The Sacramento Surge was a professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team that played in 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 ...

(WLAF) in 1991 and 1992. The team played its first season at

Hughes Stadium Hughes Stadium may refer to: *Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S. *Charles C. Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California, U.S. *Hughes Stadium (Morgan State) Hughes Stadium, also known as The Den, is a multi-purpo ...

in Sacramento, and the second season in Hornet Stadium on the

Sacramento State University California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

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 Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

, who also partnered with Joe Starkey and

Ronnie Lott Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons from 1981 to 1994. Lott played college football for the University of Southern California (USC), and ...

on Surge radio broadcasts on Sacramento radio station KRAK. The team was coached by former

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

quarterback–head coach

Kay Stephenson George Kay Stephenson (born December 17, 1944) is an American former professional football player and coach, whose latter career has seen him work in four different leagues. Stephenson played quarterback for the American Football League's San ...

. Charlie Sumner was the defensive coordinator and

Jim Haslett James Donald Haslett (born December 9, 1955) is an American football coach and former linebacker who was most recently the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being dra ...

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 The London Monarchs were a professional American football team in NFL Europe and its predecessor league, the World League of American Football (WLAF). The Monarchs played their final season in 1998 as the England Monarchs. In 1999, they were re ...

dropped their home match against the

Barcelona Dragons Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Barcelona Dragons: * Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe) The Barcelona Dragons were an American football team that was a part of the World League of American Football and later in the res ...

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 The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football, later called NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The first World Bowl was played ...

and a Monarchs shut-out over the Dragons. The Surge won the

in 1992, the only

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known Mononymous person, mononymously as Goldberg, is an American professional wrestler, actor and former American football defensive tackle. He is signed to WWE. He is best known for his ten ...

and investor

Pete Najarian Peter Michael Najarian is an American options trader, television personality, market analyst, and co-founder of options news and education firm optionMONSTER. Along with his brother, Jon Najarian, he founded an online brokerage called trad ...

. 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 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 ...

expansion franchise for 1993. The new team was named the

Sacramento Gold Miners The Sacramento Gold Miners were a Canadian football team based in Sacramento, California. The franchise was the first American team in the Canadian Football League. The Gold Miners inherited a home stadium, front office staff, and much of the ro ...

; 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 The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League (CFL) team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Mi ...

. Since 2021, the "Surge" name is used in a franchise for the "

Stuttgart Surge The Stuttgart Surge are an American football team based in Stuttgart, Germany. They play in the European League of Football (ELF) as part of the league's Devision West . The team plays its home games at the Gazi Stadion (full name with sponsor ' ...

" in the newly established "

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...

" 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 The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württembe ...

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

1991 season

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Schedule

1992 season

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Schedule

References

External links

1991 Sacramento Surge stats on FootballDB.com

1991 Sacramento Surge stats on FootballDB.com
{{Sacramento Gold Miners NFL Europe (WLAF) teams American football teams established in 1991 American football teams disestablished in 1992 American football teams in Sacramento, California Defunct American football teams in California 1991 establishments in California 1992 disestablishments in California