Radio/TV sports announcer Patterson has amassed one of the world's premier collections of Baltimore sports memorabilia in this short history of football in the city. He takes readers on a tour of his remarkable assemblage, not only to highlight the remarkable games and players, but also to explore the pop culture that has survived them. 250 photos, 48 in color.
Baltimore is home to some of the greatest football players ever to step onto the gridiron. From the Colts' Johnny Unitas to the Ravens' Ray Lewis, Charm City has been blessed with multiple championship teams and plenty of Hall of Fame players. Between the Colts and Ravens, a brief but significant chapter of Baltimore football history was written--the Stallions. Formed in 1994, they posted the most successful single season in the history of the Canadian Football League, when in 1995 they became the only U.S. team to win the Grey Cup. By 1996 the Stallions were gone, undermined by the arrival of the Ravens and the overall failure of the CFL's U.S. expansion efforts. Drawing on original interviews with players, coaches, journalists and fans, this book recalls how the Stallions both captured the imagination and broke the hearts of Baltimore football fans in just 24 months.
Baltimore's remarkable football traditions—from the Colts to the Ravens—expressed in sports memorabilia. The second edition of Ted Patterson’s illustrated history of football in Baltimore continues the story of the Ravens' success—from their first Super Bowl victory in 2001 to the emotional parade through downtown Baltimore after winning Super Bowl XLVII. Patterson is joined by Baltimore poet and sports aficionado Dean Smith, whose new chapters capture the energy of Purple Fridays, the larger-than-life personalities of Ray Lewis, Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden, Jamal Lewis, Matt Stover, Ed Reed, and Joe Flacco, and the city's embrace of the Ravens as a reflection of Baltimore itself. Football in Baltimore is a tour of one of the world's premier collections of Baltimore sports memorabilia—highlighting memorable games and players and exploring a pop culture that surrounded and has survived them. Patterson moved to Baltimore in what turned out to be the final decade of the Baltimore Colts and has amassed a remarkable collection of items that both collectors and sports fans will enjoy. Patterson introduces us to the teams and early stars of Johns Hopkins and Morgan State; Army-Navy games in old Municipal Stadium; high-school rivalries like City-Poly, Loyola–Calvert Hall, Gilman-McDonogh, and the great years of Patterson High; the original Colts (colors silver and green); and, at considerable length, the legendary Baltimore Colts of Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Raymond Berry, Alan "the Horse" Ameche, Artie Donovan, Bert Jones, and Lydell Mitchell. He includes the next chapters in this eventful story: the fight to bring pro football back to the city, the dawn of the Ravens era, and the building of a new football stadium in downtown Baltimore.
The 1958 Baltimore Colts were one of the greatest teams ever in professional football. Owned by the controversial Carroll Rosenbloom and led by head coach Weeb Ewbank and six future Hall of Fame players--Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Art Donovan and Gino Marchetti--they won the NFL title that season, defeating the New York Giants in the first sudden death championship game in NFL history. The Colts laid the foundation for the ultra-popular spectacle football would become with the American public. They were a talented group of players. Many had been rejected or underappreciated at various points in their careers though they were loved and respected by the blue collar fans of Baltimore. This book tells the complete story of the '58 Colts and the city's love affair with the team.
Get your football fanatic readers into the action. Inside the NFL uses chronological narratives to tell the beginnings of the Baltimore Ravens, relate the greatest and lowest moments of the team, introduce the best players and coaches, and share other fun facts that help round out Ravens' history. Mini-biographies, sidebars, fun facts, fantastic quotes, and full-color, action-packed photographs will bring the NFL to your library.
The bestselling inspirational book in which the author reunites with a childhood football hero, now a minister and coach, and witnesses a revelatory demonstration of the true meaning of manhood—Season of Life is a book that “should be required reading for every high school student in America and every parent as well” (Carl Lewis, Olympic champion). Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL football star and volunteer coach for the Gilman high school football team, teaches his players the keys to successful defense: penetrate, pursue, punish, love. Love? A former captain of the Baltimore Colts and now an ordained minister, Ehrmann is serious about the game of football but even more serious about the purpose of life. Season of Life is his inspirational story as told by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jeffrey Marx, who was a ballboy for the Colts when he first met Ehrmann. Ehrmann now devotes his life to teaching young men a whole new meaning of masculinity. He teaches the boys at Gilman the precepts of his Building Men for Others program: Being a man means emphasizing relationships and having a cause bigger than yourself. It means accepting responsibility and leading courageously. It means that empathy, integrity, and living a life of service to others are more important than points on a scoreboard. Decades after he first met Ehrmann, Jeffrey Marx renewed their friendship and watched his childhood hero putting his principles into action. While chronicling a season with the Gilman Greyhounds, Marx witnessed the most extraordinary sports program he’d ever seen, where players say “I love you” to each other and coaches profess their love for their players. Off the field Marx sat with Ehrmann and absorbed life lessons that led him to reexamine his own unresolved relationship with his father. Season of Life is a book about what it means to be a man of substance and impact. It is a moving story that will resonate with athletes, coaches, parents—anyone struggling to make the right choices in life.
Learn about the key players and big wins that have made the Baltimore Ravens one of the most exciting teams in the NFL. Readers will get a glimpse into the league, the team's history, its home stadium, its fans, and the team's most memorable moments. Additional features to enhance comprehension include informative sidebars, a glossary of key words and phrases, sources for further research, a look at the parts of a football field, a section on common football gear, and a section of career records and stats.
Step into the locker rooms, the playing fields, and the owners' offices with sportswriter John F. Steadman as he relates the fascinating tale of football in Baltimore. In scores of animated first-person accounts, the author tells it like it was: from the organization of the Colts in 1947, through the sale of the team to Bob Irsay in 1972, to the infamous trip out of the town under the cover of darkness in 1984, and finally the acquisition of a new Baltimore team, the Ravens, in 1996. Included in the telling are the player heroes--Unitas, Donovan, Moore, Berry, and others--as well as the coaches, general managers, and owners. Among the cast of characters were con men, real scoundrels, and not a few bizarre figures. Some had good intentions; others were inept; still others were devious. The story is spiced with pungent comments from a man who was there--first as a fan watching the inaugural game in 1947 and later as a professional reporting the championship moments, the demise in 1984, and the ensuing struggle to return to the league.
