Quarter-century later, Irsay the Younger helps heal wounds

DANA POINT, Calif. -- It was 25 years ago this weekend that the Colts left Baltimore, and it has taken that long for me to discover something I never knew about the move -- that then-owner Bob Irsay didn't want to go through with it. But, apparently, he didn't, and let the one guy who should know explain the story.

Jim Irsay, the floor is yours.

The Colts trucked out of Baltimore in the middle of the night on March 28, 1984. (AP)

"People don't realize it, but my dad did not want to leave," the Colts owner said at a break during this week's NFL owners' meetings. "This was not like Al [Davis] doing something radical and being a maverick. It took him years [to make the decision], and it wasn't until the 'eminent domain' issue came up that he made up his mind. It was tough for him."

Not as tough as it was for Baltimore. Essentially, Irsay wanted a new stadium and the city and state tried to comply. But they never delivered. So Irsay threatened to move, hoping to compel something to happen. And something did.

The Colts left.

The "eminent domain issue" was a last-ditch threat first floated by then-city mayoral aide Mark Wasserman to keep the Colts from moving -- with the idea that the city could seize the team from Irsay to keep it in Baltimore. It was a proposal born out of desperation, and a bill authorizing it passed in one of the state legislature's chambers on March 27.

But it never had a chance to pass in the second. The Colts packed up and left on the evening of March 28, with Irsay later saying his decision was "a direct result" of the push for eminent domain.

"I know my Dad didn't want to go," Jim said, "but you have to understand that nothing happened [with a new stadium over the years]. Literally, I would say you could've taken $10 million and gotten a deal, and you probably could've had a 20-year deal. I'm telling you, he didn't want to go.

"In fact, I remember the morning it happened [former player and Colts GM Dick Szymanski] calling me ... and it had gotten so bad that I sent my family to Chicago. Anyway, I'm talking to 'Sizzy' that morning, and he says, 'We're not going to move; the 'Ol' Man' can't pull the trigger. I know he won't do it.' Then, after he called, my dad called and said it was going to be that night."

So the Colts left 25 years ago this weekend, a calamitous event that fractured Baltimore and had its mayor, William Donald Schaefer, photographed in tears. I lived there then, and I covered the Colts for the Evening Sun. And when I returned for the Colts' 2006 playoff game with the Baltimore Ravens, little had changed. Fans were irate, hurling obscenities at buses carrying the Colts and accosting, harassing and haranguing anyone who dared to wear the Indianapolis colors.

"It was one of the most hostile crowds I've ever seen," said one person connected with the Colts.

And one of the most predictable. The anger, frustration and hurt that fans had felt for so many years spilled into the streets and ran through the stands. I didn't condone it, but I certainly understood it. This was Baltimore's chance for redemption, the payback it waited nearly a quarter of a century to achieve, and it was right there in front of everyone waiting to happen.

Only it didn't. While the Ravens had the better team that season, Indianapolis had the better team that day. Final score: Colts 15, Revenge 6, with neither team producing a touchdown.

What happened that afternoon, however, wasn't as remarkable as what happened afterward, with Irsay -- Jim, not Bob -- refusing to gloat. He didn't rejoice in victory. He didn't taunt fans who taunted his team. He didn't lecture those who deserved it. In fact, he didn't do much of anything but take his team back to Indianapolis, much as his dad had in 1984, leaving a distraught city in its wake.

Only this time was different. This time the Colts packed up their dignity with them, too, and credit Jim Irsay. He handled the events of that weekend with such remarkable restraint I half wondered if the Colts might still be in Baltimore were he the owner in March 1984.

Jim Irsay was the voice of reason ... that is, when at last his voice was heard. He said he understood what the people of Baltimore felt, and he sympathized with them. But he also reminded us it was time to move past what happened so many years before and to join the 21st century.

"That was 25 years ago," he said of the Colts' move, "and we have a lot of fans in the 15-to-30 age group now who weren't born or who were barely old enough to remember. Eventually time takes care of it.

"I always believed that forgiveness is what can set you free. Resentment is really nothing more than poison you ingest, and that's no way to live. It's hard enough as it is to win and go forward and take care of things.

"That was a very long time ago, and I had nothing to do with it. I can put myself in the position of the people of Baltimore, and I'd be a little upset, too. But the truth of the matter is, that had the course of events been different it might have been done differently.

"By the time we got to the playoff year [2006] so much time had passed, and I think when the victory [that Ravens' fans] wanted so much didn't happen people said, 'Why waste so much on negativity when all we want to do is win?'"

Makes sense to me. In fact, a lot of what Jim Irsay says and stands for makes sense to me. The guy hired Tony Dungy. He listens to Bill Polian. And he pays Peyton Manning. More important, he kept the Colts in Indianapolis when he could have looked to relocate them, much as his father did 25 years ago.

In short, Jim Irsay has been good for Indianapolis, the Colts and the NFL. Say what you want about his father, but Jim Irsay overcame personal and professional hurdles to achieve the respect he now gets -- and deserves -- from other NFL owners.

When the Colts left I remember one of their former players telling me that their departure was a good news/bad news deal, with the bad news that Baltimore just lost its most valued treasure.

"So what's the good?" I asked.

"You got rid of Irsay," he said.

Too bad he never got to know Jim. I have over the past 25 years, and I've grown to admire what he and his ballclub have become. Under Dungy the Colts won five division championships and never missed the playoffs. That's not only a credit to Dungy, Polian and their players; it's a credit to the man who kept them employed.

I never said that about Jim's father, but I have no trouble saying it about his son. I just wish Jim had been in charge 25 years ago.

"There's always more at work to what is going on," Irsay said, "and I mean the aspects to someone's spiritual growth -- because that is what matters the most. Hopefully, you grow as man or a woman, and you're more wise and selfless at 50 [Irsay turns 50 in June] than you were at 25. Because then you realize that, while we may aspire to virtues, we often have our greatest moments through seasons of suffering.

"It was tough with my dad because he fought a lot of demons, and there were a lot of issues with his father and his parents. Alcoholism is a tough thing. At the same time, you're always taught that your parents do the best they can, and he did do a lot of great things. I always tell my kids -- they're grown women now -- that 'When your grandfather was 30 to 50 years old he was really something. Your grandmother and he came out of the Depression era, and when he was on his game ...'"

Irsay stopped.

"It's tough," he said. "Alcoholism is something that runs up and down my family. But the story is much bigger. The ultimate story is always about spiritual growth and overcoming adversity. Anytime people overcome serious diseases or deal with family legacies it's important to stand up and make a shift on behalf of the father or grandfather and their ancestors.

"With an NFL team your toughest defeat could break you down or could become the thing that delivers you in terms of overcoming that adversity. So [having the chance] has been a blessing, especially now that we're on the 25th anniversary of leaving Baltimore. There was a great legacy there, and I always say that with the people who were involved in that thing crumbling that there's plenty of fault to go around on all sides. It was mishandled in a number of ways.

"We had an instant burst of popularity when we came to Indianapolis, but, when I took over, I always looked at it like this: You're in a small market; you haven't had greatness or an identity; and [Indiana] is more of a basketball state. So you have to regenerate this thing. You never know how long that takes, but we were fortunate. If you go through life you realize that if you stay with it and do what is right, good things will eventually happen."

Good things happened for Indianapolis and Baltimore, with each city winning a Super Bowl in the past decade. Good. They deserved it. Twenty-five years ago I never thought I'd say that. But 25 years ago Jim Irsay didn't own a football team.