This Columbus-based minor league football team in the NFL-backed World League of American Football won just one game in its brief history. But the Glory did help to develop two solid NFL players in George Koonce and Tom Rouen, who each earned Super Bowl rings during their long careers.
The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks were a dreadful entry in the NFL’s short-lived spring developmental league, the World League of American Football. With former N.C. State star and NFL MVP Roman Gabriel handling the coaching duties, the Skyhawks endured a winless 0-10 season in 1991. On the novelty side, the Skyhawks featured the very first (and very last) Soviet pro football players. The Skyhawks – and the Soviet Union – would both go out of business before 1991 was over.
The San Antonio Riders were charter members of the World League of American Football. In 1989, the National Football League announced plans to back a developmental spring football league. The USFL popularized the concept of springtime football from 1983 to 1985 but folded after making several disastrous decisions. The NFL’s spring concept, run by long-time Dallas Cowboys exec Tex Schramm, would place spring football in second-tier U.S. markets as well as large European cities, Montreal, and possibly Mexico City.
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