Darius Fudge is the IFL's leading rusher for the Wranglers

The Allen Wranglers are nestled in the heart of Allen, TX, based out of the Allen Events Center. The center is located in the middle of a suburban mall, The Village at Allen, a great place for a family to come enjoy a football game, or a hockey game.

The setting is beautiful, and the town seems to be squarely behind the football team as they are with the Allen Americans hockey team. Local business have decided to promote their products at each game of, arguably, one of the highest profile teams in arena football not in the AFL.

The Wranglers have added legends to the front office and, maybe, a future NFL Hall of Famer on the field in Terrell Owens. Drew Pearson, General Manager of the Wranglers, who is a legend among Cowboys fans, still has a chance to make it into the Hall of Fame and was recently inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Early Beginnings

All of this is just a shadow of where this franchise was just a couple of years ago. The Wranglers were the Arkansas Diamonds and playing in the 18,000 plus Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, AR to just about 1,500 people. The franchise had been renamed from the Arkansas Twisters who set attendance records during its early years with the AFL2.

Then owner, Jim Smith, packed his goods and left town, unable to get enough “fans in the stands” a little over a year after taking over with two other co-owners.

The Twisters/Diamonds played in the 18,000 + seat Verizon Arena

Circumstances certainly weren’t the most helpful for Smith as he saw the dwindling attendance set in. First, the California Angels affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers, were able to get a nice new stadium built, just two blocks down, to make going to the ballpark for Spring baseball fans more enjoyable.

Next, the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team became a powerhouse hosting Regional rounds in the College Baseball World Series in Fayetteville.

Winning baseball gives fans something else to do in the Spring, and there just wasn’t enough to get fans to Verizon Arena. Further, the novelty of having Arena football in the state had worn off with many fans and then, Verizon bought out Alltel who had the naming rights to the arena.

Alltel was an ardent supporter of the old Arkansas Twisters, but Smith did not receive the same from Verizon. Verizon chose not to sponsor the Diamonds and, thus, the franchise suffered from the large price tag of playing in the arena.

So, the Wranglers go back to the days when it was once called the Arkansas Twisters in the AFL2. The road continued when the Twisters was ready to play again, but the AFL had gone out of business causing a ripple effect all the way down to the AFL2. When several teams from the AFL2 decided to start the AFL1, the Twisters decided to go to the Indoor Football League.

Actually, the Twisters originally decided to go with the AFL1, but later backed out deciding the price tag was too high. The IFL seemed to be a great fit as the Twisters would play several teams from Texas.

The Twisters changed their name to the Diamonds

However, there was the issue of name. The Twisters was owned by the Arena Football League. The team would not be able to keep the name. Therefore, Smith and the franchise had a contest to name the team, and, just a few weeks before the season started, the team was renamed the Diamonds.

The Diamonds were pretty good. They had a stifling defense, but the offense never seemed to gain momentum. The team went throughout the season winning games by very un-arena-football-like scores before signing veteran quarterback Brian Jones.

With Jones in the saddle at QB, the Diamonds went all the way to the Conference Championship. The team almost seemed destined to win a championship, and many of the veteran players were playing, seemingly, only for a ring.

On to Allen

With the move to Allen, Smith decided that yet another name change, would be appropriate for the new Texas team. The franchise, with the help of the city, held–you guessed it–a contest to name the not-so-new team. Fans chose the Wranglers, and he began rustling up a football team.

Smith signed a 10 year lease which would keep the Wranglers in one spot for a decade.

The Wranglers, like the Diamonds the year before, were good losing in the Conference Championship game, once again.

However, before the season was over, something happened to change the direction of the franchise.

Late in the 2011 football season, Sunjack Football, LLC became the new owners of the Allen Wranglers. Sunjack Football, LLC is a partnership of Jon Frankel and Michael Wilson. The duo took over as the Wranglers were playing for the post season.

The Wranglers play in the beautiful 6,500 seat Allen Events Center

Wranglers bring in Terrell Owens

Few really new what would happen with Frankel and Wilson in charge, but in late 2011, they made a bold move by trying lure NFL star Terrell Owens to Allen to play for the Wranglers. The move included letting him be a part owner of the team, and in early 2012, the deal was finalized and number 81 would be playing for the Wranglers.

Owens, who was recovering from surgery, was never picked up by an NFL football team for the 2011-2012 NFL season, so, he decided he would show the football world he something left. He did not disappoint as he caught three passes for 53 yards and three touchdowns in his first game for the Wranglers.

Terrell Owens now plays for the Allen Wranglers -- Photo by Brad McClenden

Sunjack Football, LLC also shocked the IFL by luring away the league commissioner Tommy Benizio who has an extensive background in semi-pro sports and was a founding member of the Indoor Football League which was once called the Intense Football League.

One of Benizio’s first interviews on the job was on the dfwfootball radio show (about 76 minutes in the show) as he talked about how excited he was to be in Allen and with the Wranglers organization.

A recent trip by the dfwfootball team by Chase Rader, Brad McClendon and myself was invaluable in seeing the franchise up close. We were very impressed with the Allen Events Center which we were told by Brittany Wynn, team Public Relations Coordinator, held about 6,500 fans. On that night, about 4,500 fans show up to see the Wranglers score 86 points, more than any of the teams playing in the NCAA College Basketball Final Four that same evening.

The crowd was very involved in the activities, Terrell Owens was clearly a fan favorite, the Allen Wranglers Cheerleaders were on top of their game and the team was one of the most explosive we’ve seen in a long time.

The Nebraska Danger who came into town, was a very formidable opponent, but in the end the Wranglers had too many weapons. Darius Fudge is quickly becoming a fan favorite as the leading rusher in the IFL, and Maurice Avery who filled in at QB for injured starter Casey Printers.

Avery who is a Wrangler receiver, played double duty and ended up being named IFL Player of the Week for his performance. Avery accounted for four touchdowns, one rushing, one receiving and two passing.

Players with Texas ties include:

• Jeremy Brown, WR — Texas A&M
• Aquainius Frazier, DB — East Texas Baptist
• David Pino, K — University of Texas
• Casey Printers, QB — TCU
• Dwayne Slay, DB — Texas Tech
• Romance Taylor, RB/WR — University of Texas
• Aaron Turner, OL — West Texas A&M
• Tony Washington, OL — Abilene Christian