Steve LaPlanche drove toward the Baltimore Colts training facility on the night of March 28, 1984 with tears in his eyes. Rain and snow pelted the Baltimore area ashe jetted from Glen Burnie to Owings Mills. Memories of game-winning drives led by Johnny Unitas and the thunderous noise of Memorial Stadium ? known as “The World?s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum” ? raced through his mind.
Just minutes before, a friend told him what he had feared for days, the Colts ? the Colts! ? were moving to Indianapolis.
Recommended Stories
When he arrived, Robert Irsay?s organization was throwing everything in the infamous Mayflower truck with reckless abandon.
LaPlanche stood by the trucks, hoping they would stay, but they soon fled in the dark of night, never to return. There would be no more blue and white jerseys or helmets with the signature horseshoe.
“I literally had tears in my eyes,” LaPlanche, 53, of Pasadena, said Sunday as he remembered that night. “They were a part of my life. The Colts were the city.”
Nearly 23 years later, the Colts (13-4) will return to Baltimore to play the Ravens (13-3) this Saturday in an AFC Divisional playoff game that has taken on an epic life of its own.
“I think it?s the biggest sporting event ever in Baltimore,” Andrew Schaefer, 21, of Perry Hall, said.
Schaefer was born nearly two years after the Colts left town, but he carries the sting in his heart of a man who was alive to watch the team leave.
Long before the Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996, the Colts racked up two World Championships and a Super Bowl title, giving the city a sense of pride. Hall of Famers like Artie Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Unitas and Jim Parker were larger than life heroes for a generation of football fans.
When the team left, those old stars were just as burned as the fans that cheered them on.
Since the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens, the Colts and Ravens have played six times during the regular season, with Indianapolis? team winning four, including the last three matchups.
Never before have the two teams matched up with so much on the line. The Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round of the playoffs Saturday, 23-8.
The winner of this week?s game advances to the AFC championship game. The Ravens sold their allotment of tickets for the playoffs to season ticket holders in quick fashion.
“I actually bought them a couple of weeks ago on eBay for $210 a piece,” Patrick Thomas, 19, of Lansdowne, said. “I wasn?t going to miss this one.
Schaefer tried securing tickets in similar fashion, but the prices had more than doubled.
LaPlanche said he will never forget March 28, 1984 and will cheer his new love on to victory Saturday.
“I want to beat them bad,” LaPlanche said.
