One other thing, I believe the Ravens welcomed the Colts Marching Band (which didn’t go to Indy) to play at their opening game in the uniforms they wore for the Colts games.
BTW, does Indiana have a horse industry?
Yes they did. I’ve met John Ziemann several times, a¬ great guy BTW, the director of the Colts marching band, now the Raven’s band and I personally know several members of the original Baltimore Colts marching band as many of those members were at one time or another involved in Drum And Bugle Corps (DCA) an org, that I know well having a lot of family members involved in DCA.
“According to an ESPN documentary directed by Baltimore native Barry Levinson called The Band that Wouldn't Die, band leaders got advance warning that the team was being moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis overnight and were able to remove their equipment from team headquarters before the moving vans arrived. At the time of the move, the band's uniforms were being dry-cleaned. Band President John Ziemann contacted the owner of the dry cleaners, who told Ziemann that legally they could not release the uniforms to Ziemann, but told him that that evening, he should take the company van "for a walk." Ziemann and some associates then hid the uniforms in a nearby cemetery until the wife of then-Colts owner Robert Irsay said they could keep them.”
“From 1984 until the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, the band stayed together, playing at football halftime shows and marching in parades, eventually becoming well known as "Baltimore's Pro-Football Musical Ambassadors". The band remained an all-volunteer band as it is today and supported itself. At one point, John Ziemann pawned his wife's wedding ring for the money to buy new equipment. Ironically, one of the band's first gigs after the Colts left was an invitation from then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell to play during the halftime show of a Browns game. "They were cheap," Modell said, somewhat jokingly. Twelve years later Modell would move the Browns to Baltimore and they would become the Baltimore Ravens. When David Modell appeared, along with a group of former Colts (including Johnny Unitas) on a local talk show hosted by Kwesi Mfume, the host introduced Ziemann to a huge round of applause. Ziemann then asked Modell if the band could become the Ravens' official band, to which Modell smiled and said "I thought you already were" as the crowd roared its approval again. (In "The Band That Wouldn't Die", Modell, who had always wanted a band for his team, called the decision a "no-brainer".)”
The original Baltimore Colts hung in and stayed together in Baltimore during all those years that we were without a team and operated independently as the “Baltimore Colts Band” and they were very popular here. They eventually became the Raven’s Band but still today retain and pay homage to their history as the Baltimore Colts band.
IIRC, not many NFL teams today actually have bands anymore.
BTW, does Indiana have a horse industry?
The Baltimore Colts was named for Maryland’s rich history of horse racing.
The Browns: “The Cleveland All-America Football Conference franchise conducted a fan contest in 1945 to name the team. The most popular submission was “Browns” in recognition of the team’s first coach and general manager Paul Brown, who was already a popular figure in Ohio sports. Brown at first vetoed the choice and the team selected from the contest entries the name “Panthers.” However, after an area businessman informed the team that he owned the rights to the name Cleveland Panthers, from an earlier failed football team, Brown rescinded his objection and agreed to the use of his name.”
I can see why Baltimore wouldn’t want to retain the Brown’s name as it and no relation to Baltimore.
OTHO, “On March 29, 1996, Baltimore’s NFL team became the Ravens. The nickname was selected from among three finalists in a poll conducted by the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore fans selected the name in honor of Edgar Allan Poe, the American poet who penned his famous poem, “The Raven” while living in Baltimore.
Truth be told, Edgar Allen Poe was from Richmond VA and didn’t really live all long in Baltimore and had the great misfortune of dying in Baltimore, under some rather mysterious circumstances BTW. But being that he wrote one of his greatest works – The Raven, while living in Baltimore, it makes some sense. Makes a lot more sense to me than naming the team “The Steamed Blue Crabs” or the “Padded Oysters” LOL!