The Montgomery Bears were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama. They are a member of the American Indoor Football Association. The team began play as the Montgomery Maulers of the National Indoor Football League and won the Atlantic Conference Central Division Championship in 2005. The 2005 season ended in the conference playoff semifinals of the Rome Renegades, who went on to appear in the NIFL Championship Indoor Bowl V.

The team folded in October 2007.

Entire team fired Late in April 2006, the second year of the club's existence, Donald Jackson, an attorney representing members of the team said the club had not paid the players, staff or coaches in more than a month. The team's owner (Jamie LaMunyon) made national news on April 27, 2006, by terminating the contracts of all players and announcing that replacements would be hired.

New ownership On May 3, 2006, the Maulers came under new ownership. After losing five of their first six games, the team has rallied under new management, winning five of the next six (the lone defeat was a 1-point overtime loss in an away game). The Maulers showed their renewed tenacity most recently in the Osceola rematch. After a downed Montgomery player was speared in the back of the head (with no penalty having been assessed), the teams broke out into a 17-minute bench clearing brawl resulting in 19 players being ejected. Montgomery managed to overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull off the 1 point win. Although this was officially the second time these teams have played, the first meeting was actually fielded by players from the SSFL's Gulf Coast Raiders (a team owned by Michael Mink) due to the previously mentioned contract disputes. Following the loss, Michael Mink and John Morris decided to become more involved with arena football and purchased the Maulers franchise with Mink becoming head coach and Morris becoming general manager. Subsequently, a number of Raiders players have been signed to the Maulers roster, which has brewed speculation that the Raiders will be used as a farm team for the Maulers.

2006 playoffs Following a drumming by the top ranked Fayetteville Guard, the Maulers were 6-7 overall and surprisingly made the playoffs. Tied for 7th place in the conference with the Charleston Sandsharks who was scheduled in the final game of the regular season, the winner was to receive the final playoff spot (only 6 teams per conference would qualify). The Maulers lost the game 28-39, but Charleston's general manager Al Bannister had already stated the organization would skip the playoffs and focus on next season. It was noticed that the official NIFL web site had an asterisk by the team's name and stated no team with outstanding operational items (stats) would be eligible for the playoffs. Later, it was revealed the franchise had cheated by using at least six illegal players and also had outstanding fines due to administrative issues (not exchanging film with opponents or keeping statistics at home games). Subsequently, the Sandsharks were banned from the playoffs for the infractions, with the Maulers being awarded the sixth Atlantic conference spot. However this all proved academic as the Maulers lost in the first week of the playoffs on July 8 at Lakeland. Falling behind 27-0 in the first quarter, Montgomery stormed back but could not make the comeback falling 70-62; they ended their season 7-8.

After the 2006 season, the team announced they were changing their name to the Montgomery Bears and moving to the American Indoor Football Association.

Season-by-season

| colspan="6" align="center" | Montgomery Maulers (NIFL) |- |2005 || 8 || 6 || 0 || 1st Atlantic Central || Won AC Quarterfinal (M. Morays)Lost AC Semifinal (Rome) |- |2006 || 7 || 7 || 0 || 2nd Atlantic East || Lost AC Quarterfinal (Lakeland) |- | colspan="6" align="center" | Montgomery Bears (AIFA) |- |2007 || 5 || 9 || 0 || 5th Southern || -- |- !Totals || 21 || 24 || 0 |colspan="2"| (including playoffs)

2007 season schedule DateOpponentHome/AwayResultFebruary 10Mississippi MudcatsAwayLost 27-57February 26Carolina SpeedAwayLost 16-48March 17Tallahassee TitansAwayLost 26-30March 24Tallahassee TitansHomeLost 34-55April 2Mississippi MudcatsHomeLost 37-62April 7Florence PhantomsHomeLost 40-46April 14Baltimore BlackbirdsAwayWon 51-22April 21Carolina SpeedHomeWon 63-34April 28Reading ExpressAwayLost 57-73May 5Florence PhantomsAwayWon 48-40May 12Baltimore BlackbirdsHomeWon 58-11May 19Lakeland ThunderboltsHomeLost 32-34May 25Johnstown RiverhawksHomeWon 32-9June 2Lakeland ThunderboltsAwayLost 56-72

Current roster Name Height Weight Position School Fred Barnett 6 ft 8 in 303 lb DL Faulkner Ryan Tyrone Beneby 6 ft 4 in OL ASU Dante Booker 6 ft 3 in 285 lb DL Auburn Brian Bostick 5 ft 11 in 210 lb PK Alabama John Campbell 6 ft 2 in LB Kevin Campbell 6 ft 3 in 250 lb RB Troy Joshua J.C. Chambers 6 ft 2 in 280 lb DL ASU Markeith Cooper 5 ft 10 in WR Auburn Jermaine Copeland 6 ft 2 in WR Grambling State Monreko Crittenden 6 ft 3 in 253 lb OL Auburn Undrae Crosby 6 ft 4 in 290 lb DL UAB Silas Daniels 6 ft 0 in 190 lb WR Auburn Cliff Darrington II 6 ft 1 in 300 lb DL Lakeland High Roosevelt Echeverry 5 ft 11 in PK Tuskegee Santino Fitzpatrick 6 ft 6 in DE Reginald Glover 6 ft 1 in WR ASU Tyvon Green 6 ft 2 in QB Stillman Jonathan Harrell 6 ft 2 in 235 lb LB Northern Iowa Shaun Holmes 5 ft 10 in 202 lb WR ASU Eric Hudson 6 ft 3 in 230 lb LB ASU Ray Johnson 6 ft 2 in DB Miles Travis Lee 6 ft 5 in 290 lb DL Auburn Deon Lewis 6 ft 3 in 195 lb DB ASU Quincy McCall 6 ft 2 in 275 lb OL ASU James Prince 6 ft 1 in LB Morris Brown J. R. Richardson 6 ft 2 in 228 lb QB ASU Charlie Rollins 5 ft 10 in 205 lb RB Miles/ASU Nate Sconiers 6 ft 4 in 302 lb OL ASU Archie Smith 6 ft 0 in 175 lb DB ASU Clinton Smith 5 ft 8 in QB ASU Wesley Smith 5 ft 10 in DB West Georgia Craig Orlando Smith 6 ft 1 in WR Alan Thompson 5 ft 9 in DB Stillman Ryan Paul Vandervort 6 ft 4 in OL Samford/Delta St Keldrick Williams 5 ft 9 in RB ASU

Former players Jeff Aaron 6'3" 215 lb QB UAB Curtis Chance 6'3" 290 lb DL USF Chrys Chukwuma 6'1" 240 lb RB Arkansas Nathan McDaniel 6’1 265 lb DE UAB Tim Daniels 6'2" 265 lb DE Southern Octavius "Gator" Day 5'7" 160 lb WR Gulf Coast Jamaal Fletcher 6'2" 205 lb DB ASU Derrick Graves 6'1" 230 lb LB Auburn Antoine Hill 5'11 177 lb DB ASU Roger Medlock 6'5" 320 lb OL ASU Rodrice Merkerson 6'3" 220 lb WR Concordia College, Selma Julius Mills 5'11" 190 lb DB ASU Jay Newton 5'9" 175 lb WR ASU Machion Sanders 5'9" 190 lb WR ASU J.D. Verchuere 6'3" 290 lb C Gulf Coast Edward Grimes III 6'3" 230 lb WR

References

External links Official Website Bears' 2007 Stats