Cosmo Dematteo, who had coached the filler team,
Georgia Fire in 2014. However, in January 2015, Dematteo stepped down due to family issues before coaching a game for the Hammers. Scott Sharp was named the new Hammers' head coach on January 27, 2015.
In 2015, the Hammers folded upon the league folding.
Players
Final roster
Awards and honors
The following is a list of all Hammers players who won league awards:
Head coaches
Coaching staff
Season-by-season results
References
External links
*
{{SIFL
2010 establishments in Alabama
2015 disestablishments in Alabama
American football teams established in 2010
American football teams disestablished in 2015