Albany Metro Mallers
The Albany Metro Mallers were a semi-professional football team. The team has regularly appeared in national semipro playoffs and won the national semipro title in 2008, 2013, and 2016. Some of the team's players have gone on to play professional football.
The Seaboard League: NFL castoffs trying to make it back
After the team's first year in 1972, the Mallers moved into the Seaboard Football League in 1973, which had teams in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. They played their home games in Schenectady, New York, that year. Unlike most semipro leagues, which had only local players and did not pay their players, the Seaboard League teams brought in players from outside their areas, paid their players modestly and helped them find local jobs. League teams were able to attract numerous players who had been signed to NFL contracts, had been cut in the preseason, and were hoping to make the NFL eventually. More than ten of the Mallers had been in NFL camps. Later in the season, the team made an informal arrangement with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League to develop players for the Alouettes who had been released by that team., Three of the players on the 1973 Mallers (Bill Ellenbogen, Don Aleksiewicz and Gary Weinlein) played professional football eventually, although none ever played for the Alouettes.
Becoming amateurs
The Seaboard Football League folded at the end of that season, and the team joined the Empire Football League, a league with teams primarily located in Upstate New York that prohibited paying their players. The Mallers moved to Albany that year. They finished second in the league in 1975 and 1976, and won the league championship in 1979. In 1981, the team moved into the Eastern Football League, which had teams in Massachusetts and in New York State. The Mallers won the league championship, 12–9, on a 73-yard flea flicker touchdown pass thrown by wide receiver Mike DeCarlo that was deflected by a defender into the hands of wide receiver Davey Williams, who held on to it and then ran the remaining 50 yards into the end zone.
NFL players' strike: Some Mallers become replacements
In 1987, during the NFL players' strike, three members of the team were signed to play on NFL replacement teams (Dana Melvin, Robbin Williams and Joe Burke). Only running back Joe Burke, who had been named the 1986 American Football Association Player of the Year as the best semipro football player in the country, saw actual playing time, however. Burke returned to the Mallers in time to play in the American Football Association national playoffs in November 1987. The Mallers also were in the national playoffs in 1991, losing to the eventual national champion Brooklyn Mariners, 12–6.
2004 to 2017: Regional and national success
The Mallers finished second in the Empire Football League in 2004, and won the league in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 they won the United States Football Alliance (USFA) Eastern Championship. In 2007, the team again changed leagues, moving into the North American Football League. They won the Empire Division in their first year in that league. In 2008, the Mallers were named as the USFA and Minor League Football News (MLFN) National Champions. In 2011, the Mallers returned to the Empire Football League and captured the EFL title with a 26–14 victory against the Syracuse Shock. In 2013, the Mallers joined SPF-The League, a western NY-based league. The Mallers defeated the S. Buffalo Celtics to win the league title and win the USFA/USFF National title after travelling to Racine, Wisconsin, and beating the host Raiders, 26–14. In 2014, the Mallers moved to the Gridiron Developmental Football League.
Scott Lawson, record-breaking quarterback
Quarterback Scott Lawson, who has been with the Mallers since 1990, broke the all-time semipro football record for the most touchdown passes in a career when he threw his 379th touchdown pass on October 4, 2008, against the Troy Fighting Irish. He has continued to play, and as of the end of the 2009 season, he had increased his record to 415 touchdown passes.
The following Metro Mallers players played during the regular season for professional teams:
