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Outlawz fan sacked by defunct teamPaul Muschick
The Watchdog
August 27, 2009
Are you ready for some football?
Ken Querio of Kutztown has been ready since March, when he expected the Lehigh Valley Outlawz to kick off their fourth season of indoor football.
His wife bought him and his daughter season tickets for Christmas. He couldn't wait to don his team jersey and hit Stabler Arena for the games.
But no one donned team jerseys at Stabler in 2009, not even the players.
The Outlawz never took the field. But the team took Querio's money. Would it be a cheap shot for me to say the team lived up to its name?
Querio hasn't been able to get a refund for his $120 tickets, and doesn't even know if the franchise still exists or intends to play again.
He said his calls and e-mails to the team have gone unanswered.
''You're keeping all your fans, all your season-ticket holders, in the dark,'' Querio said.
I can't shed any light because I got blown off, too.
Outlawz President James DePaul didn't return calls to the team's Hellertown office -- which is empty-- or to his Souderton home.
Of course, he might not have much to say to me since an arbitration panel last month ordered DePaul and the Outlawz to pay The Morning Call about $6,500 to settle a lawsuit over unpaid advertising bills.
Three former Outlawz players, Dom Stewart, Zikoma Richards and Brandon Simmons, told me the team owes them money, too. Stewart said he's owed $500 to $600 in game checks. Richards said he's owed three games' worth of workers' compensation after being injured in 2007. Simmons said he's owed about $700 in playoff game checks from 2008.
The team also is facing a lawsuit in the firing of its former head coach, Gregory Justice, early last year. Justice sued DePaul and the team in Northampton County Court, alleging breach of contract. DePaul and the team, in court papers, say they had the right to end the contract at any time without cause. They allege Justice breached the contract.
Fans like Querio wouldn't have known about what was going on off the field. Querio, who had attended numerous games, was so excited about seeing every home game in the upcoming season that he checked the team and league Web sites for daily updates as kickoff neared.
He said the team announced to its ticket holders in January it would be leaving the Continental Indoor Football League and joining a new league, the United States Indoor Football League.
The team said the season would start in March, about the same time it had in past seasons. It was delayed until April, then May. Finally, there was an announcement saying the schedule would be out June 1.
It wasn't. The Web site hasn't been updated since May 30.
Jeff Spitaleri, co-owner of the Continental Indoor Football League, told me the Outlawz left after the 2008 season when their contract was up. He said the team planned to start its own league, the United States Indoor Football League, ''but to my knowledge that never happened,'' Spitaleri said by e-mail.
''They wanted to go into a different direction with a couple other teams in the league that had their contracts expire as well,'' Spitaleri wrote. ''It was unfortunate because they were a professional organization that did everything we asked of them.''
The United States Indoor Football League has an equally outdated Web site,
www.usifl.com , that shows the Outlawz as one of the teams. The phone number for the league -- which is based in Florida but has a northeast Pennsylvania area code -- is disconnected.
Sports fans shouldn't be surprised the Outlawz seem to have ridden off into the sunset.
With professional indoor football, franchises and even entire leagues come and go. Just this year, the top league, the Arena Football League, shut down after 22 seasons. It included the Philadelphia Soul -- 2008 champions -- and New York Dragons.
But that doesn't mean the games aren't entertaining, and it's no excuse for the Outlawz to mistreat fans like Querio. He said he was shocked the team ignored him because it had put on quality, family friendly events.
''It was a great organization,'' he said. ''I hate to say it in the past tense.''