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 Season League Regular season Postseason Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result 1991 WLAF 5 5 0 .500 2nd – – — Out of playoffs. 1992 WLAF 8 2 0 .800 1st 1 1 .500 Total 13 7 0 .650 1 1 .500
1991 season
Personnel Staff
Roster
Results Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Source 1 San Antonio Riders W 35–34 1–0 Florida Citrus Bowl 21,714 2 Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks W 58–20 2–0 Florida Citrus Bowl 20,811 3 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 at New York/New Jersey Knights L 6–42 2–4 Giants Stadium 30,046 7 Frankfurt Galaxy L 14–17 2–5 Florida Citrus Bowl 11,270 8 Sacramento Surge W 45–33 3–5 Florida Citrus Bowl 20,048 9 at Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks W 20–14 4–5 Carter–Finley Stadium 4,207 10 at Montreal Machine W 33–27 5–5 Olympic Stadium 23,493
1992 season
Personnel Staff
Roster
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 2 March 28 at Montreal Machine L 29–31 1–1 Olympic Stadium 36,022 3 April 5 at Ohio Glory W 28–3 2–1 Ohio Stadium 31,232 4 April 12 New York/New Jersey Knights W 39–21 3–1 Florida Citrus Bowl 31,191 5 April 19 Montreal Machine W 16–8 4–1 Florida Citrus Bowl 8,310 6 April 25 at Frankfurt Galaxy W 38–0 5–1 Waldstadion 38,104 7 May 3 at San Antonio Riders W 39–21 6–1 Bobcat Stadium 12,555 8 May 9 London Monarchs W 9–0 7–1 Florida Citrus Bowl 20,268 9 May 17 at Birmingham Fire L 23–24 7–2 Legion Field 15,186 10 May 23 Barcelona Dragons W 13–10 8–2 Florida Citrus Bowl 12,223 Postseason Semifinal May 30 Birmingham Fire W 45–7 9–2 Florida Citrus Bowl 28,746 World Bowl June 6 vs. Sacramento Surge L 17–21 9–3 Olympic Stadium 43,759
References