Card: ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: In Person 1992, San Antonio Riders v. Birmingham Fire
After leading the Pac-10 in punting, Kirk Maggio would be drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 12th round of the 1990 draft, but was be cut during the preseason by them as well as the Saints. He was quickly drafted in the second round of the positional draft of 1991 by the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF. Notably, during the 1991 season he’d fake a punt and complete a pass to runningback Ken Bell for 65 yards and a touchdown. By season’s end, Kirk’s 41.9 yard average was third in the league and his net average of 36.0 led the WLAF. He’d also manage to drop 20 kicks behind the 20 yard line. Kirk would be rewarded for his efforts by being named second team All World League that year.
Maggio returned to the Fire for 1992, and punted roughly half as many times as 1991. He’d still manage to check in with a 41.9 yard average and a booming 60 yard kick and a 34.3 net average but did not finish among the top three in any category. I’d get his autograph after the Riders finally beat the Fire in San Marcos in 1992. It was an extremely humid night game, and he like many players were kind enough to sign cards as the teams left the field.
This is a great card, and Pro Set did a great job of really making even this punter’s card look exciting, but note the vacant stands in the background underlining the WLAF’s financial and perception woes in the United States that would lead to the league being folded after the 1992 season.
Since the WLAF, Kirk has moved back to his home state of Maryland and put his design degree from UCLA to good work. He has become quite a good painter, especially of sports figures and NFL players. You can visit his website at: http://paintingsbymaggio.com/.
Sacramento had a very 90s color set that predated the Jacksonville Jaguars with Aqua, Light Gold, Black, and White.
BACKGROUND:
The Sacramento Surge were one of the founding franchises of the World League of American Football. Owned by Fred Anderson, the team also had Jack Youngblood working in the front office with Doug Cosbie. The Surge played its home games at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento.
The Surge was the winner overall when selecting team names- thanks in part to its connection to the computer industry in Northern California. The Surge name has a secondary meaning as Sacramento sits upon a river delta on the ‘surging’ Sacramento river- which gives the origin to the teal triangle behind the ‘S’ on the logo.
Coached by former Buffalo Bills and WFL player/coach Kay Stephenson, the Surge ran a variant of the West Coast offense. Future head coach Jim Haslett would take charge of the defensive line, linebackers, and special teams.
1991:
The Surge played their opener on USA Network against the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks and beat them 9-3. An initial crowd of over 15,000 showed up to watch the team notch its first victory in Sacramento. Throughout the season the team steadily improved its attendance figures and in their finale of 1991 against the Monarchs, over 21,000 fans showed up.
They’d also prove to be the Frankfurt Galaxy‘s Achilles heel, with the Surge sweeping two wins out from under Frankfurt, and preventing them from making the playoffs. That would be it for the Surge their initial season out of the gate, as they suffered some pretty bad breaks, losing two games in a row in overtime, and 4 other contests by 8 points or less. Sacramento in the end finished a disappointing 3-7.
At quarterback Mike Elkins virtually took all the snaps for the team after unseating Ben Bennett in training camp. At runningback the Surge were lead by the three headed monster of Victor Floyd, Paul Frazier, and Mel Farr, (who finished second on the team in receptions with 23 catches). Carl Parker was a machine, leading the team from scrimmage at wide receiver with 801 yards receiving and 127 more on punt returns. Along the offensive line Richard Stephens constantly was mentioned as one of the WLAF’s ‘most intriguing’ products at tackle, and John Buddenberg helped lead the way at guard.
The defense boasted former first round choice Shawn Knight at defensive end, while Pete Najarian championed the linebacker corps. Greg Coauette earned first team All-World honors at safety for his headhunting in the secondary, lining up next to equally intimidating Tom Gerhart.
1992:
In 1992, the team gutted a good portion of their roster starting at quarterback. The team made their best move up top bringing in savvy NFL veteran David Archer. Gone was the whole runningback stable, which was replaced most notably by Mike Pringle (who would go on later to become one of the CFL’s greatest players). Carl Parker remained at wide receiver, but much of the pressure was removed from him with the signing of another future CFL great Eddie Brown. Stefon Adams and Mark Stock also were brought in to improve the wide receiver corps.
Defensively, the team went in a new direction, now coached by Jim Haslett after the departure of Charlie Sumners. Among his players, the team was loaded up front after Curtis Wilson to Ohio to secure #1 overall pick George Bethune, and later in the draft future Seattle Seahawk, Mike Sinclair. Pete Najarian returned again to play linebacker, along with Mike Jones (who is the hero who made the tackle to stop the Titans from winning SuperBowl XXXIV). Tom Gerhart also was integral to the secondary, white Greg Coauette was traded, replaced by Louis Riddick and Herb Welch at safety.
Louis Riddick was a force to be reckoned with in the ’92 playoffs, notching an interception for a TD against Barcelona, and then forcing 2 fumbles (almost a 3rd) against the Thunder to help pace the Surge victory in World Bowl II.
The Surge turned it completely around in 1992, with 3 wins to start the season, they’d charge into week 4 and lose an exciting match to the Riders 23-20 in one of the leagues’ most best games in history broadcast on USA network. David Archer would be intercepted to end the game in overtime. They’d lose a second in a row to Birmingham, but again pick back up where they left off, winning the next 5 and beating the Riders in San Antonio to make the playoffs in a do or die contest. The Sacramento Surge then beat the Barcelona Dragons in the playoffs 17-15 and notched World Bowl honors with a 21-17 victory over Scott Mitchell and the Orlando Thunder.
The win or go home game that the Surge ultimately won over the Riders.
David Archer was named MVP of World Bowl II and captured the offensive MVP trophy. Wide receiver Downtown Eddie Brown, amazingly had over 1000 yards receiving en route to earning 1st team World Honors. John Buddenberg at guard also received World League Honors blocking up front for Mike Pringle. On defense, Mike Sinclair finished 2nd in sacks (10) and Bethune 3rd (7). Sinclair would be the only defender to earn WLAF honors.
NOTES:
Most notable about the Sacramento Surge is that they’d be the only North American Team to post a 3-0 record against the Frankfurt Galaxy.
The Surge also had hoped to draft Stan Gelbaugh in 1991 (after defensive assistant Jim Haslett encouraged Gelbaugh to return to play football), however they passed on him in their supplemental draft, and the Monarchs were able to take him instead.
Bill Goldberg was a notable name, as he’d later become a wrestler by the same name for primarily WCW.
American Airlines partnered with the WLAF to produce trading cards for the Surge in 1991- but as since they are not really ‘canon’ in the trading card market, I haven’t picked any of them up.
AFTERMATH:
After the 1992 season, the WLAF reorganized, but Sacramento would not be without football for long as Fred Anderson took his franchise to the CFL and became the Gold Miners. Unable to re-establish a fan base in Sacramento the team moved to San Antonio and became the Texans in 1995, but folded after the season when the CFL reorganized.
The Surge in the end though are still fondly remembered by many of the citizens of the city of Sacramento to this day. Although sometimes rumored to be a possible destination for the NFL’s Raiders, Sacramento would have to wait until 2009 for the return of a football franchise, in the form of the Mountain Lions of the UFL. -The franchise later folded in 2012.
The Surge name has lived on in lore however, and was adopted by a local soccer team in 2012. The name also had been thrown around as one of the finalists for the Seattle XFL 2020 team
Card: StarPics 1991
Acquired: In Person 1992, San Antonio Riders v. Orlando Thunder
Failure: TTM 2010, c/o home.
So there was no security at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos where the Riders played. This allowed me to meander down to the front of the stands and onto the field at half time. As Ivory Lee was galloping off to the locker room during half time, I crossed paths with him and asked him for his autograph. He smiled and kept jogging saying, “I got another half of work to do.” After the game he penned this Star Pics card for me.
Ivory Lee Brown graduated from tiny Arkansas-Pine Bluff where in his first season he rushed for an incredible 8.3 yards a carry and 1465 yards. An imposing powerback who could easily be mistaken for a fullback at 6’2″, 245, Brown was selected by the Phoenix Cardinals in the 7th round of the 1991 draft, where he’d be placed on the team’s developmental squad.
As the 1992 season opened up in the WLAF, the NFL made available many of its developmental squad members and future stars for the fledgling World League. The San Antonio Riders were looking for a replacement for their previous runningback Ricky Blake– and found the upgrade in the form of Ivory Lee Brown. The Riders were a classic offensive team built around a strong running game and tenacious defense. Ivory Lee would initially share the depth chart in the preseason with Tony Boles- but with Boles MIA by week 3, Brown would shoulder an increased workload for the team. By the end of the season Ivory Lee Brown would lead the WLAF in virtually all rushing categories with 767 yards, 166 carries, a 4.6 average, and 7 touchdowns. His 767 yards would be a league record and he’d be named first team All World League. A big, shifty runner, Coach John Robinson during a broadcast remarked how Ivory Lee was more of a deceptive finesse runner in the open field.
As the season came to close against the Sacramento Surge, optimism was riding high for the 7-3 Riders that 1993 would be their season- but that would never be as the league folded North American operations and did not reemerge until it was retooled to a strictly European format in 1995.
Brown would return to the Cardinals where he’d emerge from the practice squad and be moved into the starting lineup for Phoenix while incumbent runningback Johnny Johnson held out. He’d start 5 games and run for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns in relief of Johnson, but would not be resigned after the season. Brown’s history from there is sort of… a mystery as he drops off the face of the Earth, but from time to time his name comes up in conversation as he’s the uncle to current Minnesota runningback Adrian Peterson.
I wrote Ivory in June of 2010 hoping to get the former All WLAF back’s signature on his Wild Card 92 WLAF card at his home address through the Meiselman list, but have been unable to reach him up to this point.
WLAF G/Gs 10/10 Att 166 Yds 767 Avg 4.6 Lg 54 Td 7 |
Rec 9 Yds 54 Avg 6.0 Lg 12 Td 0
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
