July 9, 2010

Flashback Friday- Erie Invaders QB Ryan Vena

Flashback Friday will be a recurring feature where we will take a look a past teams, players, and coaches from Erie Professional Football. Today we start with the Erie Invaders. The Invaders played one season in the Indoor Football League and were coached by Gary Tufford who led the team to a (6-8) regular season record. The Invaders and the Indoor Football League featured many players and personalities who would go on to achieve great success in indoor and arena football.

Current Iowa Barnstormers (AFL) Starting QB Ryan Vena spent time at the Tullio Arena during the 2000 season with the Invaders. The Colgate University product got his start in indoor football as a backup to Erie starting quarterback Chris Weibel. Vena has put together one of the most prolific careers of any player at his position over the past decade in the Arena Football League and AF2. A perennial all-league performer; Vena has the distinction of passing for over 500 Touchdowns in his career, was selected as the 2007 Arena Cup MVP, and the 2007 AF2 Offensive Player of the Year. This roots to this tremendous career can be traced back to the Tullio Arena in 2000 with the Erie Invaders.

Stay posted as I plan to upload some archived footage of the Erie Invaders from the 2000 IFL season in a future article. To catch up on what Ryan Vena is doing today visit http://www.ryan7vena.com