Orlando Thunder
World League of American Football team
title: "Orlando Thunder" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["orlando-thunder", "nfl-europe-(wlaf)-teams", "defunct-american-football-teams-in-florida", "american-football-teams-in-orlando,-florida", "american-football-teams-established-in-1991", "american-football-teams-disestablished-in-1992", "1991-establishments-in-florida", "1992-disestablishments-in-florida"] description: "World League of American Football team" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Thunder" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary World League of American Football team ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox American football team"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Orlando Thunder |
| bgcolor | #5ADB3C |
| league | World League of American Football |
| founded | 1991 |
| closed | 1992 |
| location | Orlando, Florida |
| colors | Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White |
|
| record | Regular Season: 13–7 Postseason: 1–1 | ::
| name = Orlando Thunder | bgcolor = #5ADB3C | fontcolor = #00338E | helmet = | logo = | league = World League of American Football | founded = 1991 | closed = 1992 | field = | location = Orlando, Florida | colors = Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White
| mascot = | coach = | 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. 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
::data[format=table]
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason | Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | 1991 | 1992 | Total | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 1 | 1 | .500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WLAF | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 2nd (North American East) | – | – | — | Out of playoffs. | |||||||||||||
| WLAF | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 1st (North American East) | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92 | |||||||||||||
| :: |
1991 season
|team = Orlando Thunder |year = 1991 |coach = Don Matthews |stadium = Florida Citrus Bowl |general_manager = Lee Corso & Dick Beam | division_place = 2nd (North American East) | record = 5-5 | playoffs = Out of playoffs | pro bowlers = N/A
| no_prevseason = true | next = 1992 | no_seasonslist = true
Personnel
Staff
|Year=1991 |Team=Orlando Thunder |BC1=#5ADB3C |FC1=white |BDC1=#00338E |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
|Year=1991 |Team=Orlando Thunder |BC1=#5ADB3C |FC1=white |BDC1=#00338E |Quarterbacks= |Running Backs= |Wide Receivers= |Tight Ends= |Offensive Linemen= |Defensive Linemen= |Linebackers= |Defensive Backs= |Special Teams= |Operation Discovery=
Results
::data[format=table] | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Week | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Date | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Opponent | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Result | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Record | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Venue | Orlando Thunder|year=1991|border=2}}"| Attendance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | San Antonio Riders | W 35–34 | 1–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 21,714 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks | W 58–20 | 2–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 20,811 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | at London Monarchs | L 12–35 | 2–1 | Wembley Stadium | 35,327 | | | | | | | | | | | | | April 14 | at Barcelona Dragons | L 13–33 | 2–2 | Montjuic Stadium | 40,875 | | | | | | | | | | | | | April 21 | Birmingham Fire | L 6–31 | 2–3 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 21,249 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | at New York/New Jersey Knights | L 6–42 | 2–4 | Giants Stadium | 30,046 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Frankfurt Galaxy | L 14–17 | 2–5 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 11,270 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sacramento Surge | W 45–33 | 3–5 | Florida Citrus Bowl | 20,048 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | at Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks | W 20–14 | 4–5 | Carter–Finley Stadium | 4,207 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | at Montreal Machine | W 33–27 (OT) | 5–5 | Olympic Stadium | 23,493 | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
1992 season
|team = Orlando Thunder |year = 1992 |coach = Galen Hall |stadium = Florida Citrus Bowl |general_manager = Lee Corso & Dick Beam | division_place = 2nd (North American East) | record = 8-2 | playoffs = 1-1 (.500), Lost to Sacramento Surge in World Bowl '92 | pro bowlers = N/A | previous = 1991 | no_seasonslist = false | next = none | no_nextseason = true
Personnel
Staff
|Year=1992 |Team=Orlando Thunder |BC1=#5ADB3C |FC1=white |BDC1=#00338E |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 |Strength and Conditioning=
Roster
::data[format=table]
| 1992 Orlando Thunder roster |
|---|
| :: |
Results
::data[format=table]
| Week | Opponent | Results | Game site | Final score | Team record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Postseason | Semifinal | World Bowl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Glory | W 13–9 | 1–0 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| at Montreal Machine | L 29–31 | 1–1 | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| at Ohio Glory | W 28–3 | 2–1 | Ohio Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| New York/New Jersey Knights | W 39–21 | 3–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| Montreal Machine | W 16–8 | 4–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| at Frankfurt Galaxy | W 38–0 | 5–1 | Waldstadion | |||||||||||||||
| at San Antonio Riders | W 39–21 | 6–1 | Bobcat Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| London Monarchs | W 9–0 | 7–1 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| at Birmingham Fire | L 23–24 | 7–2 | Legion Field | |||||||||||||||
| Barcelona Dragons | W 13–10 | 8–2 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| Birmingham Fire | W 45–7 | 9–2 | Florida Citrus Bowl | |||||||||||||||
| Sacramento Surge | L 17–21 | 9–3 | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| :: |
References
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::