A nostalgic chronicle of 1958 recaptures the city of Baltimore's love affair with the the Baltimore Colts after the team defeated the New York Giants in a dramatic overtime game, bringing together a series of colorful anecdotes and reflections on notable figures and events of a time in a city on the eve of a cultural revolution.
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.
In their seven years together, quarterback Johnny Unitas and coach Don Shula, kings of the fabled Baltimore Colts of the 1960s, created one of the most successful franchises in sports. Unitas and Shula had a higher winning percentage than Lombardi's Packers, but together they never won the championship. Baltimore lost the big game to the Browns in 1964 and to Joe Namath and the Jets in Super Bowl III--both in stunning upsets. The Colts' near misses in the Shula era were among the most confounding losses any sports franchise ever suffered. Rarely had a team in any league performed so well, over such an extended period, only to come up empty. The two men had a complex relationship stretching back to their time as young teammates competing for their professional lives. Their personal conflict mirrored their tumultuous times. As they elevated the brutal game of football, the world around them clashed about Vietnam, civil rights, and sex. Collision of Wills looks at the complicated relationship between Don Shula, the league's winningest coach of all time, and his star player Johnny Unitas, and how their secret animosity fueled the Colts in an era when their losses were as memorable as their victories.
""A complete illustrated history of the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, including the team's early era in Baltimore"--Provided by publisher"--
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.
On December 28, 1958, the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts met under the lights of Yankee Stadium for the American NFL Championship game. Played in front of sixty-four thousand fans and millions of television viewers around the country, the game would be remembered as the greatest in football history. On the field and roaming the sidelines were seventeen future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti, and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. An estimated forty-five million viewers - at that time the largest crowd to have ever watched a football game - tuned in to see what would become the first sudden-death contest in NFL history. It was a battle of the league's best offense - the Colts -versus its best defense - the Giants. And it was a contest between the blue-collar Baltimore team versus the glamour boys of the Giants squad. The Best Game Ever is a brilliant portrait of how a single game changed the history of American sport and is destined to become a classic.
In 1984, after more than thirty years as the Baltimore Colts, the franchise moved to their present home in Indianapolis, where they began their tenure as one of the most successful NFL teams. In Game of My Life Indianapolis Colts, devoted fans can join their beloved team in the action on the field and behind the scenes in the locker room, as they relive many of the greatest moments in Indianapolis Colts history. Readers will relish tales of Colts’ glory through first-hand interviews with beloved players including Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Adam Vinatieri, Edgerrin James, and Marshall Faulk. Within these pages, Colts expert Mike Chappell will take readers through the early years in Indiana, the major 2007 Super Bowl win under Manning, and their continued success with quarterback Andrew Luck. Over thirty years of Colt experience is represented here, making it a must have for every true fan. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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.
In 1959 Carolyn Clark and her pony, Dixie, rode into the pages of football history as the first female mascot in professional football. Her fame as a Baltimore Colt created a touching story of faith, family, friendship, and football.