We've had the chance to see some great moments firsthand in Indianapolis as well. Some of them are still with the team in Robert Mathis and Reggie Wayne. There was Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, Jeff Saturday, Tarik Glenn, Dwight Freeney, Adam Vinatieri, Marshall Faulk, Eric Dickerson, Chris Hinton, Ray Donaldson, Rohn Stark, Jim Harbaugh, Dallas Clark, and Gary Brackett, among many others. We've had the chance to see some great players don the blue and white of the hometown team, the Colts. They have had 20 seasons with winning records out of 29, a number that any franchise would be proud of. They have been to the playoffs 15 out of their 29 years in Indy. There was only 5 winning seasons in 14 years, plus 2 years going 8-8.īut looking back on that day in 1984, it has been a pretty great tenure in Indianapolis. They had only 3 playoff appearances in their first 14 years of being in Indianapolis, and in that time a 2-3 postseason record. Heck, that first year the team went 4-12. Sure, there were rough times, and even some times where it looked like that might not be the case for much longer. So what? NFL football was finally in Indianapolis! On the final play of the game, Simms' heaved a hail mary to the end zone. The Giants recovered an onside kick and moved to the Colts' 34 yard line. The two teams them both kicked field goals to put the score at 26-20, and Giants' quarterback Phil Simms (who had replaced Jeff Rutledge at halftime) had one last shot to win the game. Later in the game, after a 35 minute halftime and with the score tied at 17 with just over 7 minutes left to play, the Colts took the lead on a two-yard run by Frank Middleton. But the Giants quickly kicked a field goal right before halftime to tie it up at 10. The Colts scored their first touchdown in the Hoosier Dome (later renamed the RCA Dome) with 42 seconds left in the first half on a one-yard run by George Wonsley. The Giants scored a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead and then looked poised to extend that lead, but the Colts' defense stiffened in the red zone and stopped the Giants' offense. The Colts opened the game by recovering their own kickoff after the Giants' Chet Winters fumbled it away, and the Colts would go on to take the lead on a 34 yard field goal by Paul Allegre. That day, the Colts would be playing the New York Giants - the same matchup of the famous 1958 NFL Championship game, also known as "the greatest game ever played." And on this day, even though it was just a simple preseason game, Hoosiers felt like it was something of a championship game. Left end Blaise Winter was the first player introduced in the Hoosier Dome. And just like that, Indiana had a real NFL franchise to call their own.Īnd on August 11, 1984, 30 years ago this very day, the Colts - the Indianapolis Colts - took the field in Indianapolis' Hoosier Dome for the first time ever. Once they got to Indiana, Indiana State Police met them and escorted them the rest of the way to Indianapolis. That night, Mayflower Transit moving trucks went to the Colts' complex, loaded up everything, and headed for Indianapolis, Indiana, each truck taking a different route so that Maryland State Police couldn't stop them (an eminent domain law had just been signed that would have allowed the police to stop the move). He made a call to Indianapolis mayor Bill Hudnut, accepting the city's offer to move his team there. Then, in March of 1984, Colts' owner Robert Irsay was forced to make a decision - and fast. They were in discussion with the Baltimore Colts, one of the league's premier franchises known for their former quarterback Johnny Unitas - but was a move really going to happen? Hoosiers held their breath and waited. They built a stadium - the Hoosier Dome - but were still waiting for a team. But to 60,236 people in the stadium that day, it was everything.įor so long, people had waited for football in Indianapolis. No, on the outside it wasn't anything special - it was just another preseason game, just like the one that the team had played in (and lost) the week before. 30 years ago today, the Indianapolis Colts took the field in the Hoosier Dome for the first time ever.
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