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San Antonio Riders
Riders
SARiders
Helmet Logo
Year Founded 1991
Year Retired 1992
City San Antonio, Texas
Team Colors Brown, Metallic Gold, Burnt Orange, White, Scarlet, Blue, Vegas Gold [1]
                                  
Franchise W-L-T Record Regular Season: 11–9
Championships
World Bowls (0)



The San Antonio Riders were a professional American football team that played in the WLAF in 1991 and 1992. The team played in the Alamo Stadium in 1991 and then were forced to move to Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos, Texas for the 1992 season.

The team was owned by Larry Benson, the brother of Tom Benson (owner of the New Orleans Saints of the NFL). The general managers were Tom Landry (Pro Football Hall of Fame coach) and Tom Landry, Jr.

The team's record in 1991 was 4-6. San Antonio turned things around in 1992 with a mark of 7-3. The Riders were not able to compete in the highly competitive North American West Division during the 1992 season, and like the Frankfurt Galaxy of 1991, they did not make the playoffs despite a 7-3 record.

Former players include professional wrestler John "Bradshaw" Layfield, better known as JBL of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Jason Garrett who not only went on to play with the Dallas Cowboys, but in 2010 became their interim head coach, and head coach Mike Riley, who went on to coach the San Diego Chargers of the NFL.

After the 1992 season saw the suspension of the WLAF (and ultimately the abandonment of North American teams), Benson applied to the Canadian Football League to have the Riders join that league instead for the 1993 season. The CFL accepted, and admitted the Riders and the Sacramento Surge/Gold Miners to the CFL. The Riders were to change names to the San Antonio Texans (there was already a Rough Riders and a Roughriders, both of whom were known as the "Riders" for short), but the team folded abruptly prior to the 1993 season. (The San Antonio Texans name would later be used for the aforementioned Gold Miners when they moved to San Antonio in 1995.)

Season-by-season[]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
1991 4 6 0 2nd North American West --
1992 7 3 0 3rd North American West --
Totals 11 9 0

1991 season[]

Schedule[]

Week Date Kickoff Opponent Results Game site Attendance
Final score Team record
1 Monday, March 25 8:00 p.m. at Orlando Thunder L 34–35 0–1 Florida Citrus Bowl 21,714
2 Monday, April 1 7:00 p.m. Frankfurt Galaxy L 3–10 0–2 Alamo Stadium 18,432
3 Sunday, April 7 12:00 p.m. Sacramento Surge W 10–3 1–2 Alamo Stadium 6,772
4 Monday, April 15 8:00 p.m. at Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks W 37–15 2–2 Carter–Finley Stadium 11,818
5 Saturday, April 20 7:00 p.m. Barcelona Dragons W 22–14 3–2 Alamo Stadium 16,500
6 Monday, April 29 7:00 p.m. at Birmingham Fire L 12–16 3–3 Legion Field 8,114
7 Monday, May 6 7:00 p.m. London Monarchs L 15–38 3–4 Alamo Stadium 12,328
8 Saturday, May 11 8:00 p.m. at Barcelona Dragons L 7–17 3–5 Montjuic Stadium 23,670
9 Sunday, May 19 11:30 a.m. Montreal Machine W 27–10 4–5 Alamo Stadium 20,234
10 Saturday, May 25 8:00 p.m. at New York/New Jersey Knights L 9–38 4–6 Giants Stadium 32,857

[2] [3]

Staff[]

1991 San Antonio Riders staff

Front Office

  • Owner/President – Larry J. Benson
  • Vice President/General Manager – John Peterson

Head Coaches

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers – Tommy Lee
  • Running Backs/Tight Ends – Paul Chryst
  • Offensive Line – Jim Gilstrap
 

Defensive Coaches

  • Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers – Greg Newhouse
  • Defensive Line/Special Teams – Don Wnek
  • Defensive Backs – Bill Bradley

[2]

Roster[]

1991 San Antonio Riders roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

  • 88 John Garrett
  • 83 Bill Hess
  • 86 Lee Morris
  • 84 Dwight Pickens
  • 80 Elliott Searcy

Tight Ends

  • 87 Charlie Darrington
  • 82 Ronnie Williams

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

  • 93 David Bailey DE
  • 97 John Fletcher DE
  • 96 Donnie Gardner DE
  • 99 Greg Ross NT

Linebackers

  • 50 Terrence Cooks OLB
  • 55 Greg Gilbert ILB
  • 94 Mark Ledbetter OLB
  • 53 Derrick Little
  • 58 Roderick Manning OLB
  • 51 Eric Snelson
  • 57 Tim Walton ILB

Defensive Backs

  • 28 Anthony Cooney S
  • 40 Carlo Cheattom S
  • 22 Sean Dykes CB
  • 29 Greg Lee S
  • 25 Calvin Nicholson CB
  • 44 Gary Richard CB
  • 26 Rickey Royal CB
  • 24 Ken Watson CB
  • 46 Kennedy Wilson S

Special Teams

  •  6 Jim Gallery K
  •  8 Teddy Garcia K
  •  1 Kent Sullivan P
Operation Discovery
  • 72 Stefan Bjorkman OL Flag of Sweden.svg
  • 41 John Hyllienmark DB Flag of Sweden.svg
  • 78 Stefan Ohrvall DL Flag of Sweden.svg
  •  5 Marco Rueda K Flag of Mexico.svg

Rookies in italics

[2] [4]

1992 season[]

Results[]

Week 1: San Antonio 17, Montreal Machine 16
Week 2: Birmingham Fire 17, San Antonio 10
Week 3: San Antonio 9, New York/New Jersey Knights 3
Week 4: San Antonio 23, Sacramento Surge 20 (OT)
Week 5: San Antonio 17, Ohio Glory 0
Week 6: San Antonio 17, Birmingham Fire 14
Week 7: Orlando Thunder 39, San Antonio 21
Week 8: San Antonio 17, Barcelona Dragons 0
Week 9: San Antonio 43, Frankfurt Galaxy 14
Week 10: Sacramento Surge 27, San Antonio 21

Roster[]

1992 San Antonio Riders roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

  • 33 Ivory Lee Brown
  • 34 Dewaine Jones
  • 30 Cisco Richard

Wide Receivers

  • 81 Darrell Colbert
  • 89 Titus Dixon
  • 80 Wayne Walker

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

  • 95 Dick Chapura NT
  • 93 Willie Fears DE
  • 99 Greg Ross NT
  • 92 Robb White DE

Linebackers

  • 50 Terrence Cooks OLB
  • 51 Patrick Hinton
  • 55 Malvin Hunter ILB
  • 94 Mark Ledbetter OLB
  • 57 Tim Walton ILB
  • 54 Albert Williams OLB

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

  •  6 Jim Gallery K
  •  1 Kent Sullivan P
Operation Discovery
  • None

Rookies in italics

References[]

  1. "Team Colors – WLAF". SSUR.org. http://www.ssur.org/research/TeamColors/Football_Outdoor/WorldLeagueOfAmericanFootball/WorldLeagueOfAmericanFootball.htm. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Official 1991 World League of American Football Media Guide.
  3. The Official 1992 World League Fact Book.
  4. 1992 San Antonio Riders Media Guide.
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