Surging To A Grey Cup
By Chris Lawton
“On the Surge to a Grey Cup.” But what do we mean by that? The great and the good? Players who have made it to the Hall of Fame, just like the Class of 2025? Well, no. We may even have looked at the career of a player like that recently. However, this is a little more niche than that.
It has been 35 years since the NFL launched the World League of American Football. And in honour of that we already took a look at players from the London Monarchs who transitioned into the CFL. Particularly those that had a World Bowl ring and doubled up with a Grey Cup ring too.
It is hard to keep track of these things sometimes. It is especially hard to track who won a pre-Super Bowl era NFL title and Grey Cup. Just as it is hard to track players who won a World Bowl in the WLAF or NFLEurope, and were on a Grey Cup-winning squad. But I have done my best here. Feel free to let me know anything I missed so we can update the article!
The Crossover Players
To narrow things down, rather than looking for every player that won a World Bowl and played for a Grey Cup winner, as noted above, I looked at the first WLAF champions in isolation. So now I thought we could extend that and go one year further. After all, the WLAF only played from 1991-1992 in its original format before morphing into the NFL Europe we would come to know and love.
So did any of those 1992 Sacramento Surge players go on to pick up a Grey Cup ring alongside their World Bowl win? The first thing to note was that of that 43 man squad a few did indeed have CFL experience. There were a few who never made it onto a Grey Cup Squad, however.
Surging into the CFL
So, who were the few who made it from World Bowl Champion with the 1992 Sacramento Surge to appearing, however briefly, on a Grey Cup winning squad in the CFL? Of the 43-man squad, only 3 achieved this; Eddie Brown, Mike Pringle, and Lee Saltz. Let’s take a closer look.
But first, a good few players did go on to have CFL experience. Not least because Sacramento morphed into the Sacramento Gold Miners after the WLAF paused following its’ second season. Meaning they became the first US expansion team in CFL history. Of the defunct CFL teams from that era they are fondly remembered.
Surge Players with CFL Experience But No Grey Cup Ring
There were plenty of players who moved over from the WLAF to the CFL. And mixed in among the non-Grey Cup winning players are some who really made a mark.
OFFENSE
OG John Buddenburg was with the Surge for both of their WLAF seasons starting 20 out of 20 games. He was named an All-WLAF player in 1992. In the CFL he played for the Gold Miners in 1994 playing 18 games (4 as a starter) and appeared 17 times for the San Antonio Texans in 1994.
OT Ernie Rogers played and started 10 games with the Surge in 1992. When they moved into the CFL he went with them and played in 2 games in the CFL in 1993. He briefly appeared in the WLAF again. This time on the roster of the 1995 Scottish Claymores but he did not play in any games for them as he had for both iterations of Sacramento.
WR Mark Stock played with the Surge in 1992 and resurfaced with the San Antonio Texans in 1995. That year he had 60 catches for 949 yards and 6 touchdowns. With some NFL stops along the way Stock had a career 88 grabs for 1,369 yards an 7 touchdowns. Highlighting what a high point his one CFL year with the Texans was.
Defense
LB Randy Thornton was on the Surge squad in 1992 and travelled north with the Gold Miners in 1993. That year he was moved to DE and played in 7 games making 4 tackles and recording 1 sack. He would later carve out an 8-year wrestling career in WCW under the ring name ‘Swoll’.
DE David Westbrooks played from 1992 to 1993 during his career with the Sacramento Surge and Sacramento Gold Miners. Played 10 games for the Surge and 9 for the Gold Miners. In the CFL he made 3 tackles.
A Sacramento Surge Hall of Famer – but not for football
NT-DT Bill Goldberg played with the Surge in 1992 as an Atlanta Falcons developmental player. He would return to the Falcons roster in 1993 & 1994. With the Surge he played 10 games but was not a starter. He recorded 3 sacks in the WLAF.
Injury ended his NFL career which ended with him being the first player ever cut by the Carolina Panthers. But he did alright for himself as a professional wrestler, and in 2018 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame
On The Surge To A Grey Cup Ring
So, who did add a Grey Cup ring to their World Bowl win? There were three players that did this. One who won his ring before playing in the World League. One who has one of the great plays in Grey Cup history, and one who is nothing short of a CFL legend and made his way to the Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look at how Eddie Brown, Mike Pringle, and Lee Saltz made their way to Grey Cup victories.
Eddie Brown
‘Downtown’ Eddie Brown was in the CFL before his time with the Surge in the WLAF. Eventually he would play on CFL teams in 7 cities – Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Memphis, BC & Montreal. The Toronto Argos signed Brown in August of 1993, and he completed the season with Toronto, making 31 catches in 10 games. Brown was then traded to the Edmonton Eskimos in a massive multi-player deal that sent QB Tracy Ham to Toronto.
Eddie Brown had his best years with Edmonton. Winning his Grey Cup ring in 1993 as the Esks went from 12-6 onto a 3-0 playoff run. Brown contributed 67 catches for 1,378 yards and 15 touchdowns that season. He also had one of the most memorable plays in Grey Cup history making a shoestring 64 yard touchdown catch in a losing cause against the Toronto Argonauts in one of the classic Grey Cups in 1996.
In total he caught 532 passes for 8,663 yards and 63 touchdowns in 160 career CFL games.
Mike Pringle
As we have seen some of the players from the Surge went on to have pretty good CFL careers. Eddie Brown and David Archer made memorable contributions during their time in the league. But nobody had the impact that Mike Pringle did!
Achieving the 2000-yard mark for a pro running back is a rarity. In fact there have only been 11 2,000 yard rushing seasons (across 3 leagues) in pro football history. In the CFL it is an even rarer feat. Achieved once and only once by Pringle with the Montreal Alouettes in 1998. That year he made 2,065 yards on the ground. He also tied the CFL record with 2,414 yards from scrimmage.
The player who gets nearest to the 2,000-yard mark in the CFL? Pringle himself. He rushed for 1,972 yards in 1994 when he was with the Baltimore Stallions. Pringle was a division All-Star nine times and was twice named the Outstanding Player in the CFL (1995 and 1998). Pringle’s 16,425 career yards are still the CFL record. Not surprisingly he is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Grey Cup rings were collected in 1995 (with Baltimore). As well as 2002 and 2003 (with Montreal).
Lee Saltz
Saltz joined the Blue Bombers in 1988. He dressed for 17 games over 2 seasons for them, making 1 start. After his time in Sacramento, he would appear for Hamilton in 1993.
He picked up a Grey Cup ring in 1988, before he joined the Sacramento Surge in the WLAF. In 2 seasons in Winnipeg, he completed 43 passes for 555 yards and 3 touchdowns. He appeared in the Eastern Division final on the way to the Grey Cup too.
Perhaps best noted however for being the first player to wear a helmet camera on the playing field. This was on the 1st of April 1991 when he played with the San Antonio Riders in the WLAF before making his way to the Surge.
CHRIS LAWTON
CFL ANALYST
Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK