 | |
| Founded | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2019 |
| Team history |
|
| Based in | Allentown, Pennsylvania at thePPL Center |
| Home arenas |
|
| Mascot | Talon |
| League | Indoor Football League (2011–2012)
Professional Indoor Football League (2013–2015)
American Indoor Football (2016)
|
| Colors | Black, Vegas gold, white |
| Personnel | |
| Head coach | Danton Barto |
| General manager | Michael Clark |
| Team president | Glenn Clark |
| Owner | Glenn Clark |
| Championships | |
| Conference titles (1) | PIFL:2014 |
| Playoff appearances (6) | |
| IFL:2012 PIFL:2013,2014,2015 AIF:2016 NAL:2017 | |
| Website | LVSteelhawks.com |
 Current season | |
TheLehigh Valley Steelhawks were a professionalindoor football team based inAllentown, Pennsylvania. The Steelhawks began play as anexpansion team in theIndoor Football League (IFL) in 2011.
The Steelhawks moved to theProfessional Indoor Football League (PIFL) in 2013, where they made their only championship game appearance, losing PIFL Cup III to theNashville Venom. The team joinedAmerican Indoor Football for the 2016 season after the PIFL folded, which lasted one season before that league also folded. They joined theNational Arena League for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The Steelhawks were the Lehigh Valley's second indoor football team, following the also-defunctLehigh Valley Outlawz of theContinental Indoor Football League (2005–2008). The Outlawz played their home games atStabler Arena inBethlehem, Pennsylvania until 2014. In 2015, they began playing their home games at thePPL Center onHamilton Street in Allentown.
Steelhawks owner Glenn Clark sought to sell the team following the 2018 season. After failing to find new ownership for the Steelhawks, the team suspended operations before the 2019 season.[1] The "hiatus" became permanent when no suitable buyer was ever found.
In July 2010, theIndoor Football League (IFL) announced that there would be an expansion franchise placed inLehigh Valley for the 2011 season.[2] It was also announced that the team would be owned by Glenn W. Clark, aWilmington, Delaware businessman.[2] Later in July the team announced that they had named Dan Kuhn as the team's general manager and would be holding a "Name The Team" contest was held to choose a name for the organization. Over 700 names were submitted and the top five were chosen by management.[3] These names were Vipers, Ironmen, Blast, Gamblers, and Steelhawks.[3] Fans were then asked to vote on the name they thought would be best for the team with over 70% of the votes being cast for Steelhawks.[4] Brooke Trautwein, the fan who submitted the Steelhawks name, was given a prize package that included season tickets and Steelhawks' merchandise.[4]
In August 2013, Clark announced that the Steelhawks would be leaving the IFL for theProfessional Indoor Football League (PIFL) after two seasons.[5] The Steelhawks finished in second place overall in the2013 PIFL season, but lost their semifinal playoff game.
The Steelhawks finished the2014 season with a 6–6 record and second in the National Conference. The Steelhawks defeated theTrenton Freedom by a score of 49–38 in the National Conference championship game to advance to PIFL Cup III.[6] where they were defeated 43–64 by theNashville Venom.[7]
In the2015 season, the Steelhawks announced that they would be moving to the newly constructedPPL Center.[8] They finished fourth overall in the PIFL and lost their semifinal playoff game to theColumbus Lions.
With the PIFL not having enough teams to remain viable, the Steelhawks moved toAmerican Indoor Football (AIF) for the2016 season.[9] The Steelhawks finished third in the North Division and made it to the division championship game before losing to theWest Michigan Ironmen. After the season ended, the team announced it would not be returning to the AIF for the 2017 season.[10]
On July 19, 2016, the Steelhawks announced they had joined the Arena Developmental League (which became theNational Arena League) as a charter member of the new league.[11] In theNAL's inaugural 2017 season, the Steelhawks finished in second place overall before losing at home to the third placeColumbus Lions in the semifinal playoff game.
Following the season, the Steelhawks franchise's only head coach Chris Thompson left the team to take an offensive coordinator position with theArena Football League'sAlbany Empire expansion team for the 2018 season. The Steelhawks hiredDanton Barto as the new head coach for the 2018 season and the team finished with a 0–15 record. At the end of the season, owner Glenn Clark and president Mike Clark announced the Steelhawks were for sale.[12] The team announced a hiatus prior to the 2019 season while continuing to seek new ownership. After closing up shop, the team's turf would be acquired by theIFL'sOakland Panthers, who now go by the Bay Area Pathers after a move to San Jose.
| League champions | Conference champions | Division champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| 2011 | 2011 | IFL | United | Atlantic | 2nd | 4 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 2012 | 2012 | IFL | United | 4th | 6 | 8 | 0 | Lost United Conference Semi-final 21–79 vs.Sioux Falls | |||
| 2013 | 2013 | PIFL | 2nd | 7 | 5 | 0 | Lost PIFL Semi-final 40–44 vs.Richmond | ||||
| 2014 | 2014 | PIFL | National | 2nd | 6 | 6 | 0 | Won National Conference Championship 49–38 vs.Trenton Lost PIFL Cup III 43–64 vs.Nashville | |||
| 2015 | 2015 | PIFL | 4th | 6 | 5 | 0 | Lost PIFL Semifinal 41–69 vs.Columbus | ||||
| 2016 | 2016 | AIF | Northern | 3rd | 6 | 2 | 0 | Won Northern Semifinal 54–52 vs.River City Lost Northern Championship 35–42 vs.West Michigan | |||
| 2017 | 2017 | NAL | 2nd | 9 | 1 | 0 | Lost Semifinal 50–52 vs.Columbus | ||||
| 2018 | 2018 | NAL | 6th | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 44 | 52 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2011–2018) | |||||||
| 2 | 6 | — | All-time postseason record (2011–2018) | ||||||||
| 46 | 58 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2011–2018) | ||||||||
SeeCategory:Lehigh Valley Steelhawks players
The following is a list of all Steelhawks players who have won league awards:
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