Dick Cass played three sports in high school, and planned to play football at Princeton.
But that did not happen.
“My freshman year, I messed up my knee. I had to have a knee operation my sophomore year,” said Cass, 60, who is beginning his third year as the president of the Baltimore Ravens. “So I started playing (club) rugby. I love sports. That is how I define myself.”
And in the National Football League, success is defined by wins. The Ravens, who won the Super Bowl in 2001, slipped to 6-10 overall last season.
The team?s scouts, along with general manager/executive vice president Ozzie Newsome, spent Thursday focusing on potential quarterbacks for the NFL draft, which will be held April 29-30. The scouts, after looking at college defenders, turned their attention to potential offensive draft picks Wednesday evening, Cass said.
Cass spent 31 years with a Washington-based law firm. He oversees all aspects of the Ravens? organization, which includes staff personnel, communications and business ventures. He sits in with scouts as they discuss possible draft picks. But he lets those decisions up to Newsome and his staff.
“It is an exciting time. Our national scouts are all in this week,” said Cass, in an interview with The Examiner at at his office in Owings Mills. “To succeed, you have to draft well. Under Ozzie, the Ravens have drafted very well.” Those picks include All-Pro players Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis.
Cass has served as a counsel to the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, before he joined the Ravens in April 2004. He was surprised to see his name in published reports as a possible successor to outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
“It is flattering. I don?t take it that seriously. But it is flattering. I have no idea how my name got out there,” said Cass, who added that he has not been contacted by anyone from the NFL about the job.
For now, Cass wants to see the Ravens get back to winning.
“I am never troubled with the critics. That goes with the territory. It is part of the game,” he said.
THE CASS FILE
Title: Ravens team President
College: Princeton
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
Birthdate: January 13, 1946
Did you know? Cass played rugby as a junior and senior at Princeton … His daughter, Courtney, is a graduate of Columbia. His son, Willy, attends Yale … His wife, Heather, owns Cass and Associates, an architecture firm
