Orlando Thunder
World League of American Football team
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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.
| Orlando Thunder | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Folded | 1992 |
| Headquartered | Orlando, Florida |
| Colors | Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White[1] |
| League / conference affiliations | |
| World League of American Football | |
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
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
| 1991 Orlando Thunder season | |
|---|---|
| General manager | Lee Corso & Dick Beam |
| Head coach | Don Matthews |
| Home stadium | Florida Citrus Bowl |
| Results | |
| Record | 5–5 |
| Division place | 2nd (North American East) |
| Playoffs | Out of playoffs |
| Pro Bowlers | N/A |
Personnel
Staff
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Strength and conditioning
| |||||
Roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Operation Discovery
| ||||||
Results
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 25 | San Antonio Riders | W 35–34 | 1–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 21,714 | [3] |
| 2 | March 30 | Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks | W 58–20 | 2–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 20,811 | [4] |
| 3 | April 6 | at London Monarchs | L 12–35 | 2–1 | Wembley Stadium | 35,327 | [5] |
| 4 | April 14 | at Barcelona Dragons | L 13–33 | 2–2 | Montjuic Stadium | 40,875 | [6] |
| 5 | April 21 | Birmingham Fire | L 6–31 | 2–3 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 21,249 | [7] |
| 6 | April 27 | at New York/New Jersey Knights | L 6–42 | 2–4 | Giants Stadium | 30,046 | [8] |
| 7 | May 4 | Frankfurt Galaxy | L 14–17 | 2–5 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 11,270 | [9] |
| 8 | May 11 | Sacramento Surge | W 45–33 | 3–5 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 20,048 | [10] |
| 9 | May 20 | at Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks | W 20–14 | 4–5 | Carter–Finley Stadium | 4,207 | [11] |
| 10 | May 27 | at Montreal Machine | W 33–27 OT | 5–5 | Olympic Stadium | 23,493 | [12] |
1992 season
| 1992 Orlando Thunder season | |
|---|---|
| General manager | Lee Corso & Dick Beam |
| Head coach | Galen Hall |
| Home stadium | Florida Citrus Bowl |
| Results | |
| Record | 8–2 |
| Division place | 2nd (North American East) |
| Playoffs | 1–1 (.500), Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92 |
| Pro Bowlers | N/A |
Personnel
Staff
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
| |||||
Roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Operation Discovery
vacant
| ||||||
Results
| Week | Date | Opponent | Results | Game site | Attendance | Source | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final score | Team record | |||||||||||
| 1 | March 22 | Ohio Glory | W 13–9 | 1–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 10,622 | [13] | |||||
| 2 | March 28 | at Montreal Machine | L 29–31 | 1–1 | Olympic Stadium | 36,022 | [14] | |||||
| 3 | April 5 | at Ohio Glory | W 28–3 | 2–1 | Ohio Stadium | 31,232 | [15] | |||||
| 4 | April 12 | New York/New Jersey Knights | W 39–21 | 3–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 31,191 | [16] | |||||
| 5 | April 19 | Montreal Machine | W 16–8 | 4–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 8,310 | [17] | |||||
| 6 | April 25 | at Frankfurt Galaxy | W 38–0 | 5–1 | Waldstadion | 38,104 | [18] | |||||
| 7 | May 3 | at San Antonio Riders | W 39–21 | 6–1 | Bobcat Stadium | 12,555 | [19] | |||||
| 8 | May 9 | London Monarchs | W 9–0 | 7–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 20,268 | [20] | |||||
| 9 | May 17 | at Birmingham Fire | L 23–24 | 7–2 | Legion Field | 15,186 | [21] | |||||
| 10 | May 23 | Barcelona Dragons | W 13–10 | 8–2 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 12,223 | [22] | |||||
| Postseason | ||||||||||||
| Semifinal | May 30 | Birmingham Fire | W 45–7 | 9–2 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 28,746 | [23] | |||||
| World Bowl | June 6 | vs. Sacramento Surge | L 17–21 | 9–3 | Olympic Stadium | 43,759 | [24] | |||||