Los Angeles Avengers Information & Los Angeles Avengers Links at HealthHaven.com

	Los Angeles Avengers
Conference	American
Division	Western
Year founded	2000
Home arena	Staples Center
City, State	Los Angeles, California
Head Coach	None
ArenaBowl championships	None
Conference titles	None
Division titles	1:; 2005
Wild Card berths	4:; 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007
Owner(s)	Casey Wasserman
Current status	Folded, April 19, 2009.
	Current uniform

The Los Angeles Avengers were an Arena Football League team based in Los Angeles, California from 2000 through 2008. They folded on April 19, 2009.^[1]

[edit] History

The Los Angeles Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center, which is also the current home to the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League. The team began play in the 2000 season. The Avengers competed in the Western Division of the American Conference. Since its inception in 2000, the Avengers had competed in postseason play five times. The Avengers earned American Conference wildcard playoff berths in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007, and won the American Conference Western Division Championship in 2005.

The Avengers franchise was owned by Casey Wasserman, grandson of the late MCA head Lew Wasserman.

On April 10, 2005, Avengers defensive lineman Al Lucas was injured attempting to make a tackle and later died at a nearby hospital. It is the only fatal injury incurred during a game in the history of the league. The Al Lucas Hero Award is named after him.

The Avengers annouced the termination of the program on April 20, 2009 after nine years of operation: "The LA Avengers has terminated its participation in the Arena Football League."

The Avengers official mascot was a superhero-like character named TD.^[2]

[edit] Memorable Avengers' highlights

On Sunday, March 30, 2003, in a Week 9 road game against the Orlando Predators, the Avengers trailed 63-58 late in the game. However, L.A. managed to recover an onside kick and on the very last play of the game, Quarterback Tony Graziani threw a 32-yard touchdown pass that flinged off the rebound net and was caught by WR/LB Greg Hopkins, giving the Avengers a 64-63 win. On the Arena Football League's 20 Greatest Highlights Countdown, this is at #19. Greg Hopkins would later coach special teams for the Avengers where he forced his players to do push-ups if they do not know the answers to his questions.^[3]

[edit] Season-by-season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season	W	L	Finish	Playoff results
2000	3	11	4th AC Western	--
2001	5	9	3rd AC Western	--
2002	8	6	3rd AC Western	Lost Week 1 (Tampa Bay 66-41)
2003	11	5	2nd AC Western	Lost Week 2 (Arizona 70-63)
2004	9	7	3rd AC Western	Lost Week 1 (Arizona 59-42)
2005	10	6	1st AC Western	Lost Week 1 (Chicago 52-45)
2006	5	11	5th AC Western	--
2007	9	7	2nd AC Western	Won Wild Card (Utah 64-42) Lost Divisional (Chicago 52-20)
2008	5	11	4th AC Western	--
Totals	63	77	(including playoffs)

[edit] Coaches

Head coach	Tenure	Regular season record (W-L)	Post season record (W-L)	Most recent coaching staff	Notes
Stan Brock	2000 - 2001	3-14^[4]	0-0^[4]		Let go after starting 0-3 during 2001.^[4]
Robert Lyles	2001^[5]	5-6^[5]	0-0		Replaced Brock, was not retained after season.
Ed Hodgkiss	2002 - 2008	57-53^[6]	1-5^[6]
Pat O'Hara*	2009	0-0	0-0	OC:Vacant DC / DB Coach: Maurice Blanding QB / WR Coach: Chad Salisbury DL / LB Coach: Leroy Thompson OL / FB Coach: Mark Tucker	Team folded before he coached a game.

[edit] Notable past players

[edit] Retired numbers

#76 Al Lucas – June 17, 2007
#82 Greg Hopkins – June 17, 2007

[edit] Notes

^ http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/04/20/daily3.html
^ LA Avengers: Kids
^ http://www.arenafootball.com/mediaPlayer/video.dbml?DB_MENU_ID=&SPSID=38064&SPID=3172&DB_OEM_ID=3500&CLIP_ID=25766&CLIP_FILE_ID=29255&CONTENT_TYPE=ONDEMAND
^ ^a ^b ^c "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Stan Brock". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=2. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ ^a ^b "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Robert Lyles". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=56. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ ^a ^b "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Ed Hodgkiss". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=58. Retrieved 2008-10-24.

[edit] External links

[0] ttp://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2009/04/20/daily3.html

[1] LA Avengers: Kids

[2] ttp://www.arenafootball.com/mediaPlayer/video.dbml?DB_MENU_ID=&SPSID=38064&SPID=3172&DB_OEM_ID=3500&CLIP_ID=25766&CLIP_FILE_ID=29255&CONTENT_TYPE=ONDEMAND

[AFOB-3] "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Stan Brock". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=2. Retrieved 2008-10-24.

[AFOL-4] "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Robert Lyles". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=56. Retrieved 2008-10-24.

[AFOH-5] "ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Ed Hodgkiss". http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=58. Retrieved 2008-10-24.

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