Trenton Lightning

Indoor Professional Football League (2001)

Tombstone

Born: June 27, 2000 – IPFL expansion franchise¹
Folded: May 30, 2001

First Game: April 13, 2001 (L 52-25 @ Tennessee ThunderCats)
Last Game: May 19, 2001 (L 41-24 vs. Tennessee ThunderCats)

IPFL Championships: None

Arena

Sovereign Bank Arena (8,100)²
Opened: 1999

Marketing

Team Colors: Impulse Blue, Black & White³

Mascot: Zap (the Dog)

Ownership

Owners: Philip Subhan & Kenneth Samu

Background

The Trenton Lightning were an indoor football team that managed to play just six games – losing them all -during the spring of 2001.

The Lightning belonged to the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL), a fly-by-night indoor football operation that attempted to replicate the Arena Football League’s game in smaller markets. Arena Football’s founders actually had patents on the sport and sued the IPFL’s predecessor league for patent and trademark infringement. The IPFL got around the issue by playing without endzone nets, which were the key innovation of the AFL’s game covered by the patents.

When Trenton joined as an expansion team for the league’s fourth (and final) season in 2001, the league had just four other teams, placed haphazardly across the country in Boise, Knoxville, Omaha and St. Louis.

IPFL players earned only about $200/game so most of the players were local products. The Lightning roster was heavy on guys from Rutgers, Montclair State and The College of New Jersey. Former Denver Broncos halfback and return specialist Vaughn Hebron was the team’s Head Coach and biggest name. That’s him on the cover of the team yearbook at the top of this post.

Shenanigans

In late May 2001, just one month after the team’s debut, the Trenton Lightning disbanded after only six games. The team’s record stood at 0-6 at the time and the remaining ten games on Trenton’s regular season scheduled were cancelled.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the Lightning organization was built on a foundation of funds embezlled lead owner Philip Subhan from his clients. Subhan was an American Express Financial Advisor from Princeton, New Jersey. Subhan was indicted in 2003 and convicted on all charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison in April 2004.

During his fleeting escapade as a wanna-be pro football investor, Subhan also interfered in the financial affairs of the IPFL’s Boise Stallions franchise. Prior to the 2001 season, Subhan acquired the three-year old Stallions franchise as well, reportedly for a price of $125,000. The source of that money was unclear, with sources telling The Trentonian newspaper that Subhan was suspected of using Trenton Lightning accounts to purchase the Stallions, while leaving the Lightning itself under-capitalized.⁴

Unlike the Lightning, the Boise Stallions were able to complete the 2001 season. The IPFL, reduced to just four members after the embarrassing demise of the Lightning, closed its doors in late 2001.