The 'Baltimore Stallions' were a
Canadian football team based in
Baltimore, Maryland, which played the
1994 and
1995 seasons. They were the most successful
American team in the
Canadian Football League having two winning seasons, a division title and became the first and only American team to win the
Grey Cup in
1995.
History
On The Field
1994 season
Owner
Jim Speros' approach was simple: he knew that
Canadian football was different from the
American game, and therefore made a point of hiring
personnel and
players with
CFL experience. Speros made
Jim Popp general manager of the new team, and named the legendary
Don Matthews as head coach. Popp and Matthews, in turn, brought in experienced players like QB
Tracy Ham, RB
Mike Pringle, LB
O.J. Brigance, DT
Jearld Bayliss, DE
Elfrid Payton and former
National Football League veteran K
Donald Igwebuike. However, the franchise quickly ran into trouble, becoming known as the "team without a name." Speros had started calling his new franchise the Baltimore CFL Colts and the NFL sued because of possible public confusion with their
Indianapolis Colts, who had played in Baltimore from 1953 until 1984. The lawsuit (which the NFL won) forced a name change, and the franchise became known as the Baltimore Football Club (Baltimore F.C.), sometimes called the Baltimore CFLers. The team's fan base resisted the change; for most of the '94 season, the public address announcer at Memorial Stadium would announce the team as "your Baltimore CFL..." followed by a pause, during which time the assembled fans would shout "Colts!", and after which the stadium announcer would conclude, "...football team."
Even though they lacked an official name, the
Baltimore franchise finished second in the
CFL East Division with a 12-6 regular season record, which became a CFL record for the most wins by an expansion team; this record still stands today. In addition, the team was ranked third in team scoring and ranked second in team defence. Furthermore, 27-year old running back, Mike Pringle was the leading rusher with a record 1,972 yards and thirteen touchdowns, narrowly missing becoming the first running back to reach 2,000 yards in the CFL. Pringle also returned 38 kicks for 814 yards, which made him a CFL All-Star, Eastern All-Star and a
Terry Evanshen Trophy winner.
In the playoffs, the Baltimore franchise hosted the
Toronto Argonauts in the East semi-finals at
Memorial Stadium and won the game, 34-15. After the semi-final game, Baltimore ended up defeating the favoured
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at
Winnipeg Stadium 14-12, to become the first American and expansion team to make it to the
Grey Cup. In their first two playoff games, Mike Pringle would rush for 165 yards going into the Grey Cup game.
In the Grey Cup game, Baltimore was up against the
B.C. Lions at
BC Place Stadium. Baltimore had the upper hand against the Lions, leading 17-10 at half-time and silencing the Lions' faithful; however, the Lions would make a comeback in the second half, winning by a score of 26-23 on a last-second
Lui Passaglia field-goal. One of the key strategies in the Lions' victory was limiting Pringle to just 71 rushing yards in the game. Overall, the only success Baltimore enjoyed at the game was that CB
Karl Anthony became the first player on the losing team to be awarded the
Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player.
1994 Accomplishments
After the season, the Baltimore players received many awards and accomplishments in the CFL:
1995 season
After the 1994 season, a name-the-team fan poll was held to decide a new team name. After the team's first week of the season being known as the Baltimore Football Club, the fan poll ended and Jim Speros announced to the Baltimore faithful that their team would be known as the 'Baltimore Stallions'.
Situations also changed for the Stallions when the CFL decided to expand teams in
Memphis and
Birmingham. In addition, their expansion cousins the
Las Vegas Posse folded, while
Sacramento relocated to
San Antonio. No matter the situation, the CFL decided that with five U.S. teams (including the financially challenged
Shreveport Pirates) in their league, they thought it was appropriate to re-align their two divisions and placed all the U.S. teams in the newly-named
South Division, while the rest of the Canadian teams were in the
North Division. With the changes to their name and to the league environment around them, the Baltimore Stallions returned with virtually the same roster with the exception of signing former Posse kicker
Carlos Huerta to replace Donald Igwebuike, who moved on to play with Memphis. By keeping the same players from the '94 season, optimism and Grey Cup expectations was high for the Baltimore Stallions. As expected, optimism became reality as Baltimore continued their on-field dominance from last season by finishing the season with a 15-3 regular season record, finishing first in the South Division and tying for the best record in the league with
Calgary. Quarterback, Tracy Ham formed a more lethal combination with Mike Pringle and
Robert Drummond as the most potent backfield in the CFL.
Chris Armstrong became the team's top receiver and the defence continued dominating opponents by allowing only 369 points-against, ranking the squad third in team defence. Mike Pringle, had a slight drop-off to his '94 numbers by rushing 1,791 yards, while his yards-per-carry fell to 5.8 from 6.4 in '94. However, Pringle's statistics were still the best compared to most running backs in the league that year as he was named
CFL's Most Outstanding Player and he would rise to the occasion in the playoffs.
After rolling over
Winnipeg 36-21, in the divisional semi-final, Don Matthews and his team easily handled the San Antonio Texans in the Southern final winning the game 21-11, to advance to the Grey Cup for the second straight season. The Stallions were headed to
Regina's
Taylor Field to face the 15-3 North Division champion, Calgary Stampeders who were led by coach
Wally Buono, QB
Doug Flutie and his two top receivers,
Allen Pitts and
Dave Sapunjis. During the Grey Cup game, the winds at Taylor Field were particularly strong and gusted up to 85 km/h, however that would not slow down the Stallions as they opened the game with a
Chris Wright touchdown who returned a punt for a new Grey Cup record of 82-yards just 2:20 into the game. After Calgary responded scoring the next 13 points, to take a 13-7 lead. Baltimore responded with four consecutive scores including three Carlos Huerta field goals against the wind, the longest from 45 yards. Furthermore, O.J. Brigance blocked a Calgary punt with just under eight minutes to go in the half which was scooped up by
Alvin Walton at the five and he dove over for their lone touchdown. In the third quarter after a Baltimore single, Flutie managed to score a touchdown on a one-yard plunge, but it was the last scoring for Calgary, as the Stallions defence managed to shut down the league's top-ranked offence. Stallions quarterback Tracy Ham responded by throwing 213 yards with a touchdown of his own, while Huerta kicked two more field goals to round out Baltimore's scoring as they dominated the Stampeders for a 37-20, victory to become the first American team to win the Grey Cup. To top it off, Pringle was a playoff workhorse, as he ran for 484 playoff yards and four touchdowns in all three playoff games. After the game, Tracy Ham became the
Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player. However, celebrations for the franchise was short-lived after their Grey Cup triumph.
1995 Accomplishments
After the season, other Baltimore Stallions' received awards and accomplishments in the CFL, which are:
Off The Field
On the marketing side to sell season tickets, Speros took advantage of the anti-NFL sentiment in Baltimore after the
Colts had moved to
Indianapolis in
March 1984 naming the team the ''Baltimore CFL Colts''. The NFL fought the naming of the team and ultimately won and the team for 1994 was known as the Baltimore CFLers, in 1995 the club ultimately decided upon the Baltimore Stallions.
Overall, Baltimore had strong dedicated ownership, experienced CFL personnel and players, which made it the most successful American team in the CFL, especially when they became the 1995 Grey Cup champions. Unlike the rest of the American teams in the CFL, the Baltimore Stallions had a strong fan base and had strong attendance numbers averaging 37,347 in 1994-which ranked first in the CFL and 30,112 in 1995-which ranked second in the CFL.
However, after their Grey Cup victory, then
Cleveland Browns owner
Art Modell planned to move the Browns to Baltimore. After having knowledge of this move by Modell, Baltimore's enthusiasm for the Baltimore Stallions decreased. Noticing the danger to his team, Speros enlisted and hoped that Baltimore's local government and businesses would show support to keep the team in Baltimore, but it proved to be unsuccessful.
In The End
Art Modell eventually moved his franchise to Baltimore, and were known as the
Baltimore Ravens. Afterwards, Jim Speros tried to look at other American markets to move the franchise, most notably being
Richmond, Virginia, however, when the CFL decided to disband all other American franchises (with the exception of his team and the
Texans), Speros decided to move the franchise to
Montreal and became the third reincarnation of the
Montreal Alouettes. After owning the team for one more season Speros eventually sold the Montreal Alouettes to
Robert C. Wetenhall in
1997. The Alouettes have become one of the league's most successful franchises, winning the Grey Cup in
2002.
Attendance for the Baltimore Football Club and the Stallions was very good over its two years, averaging nearly 30-40,000 each game both years and thus proving that under the right set of circumstances Americans were willing to support a C.F.L. team. The team was featured in an article in Sports Illustrated in its first year. Despite its relatively brief existence the Stallions must be considered a successful venture for the C.F.L., arguably the only American franchise that could credibly be considered as such. Although most fans in Baltimore have turned their attention to the Ravens, to this day a dedicated group of Baltimore C.F.L. football fans still group up with other C.F.L. fans in general, and Alouettes fans in particular at events such as the Grey Cup. The team's existence and success certainly showed the N.F.L. that Baltimore was hungry for football. The arrival of the
Baltimore Ravens forced the team to leave town after its championship year, but loyalties and friendships remain.
Players and builders of note
See also
★
Comparison of Canadian and American football
★
CFL USA
★
1994 CFL season
★
1995 CFL season
★
82nd Grey Cup
★
83rd Grey Cup
★
Montreal Alouettes
External links
★
The 1995 Baltimore Stallions Yearbook
★
Baltimore Stallions two year record and merchandise
★
Baltimore Stallions CFL Historical page
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