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.
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Closed | 1992 |
| Based in | Sacramento, California |
| League | World League of American Football (NFL Europe) |
| Colors | Aqua, Light Gold, Black, White[1] |
| Franchise record | Regular season: 11–9 Postseason: 2–0 |
| World Bowls (1) | World Bowl II (1992) |
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 investor 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 | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Fred Anderson |
| General manager | Mike Keller |
| Head coach | Kay Stephenson |
| Home field | Hughes Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 3–7 |
| Division place | 3rd |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
Personnel
editStaff
editFront office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
| |||||
Roster
editQuarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
|
Offensive Linemen
Defensive Linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive Backs
Special Teams
|
Operation Discovery
| ||||||
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 | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Fred Anderson |
| General manager | Mike Keller |
| Head coach | Kay Stephenson |
| Home field | Hornet Stadium |
| Local radio | KFBK |
| Results | |
| Record | 8–2 |
| Division place | 1st |
| Playoff finish | World Bowl '92 champion |
Personnel
editStaff
editFront office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
| |||||
Roster
editQuarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
|
Offensive Linemen
Defensive Linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive Backs
Special Teams
|
Operation Discovery
| ||||||
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- ^ "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ^ 1991 Sacramento Surge Media Guide.
- ^ a b 1992 Sacramento Surge Media Guide.
- ^ "Around the league". Orlando Sentinel. March 30, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "Machine at Surge". The Sacramento Bee. April 4, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "Riders top Surge in overtime". The Sacramento Bee. April 12, 1992. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "QB Archer seeks 2nd NFL shot". Orlando Sentinel. June 6, 1992. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2012.