The Dallas Diamonds was a women's

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team in the

Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance (WFA) is a semi-pro full-contact women's American football league in the United States. Founded in 2009, it is the largest 11-on-11 football league for women in the world, and the longest running active women's ...

(WFA). The Diamonds were made up of 46

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

s and a

coaching staff The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. A coaching staff can be existent at all levels of athletics. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports) and consists of one or more assistant ...

of 10. The Diamonds won four national championships; the first three were all obtained during their membership in the

Women's Professional Football League The Women's Professional American Football League (WPFL) was a women's professional American football league in the United States of America, United States. With teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two o ...

(WPFL) which was dissolved in 2008, and the fourth was in their first season in the

Independent Women's Football League The Independent Women's Football League (IWFL) was the first women's American football league established by women players for women players. The league was founded in 2000, began play in 2001, and played its last season in 2018. Members of th ...

History

The Diamonds franchise started in 2002 by owner Dawn Berndt. During the inaugural season, the Diamonds finished with a 5–5 record. The following season, the Diamonds improved to 8-2 and entered the playoffs as a wild card team. They lost on their home field, Birdville Fine Arts Complex, to the Florida Stingrays who moved on to lose in the championship game. In 2004, the Diamonds recruited a solid rookie class and moved through the season undefeated. The Diamonds marched through the playoffs defeating the Houston Energy, SoCal Scorpions and eventually Northern Ice for their first title. In 2005, the Diamonds continued the winning streak and finished the season undefeated. In the playoffs, they defeated the Houston Energy, SoCal Scorpions and New York Dazzles for their second title. In 2006, the winning continued until the Diamonds broke the WPFL record with 33 straight wins. The loss came to the rival Houston Energy in Houston, TX. The league reorganized in 2006 and separated these two power house teams into different conferences. This provided what had been the two best teams statistically with an opportunity to face in the championship game. Both teams reached the Championship and fought back and forth with multiple lead changes until the Diamonds pulled ahead 34-27 early in the 4th quarter and never relinquished the lead. In 2007, injuries and retirement plagued the franchise. In their first regular season without a playoff berth, management took a different approach. Offering her players an opportunity to play in a new league, several players came out of retirement to join the IWFL in 2008. Playing the Chicago Force in Chicago, the Diamonds won the 2008 IWFL Championship. The Diamonds currently play at Pennington Field in Bedford, Texas and have the most active message board in women's football at www.dallasdiamondsfootball.com. In 2009, the Diamonds finished another regular season undefeated, winning the South Atlantic Division title. However, another IWFL title was not in the cards, as they lost the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the

Boston Militia The Boston Militia were a women's full-contact football team in the Women's Football Alliance of which they were two-time champions (2011, 2014). Previously, the Militia played in the Independent Women's Football League from 2008 until 2010, winn ...

, 34–14. In 2010, the Diamonds won another division title, this time finishing first in the Midwest Division at 7–1. Though they defeated the Chicago Force 27–20 in the Western Conference Semifinals, they would lose to the

Sacramento Sirens The Sacramento Sirens are a women's semi-professional American football team, located in Sacramento, California. The team has compiled one of the most successful records in women's full tackle football. History In 2001, their first year of exi ...

45–43 in the conference title game. For the 2011–2013 seasons, the Diamonds played in the

Notable players

Jessica Springer

Jessica Springer was the Diamond's starting running back and linebacker. In 2004, she was the WPFL Howington Award Winner which is awarded to the league MVP. She runs a 4.88 40-yd dash and holds powerlifting records in both the bench press and dead lift in her weight category. She retired briefly during 2007 and returned for the last half of the season. The Diamonds did not make it into the playoffs in 2007 and Springer returned in her best form for 2008. She led the league in TDs and averaged over 11 yards per carry. During the championship game, she was the heart and soul of the team. She had an interception and every TD the Diamonds scored on offense came on the ground in Springer's hands. She carried the ball 9 times in OT and scored up the middle from 11 yards out to secure the Diamonds 4th ring in 5 years. She has been recognized by Neal Rozendaal as one of the best players in women's football.

Karen Seimears

Karen Seimears was the Diamond's

starting Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Starts use in sport race * Standing start, and rolling start, i ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

from 2003 to 2010. The Diamonds were 53–3 with Seimears under center. She was named a starter for the Pro Bowl for each year she played. She was recognized b
Neal Rozenhaal
as one of the top quarterbacks in the women's game. During the

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 ...

season, Seimears walked the sidelines as the

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. She returned to the field for the

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 ...

season and led the Diamonds to their 4th title in 5 seasons. Seimears coached again in 2010 while pregnant with her first son, Colton.

Ring of Honor

Shelley Burnson, OL; Aurelia Green, OL; and Karen Seimears, QB; Jessica Springer, RB/LB; & Ivette Young, LB are in the Diamond's Ring of Honor. Their numbers have been retired and are displayed at each Diamonds home game.

Championships

2004

The Diamonds took on the Northern Ice in WPFL Championship Game VI. This took place in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

on November 20, 2004. The final score was Dallas Diamonds 62, Northern Ice 13. Seimears threw 4 passing TDs and Dallas dominated on the ground as well. The MVP was Q Ragsdale,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for Dallas.

2005

The Diamonds played the New York Dazzles in WPFL Championship Game VII. This took place at the Birdville Fine Arts/Athletic Complex in

North Richland Hills, Texas North Richland Hills, commonly known as NRH, is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It is a mid-to-high end suburb of Fort Worth and forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The populat ...

on November 19, 2005. The final score was 61–8, Diamonds.

2006

The Diamonds played the

Houston Energy The Houston Energy is a football team in the Women's Football Alliance. They play aDement Fieldin Galena Park, Texas in east Houston. The team was founded in 2000. The current owner is Brian Wiggins. History The Houston Energy is the longes ...

in WPFL Championship Game VIII, which took place in

Roswell, Georgia Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2020 census, the city had a population of 92,883, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A suburb of Atlanta, Roswell has an affluent National Registe ...

on November 4. 2006. Monica Foster and the Dallas defense took over in the second half after the Diamonds fell behind and dominated from her safety position with two late INTs to seal the win. The final score was 34–27, Diamonds

2008

The Diamonds played the Chicago Force in IWFL Championship Game, which took place in Chicago, Illinois on July 25, 2008. The Diamonds won in overtime 35–29. Jessica Springer was the game MVP and announced her retirement after the game. Coach Todd Hughes also announced his retirement.

Season-By-Season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Dallas Diamonds (WPFL) , - , 2002 , , 4 , , 5 , , 0 , , 3rd American , , -- , - , 2003 , , 7 , , 3 , , 0 , , 2nd American West, , Lost American Conference Championship (

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 ...

) , - , 2004 , , 12 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1st American South , , Won Divisional Playoffs (

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

)
Won American Conference Championship ( So Cal)
Won WPFL Championship (

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

) , - , 2005 , , 11 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1st American South , , Won American Conference Championship ( So Cal)
Won WPFL Championship (

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) , - , 2006 , , 8 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st American West , , Won American Conference Championship ( So Cal)
Won WPFL Championship (

) , - , 2007 , , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , 3rd American West , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Dallas Diamonds (IWFL) , - , 2008 , , 11 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1st Western Mid South , , Won Western Conference Semifinal (

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

)
Won Western Conference Championship (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

)
Won IWFL Championship (

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) , - , 2009 , , 8 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st Eastern South Atlantic , , Lost Eastern Conference Semifinal (

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

) , - , 2010 , , 8 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Western Midwest , , Won Western Conference Semifinal (

)
Lost Western Conference Championship (

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Dallas Diamonds (WFA) , - , 2011 , , 10 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st American South Central , , Won American Conference Quarterfinal (

)
Won American Conference Semifinal (

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

)
Lost American Conference Championship (

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

) , - , 2012 , , 10 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st American Southwest , , Won American Conference Quarterfinal (Lone Star)
Won American Conference Semifinal (Kansas City)
Lost American Conference Championship (

) , - , 2013 , , 11 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st American Southwest , , Won American Conference Quarterfinal (

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

)
Won American Conference Semifinal (

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

)
Won American Conference Championship ( Central Cal)
Lost WFA Championship (

) , - !Totals , , 105 , , 18 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

2009

Season schedule

2010

Season schedule

** = Won by forfeit

2011

Standings

Season schedule

** = Won by forfeit

2012

Season schedule

Coaching staff

Todd Haisten 2003-2004 Head Coach WPFL Championship 2004 Record 20-3 Todd Hughes 2003-2004 Offensive Coordinator, Head Coach 2005-2008 WPFL Championship 2005–2006, IWFL Championship 2008 Record 37-4 Pat Hughes Rec Coach 2004- Defensive Coordinator 2005-2008 Mikal Black 2004 Defensive Line Coach, And 1st asst. Brian Bishop HC 2009, 10-1 Patrick Hughes HC 2010–2011, 22–2, Karen Seimears OC 2010, Ryan Hopkins RB/WR Coach 2010–2011, OC 2011. Bobby Vadnais 2010 Defensive Coordinator, 2011 Head Coach 10-1

Media

During the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, the Diamonds host a weekly

talk-show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...

formatted

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webca ...

. It is produced by BISD TV (

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

channel 30 in Dallas/Fort Worth). The games are also often broadcast on

Ustream.tv IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...

by BISD TV.

Gallery

File:Dallas Diamonds 2013.png File:Dallas Diamonds Owners.png File:Dallas Diamonds Coaches.png File:All Day to Throw!.jpg File:Christia Rogers Dallas Diamonds.png File:Dallas Diamonds Ingrid Mitchell Tiny.png File:Dallas Diamonds Julie Parton Madness Man.png File:Best O Line in the Game.jpg File:Dallas Diamonds Coach Karen Padgett Smith, Mitchell, Conyers.png File:Dallas Diamonds Inaugural coaching staff.png File:Dallas Diamonds safety Alberta Brydson.png File:Dallas Diamonds Janice Mitchell.png File:Dallas Diamonds team captains.png File:Dallas Diamonds secondary.png File:Dallas Diamonds pregame.png File:Diamonds offense... smash mouth.jpg File:Dallas Diamonds DLine.png File:Dallas Diamonds.PNG File:Celebrate Diamonds at midfield.jpg File:Football Diamonds Style.jpg File:HoustonDallas.jpg

References

External links

Dallas Diamonds websiteDallas Diamonds' Forum
{{Texas sports Women's Football Alliance teams American football teams in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex American football teams established in 2002 2002 establishments in Texas Tarrant County, Texas Women's sports in Dallas