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

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.

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
Season	League	Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
1991	WLAF	5	5	0	.500	2nd (North American East)	–	–	—	—
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

Personnel

Staff

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

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

Tight Ends

Vacant

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

Results

Week	Date	Opponent	Results		Game site	Attendance
Week	Date	Opponent	Final score	Team record	Game site	Attendance
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

1992 season