Orlando Thunder

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Orlando Thunder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Orlando Thunder
Founded	1991
Closed	1992
Based in	Orlando, Florida
League	World League of American Football (NFL Europe)
Colors	Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White^[1]
Franchise record	Regular Season: 13–7 Postseason: 1–1

The Orlando Thunder was a member of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992 (known as NFL Europe from 1995 onwards). 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.^[2]

Season-by-season

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Season	League	Regular season					Postseason
Season	League	Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
1991	WLAF	5	5	0	.500	2nd (North American East)	–	–	—	Out of playoffs.
1992	WLAF	8	2	0	.800	1st (North American East)	1	1	.500	Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92
Total		13	7	0	.650		1	1	.500

1991 season

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1991 Orlando Thunder season
General manager	Lee Corso & Dick Beam
Head coach	Don Matthews
Home field	Florida Citrus Bowl
Results
Record	5-5
Division place	2nd (North American East)
Playoff finish	Out of playoffs
Pro Bowlers	N/A
1992 →

Personnel

[edit]

Staff

[edit]

**1991 Orlando Thunder staff**

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

Roster

[edit]

**1991 Orlando Thunder roster**

	Quarterbacks 12 Kerwin Bell 5 Tim Peterson Running Backs 25 Myron Jones 21 Eric Mitchell 27 Carl Painter KR 37 Tommie Stowers FB Wide Receivers 81 Alphonso Garcia 87 Bruce LaSane 89 Chris Roscoe 83 John Simpson 84 Wyatt Harris 88 Byron Williams Tight Ends 80 Dennis Smith 85 Dewayne Harrison		Offensive Linemen 65 Doug Aronson G 73 John Durden T 61 John Guerrero G 52 Rodney Lossow C 77 Mike Withycombe T Defensive Linemen 72 Robert Presbury DE 70 Winfred Bryant DE 94 Charles Jackson NT 91 Duane Duncum OLB/DE		Linebackers 57 Wayne Davis ILB 55 Matt Devine ILB 56 Wayne Dickson OLB 95 Willie Walker OLB 58 Greg Carpenter MLB Defensive Backs 26 Brian Covington CB 24 Bob Flenoid CB 23 Mike Nettles S 42 Billy Owens S 31 Rob Sterling S 20 Erroll Tucker Special Teams 6 Charlie Baumann K 2 Ray Criswell P		Operation Discovery 94 Helmut Joder DE 82 Steffen Nagurski WR 53 Dirk Reessing LB Rookies in italics

Results

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Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	March 25	San Antonio Riders	W 35–34	1–0	Florida Citrus Bowl	21,714
2	March 30	Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks	W 58–20	2–0	Florida Citrus Bowl	20,811
3	April 6	at London Monarchs	L 12–35	2–1	Wembley Stadium	35,327
4	April 14	at Barcelona Dragons	L 13–33	2–2	Montjuic Stadium	40,875
5	April 21	Birmingham Fire	L 6–31	2–3	Florida Citrus Bowl	21,249
6	April 27	at New York/New Jersey Knights	L 6–42	2–4	Giants Stadium	30,046
7	May 4	Frankfurt Galaxy	L 14–17	2–5	Florida Citrus Bowl	11,270
8	May 11	Sacramento Surge	W 45–33	3–5	Florida Citrus Bowl	20,048
9	May 20	at Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks	W 20–14	4–5	Carter–Finley Stadium	4,207
10	May 27	at Montreal Machine	W 33–27 (OT)	5–5	Olympic Stadium	23,493

1992 season

[edit]

1992 Orlando Thunder season
General manager	Lee Corso & Dick Beam
Head coach	Galen Hall
Home field	Florida Citrus Bowl
Results
Record	8-2
Division place	2nd (North American East)
Playoff finish	1-1 (.500), Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92
Pro Bowlers	N/A
← 1991

Personnel

[edit]

Staff

[edit]

**1992 Orlando Thunder staff**

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

Roster

[edit]

1992 Orlando Thunder roster

Quarterbacks

12 Kerwin Bell

11 Howard Gasser

19 Scott Mitchell

Running backs

22 Darryl Clack

37 Tommie Stowers

49 Roger Vick

Wide receivers

82 Dennis Arey

84 Grantis Bell

86 Willie Davis

83 Chris Ford

80 Joe Howard-Johnson
80 Kelvin Kelly

Tight ends

89 Michael Titley

Offensive linemen

73 Kevin Allen T

65 Doug Aronson G

77 Jerry Crafts T

64 Rick Cunningham T

52 Rodney Lossow C

68 Blaine Rose G

Defensive linemen

70 Winfred Bryant

78 Karl Dunbar DE

72 Robert Presbury DE

71 Dan Sileo DT

94 Willie Wyatt DT

Linebackers

91 Ricky Andrews OLB

53 Maurice Crum
56 Wayne Dickson OLB

51 Dean Witkowski

58 Greg Carpenter MLB

Defensive backs

20 Malcolm Frank CB

43 Todd Krumm S

23 Mike Nettles

26 Glenn Rogers CB

24 Efrum Thomas S

Special teams

1 Tracy Bennett K

88 Geep Chryst LS

2 Ray Criswell P

Operation Discovery

Rookies in italics

Results

[edit]

Week	Opponent	Results		Game site
Week	Opponent	Final score	Team record	Game site
1	Ohio Glory	W 13–9	1–0	Florida Citrus Bowl
2	at Montreal Machine	L 29–31	1–1	Olympic Stadium
3	at Ohio Glory	W 28–3	2–1	Ohio Stadium
4	New York/New Jersey Knights	W 39–21	3–1	Florida Citrus Bowl
5	Montreal Machine	W 16–8	4–1	Florida Citrus Bowl
6	at Frankfurt Galaxy	W 38–0	5–1	Waldstadion
7	at San Antonio Riders	W 39–21	6–1	Bobcat Stadium
8	London Monarchs	W 9–0	7–1	Florida Citrus Bowl
9	at Birmingham Fire	L 23–24	7–2	Legion Field
10	Barcelona Dragons	W 13–10	8–2	Florida Citrus Bowl
Postseason
Semifinal	Birmingham Fire	W 45–7	9–2	Florida Citrus Bowl
World Bowl	Sacramento Surge	L 17–21	9–3	Olympic Stadium

References

[edit]

^ "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
^ "ESPN.com: Page 2 : The ugliest ducklings in sports". www.espn.com.

v t e World League of American Football / NFL Europe / NFL Europa
Teams	Amsterdam Admirals (1995–2007) Barcelona Dragons (1991–1992, 1995–2003) Berlin Thunder (1999–2007) Birmingham Fire (1991–1992) Cologne Centurions (2004–2007) Frankfurt Galaxy (1991–1992, 1995–2007) Hamburg Sea Devils (2005–2007) London/England Monarchs (1991–1992, 1995–1997, 1998) Montreal Machine (1991–1992) New York/New Jersey Knights (1991–1992) Ohio Glory (1992) Orlando Thunder (1991–1992) Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks (1991) Rhein Fire (1995–2007) Sacramento Surge (1991–1992) San Antonio Riders (1991–1992) Scottish Claymores (1995–2004)
Seasons	1991 1992 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
See also	World Bowl Intercontinental Football League European League of Football

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