| Orlando Thunder | |
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| League: | World League of American Football (NFL Europe) |
| Founded: | 1991 |
| Closed: | 1992 |
| Location: | Orlando, Florida |
| Colors: | Lime Green, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, White[1] |
| 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 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.[2]
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | |||
| 1991 | WLAF | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 2nd | – | – | — | — | |
| 1992 | WLAF | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 1st | 1 | 1 | .500 | ||
| Total | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 1 | 1 | .500 | ||||
| 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: | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers: | N/A |
| No Prevseason: | true |
| Next: | 1992 |
| No Seasonslist: | true |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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), |
| Pro Bowlers: | N/A |
| Previous: | 1991 |
| No Seasonslist: | false |
| Next: | none |
| No Nextseason: | true |
| 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 | |||