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Orlando Thunder

World League of American Football team

Summary

World League of American Football team

FieldValue
nameOrlando Thunder
bgcolor#5ADB3Cfontcolor = #00338E
leagueWorld League of American Football
founded1991
closed1992
locationOrlando, Florida
colorsLime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White
recordRegular Season: 13–7
Postseason: 1–1

Postseason: 1–1

The Orlando Thunder was a member of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992. The team played their games in the 70,000 seat Florida Citrus Bowl, and was coached by Don Matthews in 1991 and Galen Hall in 1992. The team's most visible point was their colors – the League wanted to develop new colors which hadn't been used for teams before, hence the vermilion and green that the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks wore, and the fluorescent green jerseys that the Thunder sported.

The team's general managers were Lee Corso and Dick Beam. In 1991 the team played to a 5–5 record, and in 1992 the team had an outstanding 8–2 record, and made it to the World Bowl II championship game before losing to the Sacramento Surge 21–17. The Thunder's attendance figures fell from over 19,000 per game in its first year to just over 16,000 per game in 1992. The team folded after the 1992 season with the rest of the WLAF's North American operations. The league would later use the team's name (but not its colors or history) for the Berlin Thunder.

Notable players include Kerwin Bell and Scott Mitchell, a left-handed quarterback who went on to play in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions and Dan Sileo, who went on to become a famous sports talk radio host.

In 2006, readers of ESPN's Uni Watch column voted the team's jersey 2nd worst football jersey of all time.

Season-by-season

SeasonLeagueRegular seasonPostseasonWonLostTiesWin %FinishWonLostWin %Result19911992Total1370.65011.500
WLAF550.5002nd (North American East)––—Out of playoffs.
WLAF820.8001st (North American East)11.500Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92

1991 season

Personnel

Staff

  • Majority Owner – Raj Bhathal
  • General Manager – Lee Corso
  • Director of Player Personnel – Jeff Beathard
  • Head Coach – Don Matthews
  • Offensive Coordinator – Galen Hall
  • Offensive Line – Bill MacDermott
  • Defensive Coordinator – Dan Daniel
  • Defensive Line – Pete Catan
  • Strength and Conditioning – Pete Catan

Roster

Results

Orlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"WeekOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"DateOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"OpponentOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"ResultOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"RecordOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"VenueOrlando Thunderyear=1991border=2}}"Attendance12345678910
San Antonio RidersW 35–341–0Florida Citrus Bowl21,714
Raleigh–Durham SkyhawksW 58–202–0Florida Citrus Bowl20,811
at London MonarchsL 12–352–1Wembley Stadium35,327
April 14at Barcelona DragonsL 13–332–2Montjuic Stadium40,875
April 21Birmingham FireL 6–312–3Florida Citrus Bowl21,249
at New York/New Jersey KnightsL 6–422–4Giants Stadium30,046
Frankfurt GalaxyL 14–172–5Florida Citrus Bowl11,270
Sacramento SurgeW 45–333–5Florida Citrus Bowl20,048
at Raleigh–Durham SkyhawksW 20–144–5Carter–Finley Stadium4,207
at Montreal MachineW 33–27 (OT)5–5Olympic Stadium23,493

1992 season

Personnel

Staff

  • Majority Owner – Raj Bhathal
  • Chief Operating Officer/General Manager – Dick Beam
  • Director of Player Personnel – Pete Levine
  • Director of Public Relations - John Giantonio
  • Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator – Galen Hall
  • Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Ken Karcher
  • Running Backs – Pete Levine
  • Wide Receivers – Wes Chandler
  • Offensive Line – Bill MacDermott
  • Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers – Charlie Bailey
  • Defensive Line – Mickey Mays
  • Defensive Secondary – Pete Kuharchek

Roster

1992 Orlando Thunder roster

Results

WeekOpponentResultsGame siteFinal scoreTeam record12345678910PostseasonSemifinalWorld Bowl
Ohio GloryW 13–91–0Florida Citrus Bowl
at Montreal MachineL 29–311–1Olympic Stadium
at Ohio GloryW 28–32–1Ohio Stadium
New York/New Jersey KnightsW 39–213–1Florida Citrus Bowl
Montreal MachineW 16–84–1Florida Citrus Bowl
at Frankfurt GalaxyW 38–05–1Waldstadion
at San Antonio RidersW 39–216–1Bobcat Stadium
London MonarchsW 9–07–1Florida Citrus Bowl
at Birmingham FireL 23–247–2Legion Field
Barcelona DragonsW 13–108–2Florida Citrus Bowl
Birmingham FireW 45–79–2Florida Citrus Bowl
Sacramento SurgeL 17–219–3Olympic Stadium

References

References

  1. "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org.
  2. "ESPN.com: Page 2 : The ugliest ducklings in sports".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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