When was the colts founded




















The stadium had its ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 16, , and then officially opened to the public eight days later on August 24, The Peyton Manning era came to an end on March 8, , when Jim Irsay announced that Manning was being released from the roster after thirteen seasons. Colts Primary Logo. Colts Alternate Logo. Colts Wordmark Logo. Colts Concept Logo. Sports History. Baseball History. Basketball History. Although they won nine games again the following year, and secured another wild card berth, a dismal 3—13 season soon followed in , which earned them the first pick in the upcoming NFL draft and marked a crucial turning point for the franchise.

Jim Irsay began to shape the Colts one year after assuming control from his father by firing coach Lindy Infante and hiring Bill Polian to run the organization. Polian in turn hired Jim E. During the off-season, Peyton Manning became the focus of controversy because of his advancing age 35 in March and surgery for a herniated neck disc.

The league was faced with a lockout from March—July that prevented Manning from using team training facilities to help recover, and as the preseason began he was left on the PUP list. After missing the preseason, Manning was ruled out for the Colts' opener game in Houston. Things took a turn for the disastrous when he underwent yet another neck operation on September 7 that ensured he would miss at least 6—8 weeks of play.

Taking over as starter was year veteran Kerry Collins , who had been signed to the team after dissatisfaction with backup QBs Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky. Heading down to Houston for Week 1, the Colts were completely lost without Manning and the Houston Texans buried them Opening at home against the Cleveland Browns , what would normally be an easy win turned into a loss as Indianapolis again proved unable to accomplish anything with Kerry Collins under center.

Despite all predictions of a one-sided route, the Colts defense battled Pittsburgh hard the whole game until the latter finally edged them in OT. Despite a valiant effort by Painter and the defense, Indianapolis lost to remain winless at The Colts' fall into the abyss continued as they lost to Cincinnati Bengals The next game saw them play New Orleans in what had been expected to be a rematch of Super Bowl XLIV , but instead the latter decided to set a franchise record on the backs of the hapless Colts squad and crushed them with five TDs, only the third game in NFL history.

From there, the Colts failed to win a game until beating Houston in Week 15 followed by a win against the Tennessee Titans. After losing the finale in Jacksonville, they ended with a record; the worst in the league.

The franchise came under widespread scrutiny and accusations that they deliberately threw away their season in a quest for the 1 pick in the draft, as it was projected that the Colts sought to draft Stanford QB Andrew Luck as a replacement for Manning. The Peyton Manning era came to a sudden end on March 8, when Jim Irsay announced that he was officially being released from the roster after 13 seasons. Although Manning's medical condition and throwing strength continued to improve, Irsay stated that the Colts who had also cut a substantial part of the roster were embarking on "an ambitious rebuilding project" and that due to Manning's age he had just turned 36 the previous week , it was unlikely that he could win another Super Bowl before the rebuilding project was finished.

Owner Jim Irsay started to again rebuild the Colts during the offseason, hiring a new general manager in Ryan Grigson and a new head coach in Chuck Pagano. The Colts used their number one overall draft pick in to draft Stanford Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck and also drafted his teammate TE Coby Fleener in the second round.

The team also switched to a 3—4 defensive scheme under new defensive coordinator Greg Manusky who succeeded Mike Murphy. On September 9, the Colts kicked off the Andrew Luck era with a 41—21 loss to the Chicago Bears in which Luck completed 23 of his 45 passes.

He threw for one touchdown and three interceptions, and also fumbled, finishing with a The Colts ended the season with an 11—5 record, with Colts staff stating that the team had rallied behind a sign that read "Chuck Strong," a rally cry referencing head coach Chuck Pagano and his fight with leukemia; the sign had been left behind at Lucas Oil Stadium by a fan after a home game against the Buffalo Bills.

With productive seasons from both quarterback Andrew Luck and veteran receiver Reggie Wayne , the Colts rebounded from the 2—14 season of to clinch an unexpected playoff spot in the —13 NFL playoffs, the fourteenth playoff berth for the club since The season ended in a 24—9 playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the first playoff loss for the Colts in three tries to Baltimore's present NFL squad.

Luck went on to lead the Colts to a 15th division championship later that season. The Colts' logo and uniforms have basically remained the same since the team's debut in The helmet is white with a speed blue horseshoe logo. The blue jerseys have white shoulder stripes while the white jerseys have blue stripes.

The team also wears white pants with blue stripes along the sides. From through , the Colts wore gray pants with their blue jerseys. The gray pants featured a horseshoe on the top of the sides with the player's number inside the horseshoe. The Colts continued to wear white pants with their white jerseys throughout this period, and in , the gray pants were retired. The Colts wore blue pants with their white jerseys for the first three games of the season, but then returned to white pants with both the blue and white jerseys.

The team made some minor uniform adjustments before the start of the season, including reverting from blue to the traditional gray face masks, darkening their blue colors from a light blue to speed blue, as well as adding two white stripes to the socks. In , the stripes were removed from the socks. In the early s, the Colts made a minor striping pattern change on their jerseys, having the stripes only on top of the shoulders then stop completely. Previously, the stripes used to go around to underneath the jersey sleeves.

This was done because the Colts, like many other football teams, were beginning to manufacture the jerseys to be tighter to reduce holding calls and reduce the size of the sleeves, although the reduction of the sleeve length had no impact on the stripes of the Colts jerseys. Although the white jerseys of the Minnesota Vikings at the time also had a similar striping pattern and continued as such as well as the throwbacks the New England Patriots wore in the Thanksgiving Classic against the Detroit Lions in , the Colts and most college teams with this striping pattern most notably the LSU Tigers football team didn't make this adjustment.

Replica jerseys sold for retail still have the original striping pattern, though authentic "game-day worn" jerseys do have the partial striping pattern of the current jerseys. While in Baltimore, the team advanced to the playoffs 10 times and won three NFL Championship games: in , , and City Dallas - Baltimore - Indianapolis. His reasoning? Who is the greatest Baltimore Colts? To qualify as a greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team.

If not, we will remove the player. Leaving for Baltimore. Read More. See Full Story. And the number of bathroom facilities in Memorial Stadium was deemed inadequate. Maryland's planners came up with an ambitious project. Nicknamed the "Baltodome", [8] the original plan was to create a facility near the city's Inner Harbor known as Camden Yards.

The new stadium would host 70, fans for football games, 55, for baseball and 20, as an arena for hockey or basketball. But the proposal did not receive support to pass the Maryland legislature, in spite of the fact that assurances that contributions from taxpayers would be limited strictly to city and state loans. Stadium Complex Authority chairman Ed Rovner issued an important statement about the project, "A major consideration in Mr.

Irsay's trading of franchises was the city's firm commitment to proceed with these plans. I think the people of Baltimore are going to see those new stadiums in New Orleans and Seattle opening in a year or two around the country, and they are going to realize they need a stadium But Hyman Pressman , Baltimore's comptroller, was against the use of public funds to build a new complex. During the elections, Pressman had an amendment to the city's charter placed on the fall ballot.

Known as Question P, [6] the amendment called for declaring "the 33rd Street stadium as a memorial to war veterans and prohibiting use of city funds for construction of any other stadium. Although the Colts made the playoffs for three straight years from to , there had still been no progress made on a new park for the team. Robert Irsay first spoke with Phoenix , Arizona in and then Indianapolis , Indiana in about the possibility of relocating his team to one of those cities.

In Irsay began shopping the Colts around in earnest, talking first to officials from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, Memphis , Tennessee and Jacksonville , Florida [7] where he visited the Gator Bowl packed with 50, cheering fans trying to convince him that Jacksonville would be the best home for the Colts.

The plan added more seats but none of the revenue-generating skyboxes , improving the plumbing and would've given both teams better office space. The plans approval was contingent on both the Colts and Baltimore Orioles signing long term leases. The Orioles challenged the requested football improvements and refused to sign anything more than a one year lease. Irsay also refused to sign long term. As a result, the funds and improvements never came.

Under the administration of mayor Richard Lugar and then continuing with William Hudnut , Indianapolis was making a serious effort to reinvent itself into a 'Great American City'. In , Indianapolis community leaders created the Indiana Sports Corp. The next year, Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut appointed a committee to study the feasibility of building a new stadium that could serve as home to a pro football team and in construction on the Hoosier Dome later renamed the RCA Dome began.

On December 18, , The Colts played their final home game in the city of Baltimore. But when word of a second scheduled meeting leaked out and was reported by the Baltimore media on the Friday before the Super Bowl , Irsay canceled. Welch had also had personal discussions with New Orleans Saints owner John Mecom about buying the team and moving it to Indianapolis. As a result of that announcement, Indiana Pacers ' owner Herb Simon contacted Colts officials in order to take negotiations between the club and Indianapolis to the next level.

On February 13, Colts representatives came to town to look at the Hoosier Dome construction. Meanwhile in Baltimore, the situation worsened. Eventually, the Maryland legislature intervened and on March 27, one of its chambers passed legislation giving the city of Baltimore the right to seize ownership of the team by eminent domain [7] An idea first floated in a memo written by Baltimore Mayoral Aide Mark Wasserman.

Robert Irsay said his move was a direct result of the legislation. Smith, his friend, neighbor and chief executive officer of Mayflower Transit , and 15 trucks were dispatched to the team's Owings Mills, Maryland training complex at AM on March 29 because it was feared the franchise would be seized early the following morning.

By AM, the Colts were completely gone from Baltimore. This was done to confuse the Maryland police, who could've been called on to put a stop to the move. Once each van was at the Indiana state line, it was met by Indiana state troopers, who escorted each van to the Colts new home in Indianapolis. Later John Moag, Jr. Senate subcommittee responsible for the Fan Freedom and Community Protection Act: "It was the failure of our local Baltimore and state elected officials in Maryland to provide the Colts with a firm proposal for a new stadium that led Mr.

Irsay to accept an offer from Indianapolis to play in a new dome in that city. Baltimore Mayor Schaefer, who was promised a call by Irsay if the team was to move, [17] appeared on the front page of the Baltimore Sun in tears. After the Colts left, he placed the building of a new stadium at the top of his legislative agenda.

Indianapolis Mayor Hudnut held a press conference March 29 to announce an agreement had been reached and the team was on its way to Indianapolis. Understandably, fans in Baltimore were heartbroken. In elections that year, city voters repealed Question P by a measure of 62 percent to 38 percent. The team's move triggered a flurry of legal activity, which ultimately reached the U. Supreme Court, and bills were filed in both the U. House and Senate seeking to block the move. In December , a U.

District Court judge threw out the lawsuit which sought to return the team to Maryland. Later, representatives of Baltimore and the Colts organization reached a settlement in March in which all lawsuits regarding the relocation were dismissed, and the Colts would endorse a new NFL team for Baltimore. Most notable and vocal among them was Johnny Unitas , who recognized himself solely as a player for the Baltimore Colts until the day he died, with his estate defending that stand to this day.

However, the NFL officially recognizes his achievements and records as the history of the Colts organization and as such are attributed to the current Colts organization and not the Ravens Organization. The Baltimore Colts' final home game was played on December 18, against the then Houston Oilers. In the middle of a snow storm in the dead of night on March 28, , Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis. Despite agreeing to do so in the official agreement to end all litigation between the City of Baltimore and the Irsay family, the Irsay family refused to endorse Baltimore's bid for an NFL expansion franchise in The decision also triggered a flurry of legal activity.

Finally, representatives of both cities and the NFL reached a settlement on February 9, It stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the franchise were to remain in Cleveland. It kept the Browns legacy in Cleveland , and Modell took his players and organization to Baltimore, which would be technically regarded as an expansion team. Therefore, the new Baltimore team was named the Ravens after a fan vote. This was the Colts' first season in Indianapolis. Jim Irsay was named general manager of the team.

Frank Kush was head coach - until the final game when he was replaced by Hal Hunter. Prior to the start of the season the team received , requests in two weeks for season tickets. The Colts had two first-round draft picks in They chose Leonard Coleman and Ron Solt.

Coleman could not reach an agreement with the Colts until early in , and spent playing in the U. Football League. Other notable picks that year included Kevin Call in the 5th round and Eugene Daniel in the 8th.

The Colts finished the season with 4 wins and 12 losses. Rod Dowhower was named head coach in January The Colts' first-round draft pick was linebacker Duane Bickett.

Their record was but they finished the season strong, winning their last two games and averaging 5. Rohn Stark won his second NFL punting title. More than 10, fans visited the new Colts Complex during an open house. The team had a terrible season, losing the first 13 games before winning the last 3.

Dowhower was replaced by Ron Meyer on Dec. The Colts' number one draft pick was Cornelius Bennett. Two weeks into the regular season the players went on a day strike. One week of games was cancelled, and for three weeks the teams played with replacement players. On Oct. Rams for six draft picks and two players. Due to the Dickerson trade the Colts had no draft pick until the third round when they took quarterback Chris Chandler. In the Colts' first Monday Night Football appearance they defeated Denver before an ecstatic Halloween night crowd.

The Colts finished the season , and did not make the playoffs. Andre Rison was the Colts' first-round draft pick. On Sept. The team again finished the season but did not make the playoffs because of a loss to the New Orleans Saints in the last game.

The Colts traded Chris Hinton , Andre Rison and draft picks to the Atlanta Falcons for the first pick of the draft so they could choose Indianapolis native and quarterback Jeff George. Eric Dickerson, after boycotting training camp and refusing to take physicals, was placed on the non-football injury list for six weeks. The team finished the season Indianapolis had no first-round draft pick, but chose Shane Curry in Round-Two.

Rick Venturi succeeded Ron Meyer as coach on Oct. The team finished the season an NFL-worst This record would not be broken until when the Detroit Lions went Ted Marchibroda was, once again, named head coach of the Colts on Jan. For the second time he led the Colts to an NFL-best eight-game, one-season turnaround. On May 3, , second-year defensive end Shane Curry was shot to death outside a Cincinnati nightclub in a dispute over a car blocking the nightclub's driveway.

Then, in a disastrous public relations move, the Colts cut Mark Herrmann the day after he led a season-opening victory at home over Cleveland - and one week after another popular player, Albert Bentley , had been let go. The Colts finished the season



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