Former Terp Kendall Ogle Helps Rhein Fire To World Bowl Title
6/25/2000 8:00:00 AM | Football
June 25, 2000
FRANKFURT, Germany - Former Maryland linebacker Kendall Ogle is the second player from the Terrapins' 1998 team to claim a world football championship in the last six months. All-ACC after his senior season with the Terps and twice one of Maryland's top two tacklers, Ogle joined teammate Cliff Crosby in boasting membership on a championship team when the Rhein Fire downed the Scottish Claymores 13-10 on Sunday to win the 2000 World Bowl.
Crosby, a free agent signing and taxi-squad cornerback of the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams last January, made the Rams' roster in his first professional season. His only appearance during the season was during a 27-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens, enough to earn the Super Bowl ring he now possesses.
Ogle, meanwhile, played in two games in 1999 for the NFL Cleveland Browns before being allocated to NFL Europe action with the Fire. With Rhein, Ogle was the club's second-leading tackler in 2000 with 72 overall stops and 57 unassisted tackles prior to the World Bowl. Ogle also posted 10 pass deflections and had a 49-yard interception return.
Rhein, 8-3 following its second World Bowl title in the last three years, outlasted the Claymores when a 40-yard field goal went wide with :04 remaining. The Claymores had led the entire game before Rhein's Pepe Pearson scored on a one-yard run only a minute earlier.
On the injured reserve for the Claymores was another Maryland alum and teammate of both Crosby and Ogle on the '98 Maryland team. Defensive tackle Rasheed Simmons, a 1999 free agent signing with the New York Giants before being released and later picked up by the Carolina Panthers, was allocated to the Claymores for his first action as a professional. Simmons registered 15 tackles during the season before an injury that ended his season.
