Orlando Thunder

Orlando Thunder
Helmet Logo
Year Founded	1991
Year Retired	1992
City	Orlando, Florida
Team Colors	Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White[1]
Franchise W-L-T Record	Regular Season: 13–7 Postseason: 1–1
Championships
World Bowls (0)

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 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. Despite the team's success early on however, the Thunder's attendance figures fell from over 19,000 per game in its first year, to just over 16,000 per game its second year, and the team was folded.

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.

The team's jersey was recently voted 2nd worst football jersey of all-time by ESPN voters.[1]

Season-by-season

Season	Division	Regular season					Post season results	Awards
		Finish	W	L	T	Pct
Orlando Thunder
1991	North American East	2nd	5	5	0	.500	—	—
1992	North American East	1st	8	2	0	.800	Won Semifinal (Fire) 45–7 Lost World Bowl '92 (Surge) 17–21	Galen Hall (Coach of the Year) [2]
Total			13	7	0	.650	(1991–1992, includes only regular season)
			1	1	0	.500	(1991–1992, includes only playoffs)
			14	8	0	.636	(1991–1992, includes both regular season and playoffs)

1991 season

Results

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

Roster

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 87 Bruce LaSane 89 Chris Roscoe 83 John Simpson 88 Byron Williams		Offensive Linemen 65 Doug Aronson G 73 John Durden T 61 John Guerrero G 52 Rodney Lossow C 77 Mike Withycombe T Defensive Linemen 70 Winfred Bryant DE 94 Charles Jackson NT 72 Robert Presbury DE		Linebackers 57 Wayne Davis ILB 55 Matt Devine ILB 56 Wayne Dickson OLB 95 Willie Walker OLB 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 CB/PR 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

1992 season

Results

Week	Opponent	Results		Game site
		Final score	Team record
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

Staff

1992 Orlando Thunder staff
	Front Office Majority Owner – Raj Bhathal Chief Operating Officer/General Manager – Dick Beam Director of Player Personnel – Pete Levine 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

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 84 Grantis Bell 86 Willie Davis 83 Chris Ford 80 Joe Howard-Johnson 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 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

Orlando Thunder Cheerleaders 1991	Orlando Thunder Cheerleaders 1991	Orlando Thunder Cheerleaders 1991

References

1. ^ "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org. http://www.ssur.org/research/TeamColors/Football_Outdoor/WorldLeagueOfAmericanFootball/WorldLeagueOfAmericanFootball.htm. Retrieved January 16, 2010. 
2. ^ Jerry Greene (May 29, 1992). "Thunder Coach Best In World". Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1992-05-29/sports/9205290551_1_thunder-head-coach-oliver. Retrieved August 3, 2010.