Under cover of the night...
Like a common thief, Baltimore Colt owner Robert Irsay waited until the wee hours of the morning to load 12 Mayflower moving vans with everything from team uniforms to film projectors and stole an NFL franchise from the city of Baltimore...
Irsay had notified coaches, trainers and equipment men who were needed to accompany the team to gather at the Colts training facility in Owings Mill, Maryland at 10 p.m. on the night of March 28th and then waited until after midnight to take his last look at the city of Baltimore in the rearview mirror. Irsay became public enemy #1 in Baltimore but there was a city waiting with open arms for the Colts (oh yes, he took that name with him too), Indianapolis. In fact it was Mayor William Hudnut who provided moving expenses for the team his city would inherit...
If you're thinking Irsay had attendance problems at Colt games, think again. The Colts averaged 40,000 fans per game, including a club record crowd of 60,000 for one game in their final season in Baltimore. So a franchise that joined the NFL in 1950 but folded after one season only to have a second incarnation in 1953 and then a successful run with championship teams over the next 30 years, was done. The greatest of all Baltimore Colts, Johnny Unitas was so incensed, he would never acknowledge the franchise...
The city of Baltimore would eventually get a new team, the Ravens, and all was forgiven except for the name of Robert Irsay which is still mud in Baltimore...
More March 29 Memories...
1867] The British Parliament passes the North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada (congratulations, eh)...
1932] Jack Benny makes his radio debut...
1941] WPAT radio in New Jersey begins broadcasting (using a Country format)...
1943] WWII creates rationing of meat, butter and cheese in the U.S...
1951] Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage (they will be executed on June 19, 1953)...
1957] Buddy Knox is #1 with "Party Doll"...
1959] "Some Like it Hot" starring Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon premieres...
1962] Gene Chandler is awarded a gold record for "Duke of Earl"...
1971] Filming begins on "The Godfather"...
1971] Lt. William Calley Jr. is found quilty of premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians and is sentenced to life in prison (later commuted to life in prison)...
1971] A jury in L.A. recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and 3 female followers for the 1969 Tate-Lo Bianca murders (later commuted to life in prison)...
1973] 12 days after Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show hit, "The Cover of Rolling Stone" peaks at #6, the group literally winds up on the cover of Rolling Stone...
1973] The last U.S. troops leave South Vietnam...
1974] 8 Ohio National Guardsmen are indicted on charges stemming from the shooting death of 4 students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 (all the guardsmen are later acquitted)...
1976] Johnnie Taylor is #1 with "Disco Lady" (the 1st single certified "platinum" by the RIAA for sales of more than 2 million copies. The platinum standard is halved in 1989 to 1 million due to declining single sales)...
1980] Mantovani (Annunzio Paulo Mantovani) dies at 74...
1982] Mistaking North Carolina's James Worthy as a teammate, Georgetown's Fred Brown, passes Worthy the ball with 5 seconds left in the NCAA championship. Worthy passes the ball to Michael Jordan for the winning basket as Dean Smith gets his 1st national title at North Carolina with a 63-62 win over G'town (Brown still hasn't returned to Georgetown)...
1984] Robert Irsay moves the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the middle of the night (see feature story)...
1987] Starship aka Jefferson Airplane aka Jefferson Starship is #1 for the 3rd time, this time for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"...
1989] "Rainman", Dustin Hoffman and Jodie Foster win Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards...
1990] Record companies agree to put warning labels on music product that contain potentially offensive lyrics ( a campaign just about as effective as "Just say No" or "Don't ask, don't tell")...
1992] Democratic Presidential front-runner Bill Clinton says "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again" when asked about experimenting with marijuana (was this before or after "briefs or boxers" ?]...
1993] "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin" wins an Academy Award (Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle)...
1997] Harry ("L.A. Law") Hamlin and Lisa ("Dancing with the Stars") Rinna paso doble down the aisle...
1999] Singing great Joe Williams (Count Basie Band) collapses after walking 3 miles from a Las Vegas hospital after being treated for a respiratory ailment. Williams was 80...
2000] Major league baseball plays its 1st regular season game outside North America when the Cubs beat the Mets 5-3 at the Tokyo Dome...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Happy Birthday To...
1927] John McLaughlin ("The McLaughlin Group")...
1943] Eric Idle...
1943] Vangelis ("Chariots of Fire")...
1944] Terry Jacks...
1944] Former Knick great & Basketball Hall of Famer Walt ("Clyde") Frazier...
1964] Elle Macpherson...
1976] Jennifer Capriati...
(Today is the 88th day of 2006 with 277 days remaining in the year and just 4 days left until opening day]...
