ARKANSAS DIAMONDS NEW NAME FOR TWISTERS

Press Release from Team Office

North Little Rock, AR - Arkansas Diamonds is the new name of the Indoor Football League team that will be playing in Verizon Arena in North Little Rock this season. The Diamonds, formerly the Arkansas Twisters, were forced to go through a name change due to the dissolution of Arena Football and AF2, the league that the Twisters were part of for the last decade.

hen forced to change its name and logo, team officials asked the community to provide suggestions for a new team name and the overwhelming choice, mentioned on more than 60 percent of the responses was Diamonds.

"We asked our fans and the people of Arkansas what our new name should be and they responded," said Diamonds co-owner Jim Smith. "I think that this name is going to really create some excitement for our fans and it is what they wanted."

Arkansas, home to the eighth-largest diamond mine in the world and the only one in the United States, is proud to have the world's only public diamond mine and this new name reflects that state pride.

With the new name comes a new logo that was presented at an afternoon press conference at the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce offices on Thursday.

"We believe that there is going to be a lot that we can do with this new name and logo," explained Diamonds Director of Operations Troy Thompson. "We are going to have a contest for elementary school students to name the mascot and we have some interesting marketing opportunities that come along with this."

The Diamonds will be providing a drawing of the new mascot to each of the elementary schools in Central Arkansas and the students will be given the opportunity to color in the mascot and come up with a name. All entries will be collected and the winning student's suggestion will become the new name of the Diamonds mascot and that student will receive a special prize pack from the Diamonds, including tickets and other great gifts from the Arkansas Diamonds.

The Diamonds begin their first season in the Indoor Football League on February 28 at Corpus Christi. The seven-game home schedule begins on Friday, March 12 against San Angelo. For tickets and information, please call 501-975-5425.

Twisters 2010 Schedule Released

• Sun., Feb. 28 at Corpus Christi
• Sat., Mar. 06 BYE
• Fri, Mar 12 San Angelo
• Sat., Mar. 20 Austin
• Sat., Mar. 27 Abilene
• Sat., Apr. 03 Corpus Christi
• Sat., Apr. 10 BYE
• Sat., Apr. 17 at San Angelo
• Sat., Apr. 24 at Abilene
• Sat., May. 01 Odessa
• Sat., May. 08 Omaha
• Sat., May. 15 at Odessa
• Sat., May. 22 at Amarillo
• Sat., May. 29 at Austin
• Fri., Jun. 04 Amarillo
• Sat., Jun. 12 BYE
• Sat., Jun. 19 at Austin

Danton Barto named new Twisters Coach

Press Release from Arkansas Twisters

At a press conference held at the Holiday Inn Presidential in Little Rock, Danton Barto was introduced to the media and several long time booster club members and fans as the new head coach for the Arkansas Twisters.

Danton Barto capped his second season with the Manchester Wolves in 2009 with a second consecutive trip to the arenafootball2 league playoffs. In 2008, he lead the team to its most successful campaign in franchise history, when the Wolves advanced all the way to the American Conference championship game as the seventh-seeded wild card team before falling to the eventual ArenaCup champions.

Barto joined the Wolves after serving as the head coach of the Arena Football League’s Las Vegas Gladiators in 2007. Over the previous five years, he was the head coach of the af2 Memphis Xplorers and crowned his tenure there with honors as the af2 Coach of the Year and the ArenaCup Championship in 2005. During the 2004-05 season, Barto had the highest winning percentage of any coach in the af2.