Franco Grilla (born July 21, 1970) is an American former professional

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who played three seasons in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL) with the

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and

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played it ...

. He played

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at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

. He was also a member of the

Birmingham Barracudas The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States. History In the beginning Insurance ty ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL).

Early life

Franco Grilla was born on July 21, 1970, in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. He attended Piper High School in

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College career

Grilla was a four-year

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for the

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...

from 1989 to 1992. He set the school record with 103 consecutive

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s made and is second in career field goals made with 47. He kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired on a frozen field in

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in 1990 that gave UCF a first-round win in the

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playoffs against the previously unbeaten

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. Grilla was inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. He was also named to the ''

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s 25th Anniversary UCF Football Team.

Professional career

Grilla played for the

of the

(AFL) in 1994, earning second-team

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

honors. In February 1995, he was selected by the Frankfurt Galaxy of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

in the 1995 WLAF draft. He was waived by the Galaxy on March 19, 1995. Grilla signed with the

of the

(CFL) in May 1995. He dressed in six games for the Barracudas during the

1995 CFL season The 1995 CFL season was the 38th season of the Canadian Football League, and the 42nd in modern-day Canadian football. CFL news in 1995 Expansion, relocation, folding and realignment Two more United States–based teams were admitted, the Bi ...

, converting six of 12 field goals, 17 of 17 extra points, and three rouges. He also kicked off 26 times for 1,595 yards and posted two special teams tackles. Grilla was released by the Barracudas in August 1995. Grilla played for the

of the AFL from 1997 to 1998.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grilla, Franco Living people 1970 births Players of American football from Miami American football placekickers Canadian football placekickers Players of Canadian football from Miami UCF Knights football players Albany Firebirds players Frankfurt Galaxy players Birmingham Barracudas players Orlando Predators players Piper High School (Florida) alumni