Arena Football League (1999-2003)
Tombstone
Born: August 23, 1997 – AFL expansion franchise12000 Buffalo Destroyers Media Guide
Moved: September 25, 2003 (Columbus Destroyers)22004 Columbus Destroyers Media Guide
First Game: April 30, 1999 (L 59-26 vs. New England Sea Wolves)
Last Game: May 18, 2003 (L 55-38 @ Las Vegas Gladiators)
Arena Bowl Championships: None
Arena
HSBC Arena (18,127)31999 Arena Football League Official Record & Fact Book
Opened: 1996
Marketing
Team Colors: Navy Blue, Red & Silver41999 Arena Football League Official Record & Fact Book
Dance Team: The Buffalo Bombshells
Ownership
Owner: Mark Hamister
FWIL FAVORITE
Buffalo Destroyers
Logo T-Shirt
The Buffalo Destroyers’ logo of a bison was a bit of a non sequitir, but it was appropriate in the sense that the Arena Football team was the last of a dying breed of lumbering beasts that once roamed that Buffalo’s sports landscape. The Destroyers followed on the heels of the Stallions, Blizzard, Stampede and Wings among the city’s noisy indoor sports promotions at the Aud and the KeyBank Center. But no such arena start-ups have been spotted in the wild since the last confirmed Destroyer sighting in 2003.
This Destroyers design is also available as a Long-Sleeved T, Women’s Tank Top and in Crewneck and as a Hooded or Crewneck Sweathshirt at Old School Shirts today!
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Background
A relatively undistinguished entry in the Arena Football League during the early 2000’s. The Buffalo Destroyers played five seasons in the league but never posted a winning record. In fact, the franchise lost 17 of its first 18 games across two seasons in 1999 and 2000, which put something of a damper on the team’s box office.
The Destroyers had their best success under Head Coach Ray Bentley from 2000 to 2002. Bentley, a former linebacker on the great Buffalo Bills teams of the early 1990’s, kept the team at more or less .500 in 2001 and 2002. He guided the Destroyers to their lone playoff appearance in 2002.
The Destroyers’ best known player was quarterback Browning Nagle, who handled the bulk of the snaps for Buffalo during the 2000 season. Nagle was a 2nd round draft pick of the New York Jets in 1991 out of Louisville and enjoyed a six-year journeyman career in the NFL that ended in 1996. Nagle threw for 35 touchdowns against 9 picks for Buffalo during the spring of 2000. They were numbers that would have delighted the Jets. But such stats were merely ordinary in the Arena league, where it was not unheard of for QBs to pass for 10 touchdowns in a single contest.
After the 2003 season, the Destroyers franchise moved to Columbus, Ohio where it remained until the league went bankrupt and folded in 2009.
Buffalo Destroyers Shop
Buffalo Destroyers Video
The Destroyers host the Tampa Bay Storm at HSBC Arena on July 2nd, 1999.
In Memoriam
Destroyers founder/owner Mark Hamister died of COVID-19 on August 20, 2021. Buffalo News coverage.
Links
Arena Football League Media Guides
Arena Football League Programs
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