The Huntington Hammer were a professional indoor football team that began play as a charter member of the

Ultimate Indoor Football League The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) was a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011 as the Ultimate Indoor Football League before playing as the United Indoor Football League in 2012 ...

(UIFL) for its inaugural 2011 season. The Hammer were based in Huntington, West Virginia, with home games played at the

Big Sandy Superstore Arena The Mountain Health Arena, originally known as the Huntington Civic Center, later as the Huntington Civic Arena and later, for sponsorship reasons as the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Hunting ...

. The Hammer were the third indoor football team to play in Huntington, succeeding the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

River Cities LocoMotives The River Cities LocoMotives were a professional indoor football team based in Huntington, West Virginia in 2001. The team competed in the inaugural season of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). The "Locos" played their home games at t ...

(2001) and the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

Huntington Heroes The Huntington Heroes were a professional indoor football franchise and member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The Heroes played their home games during their inaugural 2006 season at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse in Hunti ...

(2006-2008). A team called the

West Virginia Wild The West Virginia Wild were a proposed professional indoor football team based in Huntington, West Virginia. The team was slated to become a member of the Continental Indoor Football League as an expansion team in 2009. The Wild were the third a ...

was set to play in the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLI ...

for 2009, but the franchise was revoked prior to the team's inaugural season.

History

2011

The team was owned by principal owner, Cecil Vandyke, along with co-owners Bill Nichols and Rick Kranz. On January 6, 2011, Josh Resignalo was named the first head coach in Hammer history. Resignalo was relieved on his coaching duties following an April 9 loss to the

Saginaw Sting The Saginaw Sting was a professional Indoor Football team based in Saginaw, Michigan. The team was most recently a member of American Indoor Football (AIF). They began play in 2008 as an expansion team in the Continental Indoor Football League a ...

. Defensive coordinator, Michael Owens, was named the interim head coach. The Hammer experienced and up and down season, but managed to earn a 7–7 record, earning a playoff berth while winning the final game of the season. However, the Hammer experienced a season-low point total for the season, scoring just four points in a Semifinal matchup with the

Eastern Kentucky Drillers The Kentucky Drillers were a professional indoor football team based in Pikeville, Kentucky. The franchise started as the Eastern Kentucky Drillers and joined the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) in 2013 after playing their first two sea ...

2012

The Hammer were set to return to the UIFL in 2012, with the league expanding to 16 teams. However, before the season started, the UIFL announced that 6 of the 16 teams announced for 2012 would be folding, this included the Hammer.

Notable players

Roster

All-League selections

* RB

Dray Mason Andray Lee Mason III (born October 30, 1985) is a former American football running back and wide receiver. Early life Dray attended Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. There he was a standout running back as well as a defens ...

* DL Michael Robinson * DB Jaret Sanderson * KR

Head coaches

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Official websiteUIFL press release announcing the team
2010 establishments in West Virginia 2012 disestablishments in West Virginia {{WestVirginia-sport-team-stub