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Baltimore Ravens History |
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Baltimore Ravens HistoryBaltimore Ravens history and Baltimore Ravens team information. Find Baltimore Ravens history at Front Row King. Baltimore Ravens Team historical information. By the end of World War II, pro football began to rival the college game for fans' attention. The spread of the T formation led to a faster-paced, higher-scoring game that attracted record numbers of fans. In 1945, the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles, becoming the first big-league sports franchise on the West Coast.  |
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On November 6, 1995, then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team to Baltimore, citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a sufficient replacement along with his heavy debt. The decision triggered a flurry of legal activity that ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8, 1996. It stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the franchise were to remain in Cleveland, including past records and the attribution of its Pro Football Hall of Fame players. A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999, while Modell's relocated club would technically and legally be an expansion team, the Ravens. Still, some consider the Ravens and the pre-1995 Browns organization as one continuous entity, using terms like "The Modell organization" or "Art Modell's franchise" to denote it.
The CFL team, the Baltimore Stallions, had proved such a success and the fans showed up in droves to prove they deserved an NFL franchise. This caught the attention of Modell.
After relocating his franchise, retaining the current contracts of former Browns players and personnel as per the agreement made by the city of Cleveland and the NFL, owner Art Modell hired Ted Marchibroda as head coach, who had previous experience with the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts during the early 1990s. Ozzie Newsome, the Browns tight end for many seasons, joined Modell in Baltimore as director of football operations. He was later promoted to Vice President/General Manager.
Focus groups, a telephone survey, and a fan contest were all held to help select a new name for Modell's relocated club. Starting with a list of over 100 possible names, the team's management reduced it to 17. From there, focus groups of a total of 200 Baltimore area residents reduced the list of names to six, and then a phone survey of 1000 people trimmed it down to three, Marauders, Americans, and Ravens. Finally, a fan contest drawing 33,288 voters picked "Ravens", a name that alludes to the famous poem, "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe, who spent the latter part of his life in Baltimore, and is also buried there.
The 1997 Ravens started 3-1, and Peter Boulware was named AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year with 11.5 sacks, but the Ravens finished 6-9-1. Baltimore then began the 1998 season by moving into their new stadium Raven Stadium (eventually the stadium would be called PSINet Stadium and later M&T Bank Stadium). Testaverde, who had left for the New York Jets, was replaced with former Indianapolis Colt Jim Harbaugh, and later, Eric Zeier. Cornerback Rod Woodson joined the team after a successful stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Priest Holmes started getting the first playing time of his career and ran for 1,000 yards, but the Ravens finished with a 6-10 record.
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Much Like the American college football game from which it sprung, NFL football is a descendant of rugby football which was imported to the United States from Canada in 1874, and then transformed into American college football after McGill University in Montreal invited Harvard University to Quebec to play a new Canadian version of "rugby football". Baltimore Ravens history Professional football in the United States dates at least to 1892, when an athletic club in Pittsburgh paid William "Pudge" Heffelfinger $500 to take part in a game. Over the next few decades, while Baltimore Ravens history most attention was paid to football at elite colleges on the East Coast, the professional game spread widely in the Midwest, particularly in Ohio where in 1903 the Massillon Tigers, Baltimore Ravens history a strong amateur team, hired four Pittsburgh pros to play in their season-ending game against Akron. |
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