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Indianapolis Colts |
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Professional football came to Indianapolis March 28, 1984, when Colts owner Robert Irsay moved the historic NFL franchise from Baltimore to Indianapolis---the friendly heart of the Midwest. But before that: In 1953, Baltimore was awarded a new NFL franchise. The team was nicknamed Colts, the second pro football club to bear that name in seven years. In 1947, the Baltimore Colts were established in the All-America Football Conference. Three years later, as part of the peace agreement between the AAFC and NFL, the Colts became a member of the NFL. That Colts team failed and the franchise was disbanded after the 1950 season. But Baltimore was given a second chance three seasons later when the Dallas Texans franchise was cancelled by the NFL. Commissioner Bert Bell challenged the city to sell 15,000 season tickets within six weeks. The city met the challenge—in a little more than four weeks. On January 23, 1953, Carroll Rosenbloom became the principal owner of the new Baltimore Colts. In 1954, Weeb Ewbank was named the Colts' head coach. He immediately began a steady building program that resulted in an over-.500 team by 1957. In the next 14 years, the Colts didn't have a losing season. Powered by a sensational young quarterback, Johnny Unitas, and a strong supporting cast that included future Hall of Famers such as Artie Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore and Jim Parker, the Colts won NFL championships in both 1958 and 1959 and again in 1968. The 1958 NFL title game against the New York Giants, played before the largest television audience ever up to that time, did a lot to increase fan enthusiasm for pro football. With Unitas craftily engineering long drives that led to the tying field goal and winning touchdown, the Colts won in overtime, 23-17. Ten years later, both the Colts and Ewbank were involved in a second game that would rank as a pivotal game in football history—only this time, they were on opposite sides of the field. In Super Bowl III, the Ewbank-led New York Jets stunned the heavily-favored Colts, 16-7. Under Don Shula, who replaced Ewbank in 1963, the Colts won NFL Western conference championships in 1964 and 1968. Shula left the Colts for Miami in 1970, but Baltimore, which had moved to the American Football Conference at the time of the merger between the AFL and NFL, won the first AFC Eastern division title as well as Super Bowl V. In 1975, 1976 and 1977, Baltimore, led by coach Ted Marchibroda, won three straight division titles. Things turned south after that. Between 1978 and 1982, the Colts had a 19-53-1 record. Robert Irsay, who bought the Los Angeles Rams in 1972, engineered an historic trade of teams with Carroll Rosenbloom that year. Twelve years later on March 28, 1984, Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis, where they now play. In 1987, the Indianapolis Colts won the AFC East and earned playoff berths in 1995 and 1996.
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