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Sacramento Surge

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Sacramento Surge
Founded1991
Closed1992
Based inSacramento, California
LeagueWorld League of American Football (NFL Europe)
ColorsAqua, Light Gold, Black, White[1]
       
Franchise recordRegular season: 11–9
Postseason: 2–0
World Bowls (1)World Bowl II (1992)

The Sacramento Surge was a professional American football team that played in the World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991 and 1992. The team played its first season at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, and the second season in Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State University campus. It was owned by Managing General Partner Fred Anderson and the General Manager was Michael F. Keller. In charge of Special Projects was Jack Youngblood, who also partnered with Joe Starkey and Ronnie Lott on Surge radio broadcasts on Sacramento radio station KRAK.

The team was coached by former Buffalo Bills quarterback–head coach Kay Stephenson. Charlie Sumner was the defensive coordinator and Jim Haslett was a defensive assistant coach.

The inaugural 1991 season was disappointing for the seven North American teams as none had a winning season, but 3-7 Sacramento managed to provide the only winning record over a Europe based team, 2-0 versus Frankfurt Galaxy, as this was the team they played twice, with the second win at the end of the regular season helping to eliminate Frankfurt Galaxy from the play-offs. Considered the WLAF's second best team, and having just won in Barcelona to secure the tie breaker, all 7-2 Frankfurt had to do was to beat the Surge at home in front of a sell-out crowd of 51,653. Yet, both the clouds and the Surge rained on the Galaxy parade into the semifinals. Two days later, the 9-0 London Monarchs dropped their home match against the Barcelona Dragons which made the Dragons clinch the play-offs instead. After winning the semifinals on US soil, both European franchises met again in Wembley for the World Bowl and a Monarchs shut-out over the Dragons.

The Surge won the World Bowl in 1992, the only United States based team to do so, as the WLAF was discontinued after 1992, returning in 1995 as NFL Europe. On this championship team were future professional wrestler Bill Goldberg and investment guru Pete Najarian.

After the WLAF ended its American presence at the end of the 1992 season, Anderson continued Sacramento's presence in professional football by acquiring a Canadian Football League expansion franchise for 1993. The new team was named the Sacramento Gold Miners; Stephenson and several Surge players were retained in the change, as were the team colors of aqua and yellow. After 1994, with new US-based CFL expansions, the franchise moved to Texas into the Alamodome. After the 1995 season the CFL presence in the US ended, and so did the San Antonio Texans.

Since 2021, the "Surge" name is used in a franchise for the "Stuttgart Surge" in the newly established "European League of Football" which sees itself as a continuation of WLAF and NFL Europe, having an agreement with the NFL to use "old" franchise names, logos and colors. With the Sacramento Surge having both a 3-0 all-time winning record against the "old" Frankfurt Galaxy name that was revived, and Surge being in line with the S alliteration of team names Stuttgart Scorpions and "Stuttgart Stallions" that were established in the early 1980s as amateur clubs, the Stuttgart fans and members haven chosen to use "Surge" in the EFL, and to continue as Scorpions in the national GFL.

Season-by-season

[edit]
Season League Regular season Postseason
Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
1991 WLAF 3 7 0 .300 3rd (North American West)
1992 WLAF 8 2 0 .800 1st (North American West) 2 0 1.000 World Bowl '92 champions
Total 11 9 0 .550 2 0 1.000

1991 season

[edit]
1991 Sacramento Surge season
OwnerFred Anderson
General managerMike Keller
Head coachKay Stephenson
Home fieldHughes Stadium
Results
Record3–7
Division place3rd
Playoff finishdid not qualify

Personnel

[edit]

Staff

[edit]
1991 Sacramento Surge staff
Front office
  • Managing General Partner – Fred Anderson
  • General manager – Mike Keller
  • Assistant to the General Manager – Cliff Dochterman
  • Special Projects – Jack Youngblood
  • Director of Community Relations – Doug Cosbie
  • Player Personnel Consultant – Bob Griffin
  • Player Personnel Consultant – Lannie Julias

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

  • Running backs/wide receivers – Bob Owens
  • Offensive line – Jim Criner
  • Offensive assistant – Mike Weston
Defensive coaches
  • Defensive coordinator/defensive backs – Charlie Sumner
  • Defensive line/linebackers/special teams – Jim Haslett
  • Defensive assistant – Bob Moran


[2]

Roster

[edit]
1991 Sacramento Surge roster
Quarterbacks
  • 11 Todd Ellis

Running Backs

  • 28 Tony Burse
  • 26 Victor Floyd
  • 20 Paul Frazier
  • 22 Leon Perry

Wide Receivers

  • -- Sam Archer
  • 88 Chris Gaiters
  • 87 Colin Sumner

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen
  • 72 John Buddenberg G
  • 67 Jon Burman T
  • 54 Byron Forsythe C
  • 75 Mark Nua T
  • 76 Doug Robb G
  • 62 Richard Stephens T
  • 51 Curtis Wilson C

Defensive Linemen

  • 65 John Dominic
  • 71 Saute Sapolu DE
Linebackers
  • 56 Tim Moore OLB
  • 58 Paul Soltis ILB
  • 95 Steve Thompson OLB/DE
  • 59 Rick Zumwalt OLB

Defensive Backs

  • 27 Mike Adams CB
  • 33 Greg Coauette SS
  • 45 Tom Gerhart FS
  • 24 Mike Hall CB
  • 29 Art Malone DB
  • 21 Robert McWright CB
  • 25 Mike Wallace CB

Special Teams

  •  2 John Nies K/P
  • -- Kendall Trainor K
Operation Discovery
  • 83 Ricardo Cartwright WR
The Bahamas
  • 79 Oliver Erhorn DL
Germany
  • 57 Matti Lindholm ILB
Finland
  • 74 Juha Salo OL
Finland


Rookies in italics

Schedule

[edit]
Week Date Opponent Results Game site Attendance
Final score Team record
1 Saturday, March 23 Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks W 9–3 1–0 Hughes Stadium 15,126
2 Saturday, March 30 at Birmingham Fire L 10–17 1–1 Legion Field 16,432
3 Sunday, April 7 at San Antonio Riders L 3–10 1–2 Alamo Stadium 6,772
4 Saturday, April 13 Frankfurt Galaxy W 16–10 2–2 Hughes Stadium 17,065
5 Monday, April 22 at New York/New Jersey Knights L 20–28 2–3 Giants Stadium 21,230
6 Saturday, April 27 Barcelona Dragons L 20–29 (OT) 2–4 Hughes Stadium 19,045
7 Saturday, May 4 Montreal Machine L 23–26 (OT) 2–5 Hughes Stadium 17,326
8 Saturday, May 11 at Orlando Thunder L 33–45 2–6 Florida Citrus Bowl 20,048
9 Saturday, May 18 London Monarchs L 21–45 2–7 Hughes Stadium 21,409
10 Saturday, May 25 at Frankfurt Galaxy W 24–13 3–7 Waldstadion 51,653

1992 season

[edit]
1992 Sacramento Surge season
OwnerFred Anderson
General managerMike Keller
Head coachKay Stephenson
Home fieldHornet Stadium
Local radioKFBK
Results
Record8–2
Division place1st
Playoff finishWorld Bowl '92 champion

Personnel

[edit]

Staff

[edit]
1992 Sacramento Surge staff
Front office
  • Managing General Partner – Fred Anderson
  • Partner – Dave Lucchetti
  • Partner – Jim Anderson
  • Partner – Bill Pullum
  • Partner – Dick Baker
  • General manager – Mike Keller
  • Assistant to the General Manager – Cliff Dochterman
  • Director of Marketing Operations – Jack Youngblood
  • Director of Community Relations – Doug Cosbie
  • Player Personnel Consultant – Bob Griffin
  • Player Personnel Consultant – Lannie Julias

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

  • Running backs – Bob Owens
  • Wide receivers – Bob Moran
  • Offensive line – Jim Criner
Defensive coaches
  • Defensive coordinator/linebackers – Jim Haslett
  • Defensive line – Jim Niblack
  • Defensive backs – John Fontes
  • Defensive assistant – Rick Mueller


[3]

Roster

[edit]
1992 Sacramento Surge roster
Quarterbacks
  •  5 Mickey Guidry

Running Backs

  • 28 Tony Burse

Wide Receivers

  • 89 Anthony Green

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen
  • 72 John Buddenberg G
  • 54 Byron Forsythe G/C
  • 52 Terry Gray G
  • 76 Jarrod Johnson OL
  • 70 Ernie Rogers T
  • 62 Richard Stephens T
  • 51 Josh Taotoai OL

Defensive Linemen

  • 79 Vance Hammond DT
  • 77 David Westbrooks DE
Linebackers
  • 95 Corian Freeman OLB
  • 52 Paul Liggett MLB
  • 56 Basil Proctor OLB
  • 58 Randy Thornton

Defensive Backs

  • 45 Tom Gerhart S
  • 44 Derrick Kelson CB
  • 21 Robert McWright CB

Special Teams

Operation Discovery
  • Vacant


Rookies in italics

[3]

Schedule

[edit]
Week Date Kickoff Opponent Results Game site Attendance
Final score Team record
1 Saturday, March 21 Birmingham Fire W 20–6 1–0 Hornet Stadium 17,920
2 Sunday, March 29 at Ohio Glory W 17–6 2–0 Ohio Stadium 37,837[4]
3 Saturday, April 4 2:00 p.m.[5] Montreal Machine W 14–7 3–0 Hornet Stadium 21,024
4 Saturday, April 11 San Antonio Riders L 20–23 (OT) 3–1 Hornet Stadium 20,625[6]
5 Saturday, April 18 at Birmingham Fire L 14–28 3–2 Legion Field 20,794
6 Sunday, April 26 at London Monarchs W 31–26 4–2 Wembley Stadium 18,653
7 Sunday, May 3 at Montreal Machine W 35–21 5–2 Olympic Stadium 21,183
8 Saturday, May 9 Frankfurt Galaxy W 51–7 6–2 Hornet Stadium 22,720
9 Saturday, May 16 Ohio Glory W 21–7 7–2 Hornet Stadium 21,272
10 Saturday, May 23 at San Antonio Riders W 27–21 8–2 Bobcat Stadium 19,273
Postseason
Semifinal Sunday, May 31 Barcelona Dragons W 17–15 9–2 Hornet Stadium 23,640
World Bowl Saturday, June 6 8:10 p.m.[7] Orlando Thunder W 21–17 10–2 Olympic Stadium 43,789

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  2. ^ 1991 Sacramento Surge Media Guide.
  3. ^ a b 1992 Sacramento Surge Media Guide.
  4. ^ "Around the league". Orlando Sentinel. March 30, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  5. ^ "Machine at Surge". The Sacramento Bee. April 4, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  6. ^ "Riders top Surge in overtime". The Sacramento Bee. April 12, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  7. ^ "QB Archer seeks 2nd NFL shot". Orlando Sentinel. June 6, 1992. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
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