The Reading Express were a professional indoor football team based in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...

. They were most recently a member of the United Conference of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(IFL). The Express began play in 2006, 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 ...

of the American Indoor Football League. The team was originally going to be named the Reading RiverRats, but passed on that name in favor of the "Reading Express." The RiverRats name and logo was moved to an AIFA team in Pittsburgh in 2007. The owners of the Express were Ted & Lisa Lavender. They played their home games at the Sovereign Center.

Franchise history

2006

On September 14, 2005, the Express were announced as an expansion team of the American Indoor Football League (AIFL). On November 6, 2005, the Express named Ollie Guidry the team's first ever head coach. On Sunday, March 26, 2006, the Express won the AIFL's very first overtime game 41-38 against the Johnstown Riverhawks on the road, as kicker Erik Rockhold booted the game-winning 45-yard field goal. On Friday, May 12, 2006, the Express managed to knock the Erie Freeze out of the #1 spot in the conference by getting revenge 59-48. At the end of their inaugural year, the Express held the highest record in the AIFL's Northern Conference, at 12-2. This, however, was padded by two games against amateur outdoor franchises—the Cumberland Cardinals and a team known as the Philadelphia Scorpions, both of which were blowouts. In the opening round of the 2006 AIFL Playoffs, the Express managed to knock out the fourth-seeded

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 Hun ...

with a 56-23 victory. In the Northern Conference championship game, they faced the second-seeded Canton Legends for the Northern Conference title and a chance to participate in the American Bowl. Unfortunately, the Express got derailed as they got shut out in the second half and fell 44-24. Even though they fell one game shy of the league championship, it wasn't a total loss, as

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Carmelo Ocasio was named the 2006 Northern Conference Offensive MVP.

2007

In the 2007 season, now part of the AIFL's reorganized form (the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) is 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 ...

), the Express built on their success in the previous season, finishing a league-best 14-2 in the regular season, defeating the Pittsburgh RiverRats 42-24 in the first round, and defeating the Canton Legends 66-51 to claim the Northern Conference Championship and earn a trip to AIFA Championship Bowl I at the

Florence Civic Center The Florence Center is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Florence, South Carolina. The arena was known as the Florence Civic Center until it rebranded in November 2017. It hosted the infamous eighth WWE In Your House pay-per-view in 1996, dur ...

. Unfortunately, the Express got derailed yet again, losing to the Lakeland Thunderbolts 54-49.

Season Schedule

2008

Season Schedule

2009

In the 2009 season, the Express had another fantastic season, finishing the regular season 11-3, defeating the

Baltimore Mariners The Baltimore Mariners were an indoor football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The team was a member of American Indoor Football. The team was founded when the American Indoor Football Association expelled the Baltimore Blackbirds for negot ...

50-20 in the first round, and defeating the Columbus Lions 60-51 in the conference championship game to earn another berth in the AIFA Championship Bowl III in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

. This time in the title game, the Express were overpowering and they defeated the Wyoming Cavalry 65-42 to win their first AIFA championship.

Season Schedule

2010

2011

On July 21, 2010, the Express announced that they would be promoting interim head coach/

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

, Chris Thompson, to head coach for the 2011 season. On August 18, 2010, the Express announced that will be leaving the AIFA and joining the

(IFL).

2012

Final roster

Head coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2012 Indoor Football League season.''

Season-By-Season

, - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (AIFL) , - , 2006 , , 12 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Round 1 ( Huntington)
Lost NC Championship ( Canton) , - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (AIFA) , - , 2007 , , 14 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Round 1 (

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

)
Won NC Championship ( Canton)
Lost AIFA Championship Bowl I ( Lakeland) , - , 2008 , , 10 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st EC Northern , , Won ECN Round 1 ( Erie)
Lost EC Championship (

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

) , - , 2009 , , 11 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Divisional (

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

)
Won Semifinal ( Columbus)
Won AIFA Championship Bowl III (

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

) , - , 2010 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 4th Eastern , , -- , - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (IFL) , - , 2011 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 1st Atlantic , , Won Round 1 (

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 ...

)
Lost Conference Semi-Final ( Green Bay) , - , 2012 , , 2 , , 12 , , 0 , , 8th United , , -- , - !Totals , , 73 , , 39 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

References

External links

Official Site of the Reading Express

Express' 2006 Season & Results

Official Site of the Reading Express Smokin' Hot Steam Team

Express's 2007 Stats

Express's 2008 Stats

Express's 2009 Stats

Express's 2010 Stats
{dead link, date=April 2011 2006 establishments in Pennsylvania 2012 disestablishments in Pennsylvania American football teams established in 2006 American football teams disestablished in 2012