| Berlin Thunder | |
 
| |
| Current team status: | Defunct |
| Based in | Berlin, Germany |
| Stadium/Home field | Olympiastadion (Berlin) |
| League | WLAF / NFL Europa |
| Team colors | Black, Green, Tan, Orange, White[1] |
| Team history | |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Folded | 2007 |
| Championships / World Bowl wins |
3: World Bowl IX (2001), World Bowl X (2002), & World Bowl XII (2004) |
| Uniform | 
|
The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe.
History[]
The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games from 1999-2002 were played at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark and one game in 2006. Olympiastadion was the home stadium from 2003 to 2007. They were the second team in league history to use the Thunder name, following the Orlando Thunder from 1991–92.
The Thunder won the World Bowl 3 times: 2001, 2002 and 2004 (a year that they went 9-1).
They also made it to the World Bowl in 2005, but were narrowly defeated by the Amsterdam Admirals. The final score was 27-21.
Two Berlin quarterbacks, Rohan Davey (2004) and Dave Ragone (2005), were named NFL Europe Offensive Most Valuable Players. Linebacker Rich Scanlon (2005) was named NFL Europe Defensive MVP. In 2006, the Thunder had three players earn All-NFL Europe honors: guard Chad Beasley and safety Anthony Floyd earned all-league honors at their respective positions and German defensive end Christian Mohr was honored as the national player on the defensive all-league team.
On April 1, 2006, the Thunder recorded their very first tie in franchise history. Trailing the Hamburg Sea Devils 17-0 at halftime, the Thunder erased their deficit to tie it up, going into overtime in which neither team could come up with a point. This was only the second tie in the history of NFL Europe. The previous tie came in the 1992 season between the Rhein Fire and the London Monarchs, also 17-17.
Logos / Uniforms[]
Season-by-season[]
| Season | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | |
| 1999 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 6th (in League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2000 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 6th (in League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2001 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 2nd (in League) | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | World Bowl IX champions |
| 2002 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 2nd (League) | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | World Bowl X champions |
| 2003 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 6th (in League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2004 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | 1st (in League) | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | World Bowl XII champions |
| 2005 | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 1st (in League) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Amsterdam Admirals in World Bowl XIII |
| 2006 | 2 | 7 | 1 | .250 | 6th (in League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2007 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 6th (in League) | – | – | — | — |
| Total | 42 | 47 | 1 | .472 | 3 | 1 | .750 | ||
Head coaches[]
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Postseason | Achievements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | GC | Won | Lost | Win % | ||||
| 1 | Wes Chandler | 1999 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | – | – | – | — | — |
| 2 | Peter Vaas | 2000–2003 | 40 | 19 | 21 | 0 | .475 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 World Bowl championships (IX, X) NFL Europe Coach of the Year (2002) |
| 3 | Rick Lantz | 2004–2006 | 30 | 18 | 11 | 1 | .617 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | World Bowl XII championship NFL Europe Coach of the Year (2004) |
| 4 | John Allen | 2007 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | – | – | – | — | — |
Notable players[]
- Richard Adjei - LB (Germany) (2007)
- David Akers - K (1999)
- Chris Barclay - RB (2007)
- Lang Campbell - QB (2005)
- Rohan Davey - QB (Jamaica) (2004)
- Anthony Floyd - S (2005)
- Chas Gessner - S (2004)
- Ben Hamilton - C (2002)
- Madre Hill - RB (2001)
- Israel Idonije - DE (Canada) (2004)
- Dave Ragone - QB (2005)
- Brian Simnjanovski - P/K (2005)
- Brian Waters - C/OG (2000)
- Phil Stambaugh - QB (2003)
- Ahmad Hawkins - CB (2002)
- Tony Pape - G (2005)
See also: Category:Berlin Thunder players
References[]
- ↑ Team Colors – NFLE. SSUR.org. Retrieved on 2010-02-20.
External links[]
- Berlin Thunder article at Wikipedia
Berlin Thunder
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Franchise Stadiums
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Head coaches:
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World Bowl appearances/Championships won (3)
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| Seasons | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 2000 2001 2002 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 | ||||||
World League of American Football/NFL Europa
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| Teams | ||||||||
Teams
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Teams (cont'd)
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| Seasons | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 no season | 1994 no season | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||||||||||
See also[]
- World Bowl
- Intercontinental Football League