Baltimore's Marching Ravens
Continuous marching band since 1947, supporting four Baltimore football franchises.
Baltimore's Marching Ravens are the official marching band of the Baltimore Ravens, an American football team from Baltimore, United States. Founded on September 7, 1947, as The Baltimore Colts Marching Band, the organization has operated continuously ever since, supporting four separate football franchises. The band endured the disbanding of the original Baltimore Colts in 1950, the relocation of the Colts to Indianapolis in 1984, and later became attached to the Baltimore CFL Colts/Baltimore Stallions before joining the Ravens in 1996.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- September 7, 1947
- Original name
- The Baltimore Colts Marching Band
- Location
- Baltimore, United States
- Type
- Volunteer marching band
Facts from the source article.
History
The Baltimore Colts Band was established on September 7, 1947, coinciding with the launch of the first Baltimore Colts franchise in the All-America Football Conference. Robert "Bob" Cissin served as the band's first director. It was the second marching band formed for a professional football team, after the Washington Redskins Marching Band from 1937. The band was a volunteer organization whose members participated in their free time. During the two-year gap between the first Colts franchise folding in 1950 and the second Colts franchise starting in 1953, the band remained together and continued performing as "The Colts Band." In its first six years, the band twice led the Miss America Pageant Parade in Atlantic City and took part in band and marching competitions. At the time of the Colts' relaunch in 1953, the band had 60 members and 6 majorettes. Rehearsals were held one night per week year-round, and the band played at all home games plus one road trip annually. The Colts cheerleaders, organized in 1954, soon began marching and performing with the band. By the late 1950s, the band had grown to 127 members, 6 majorettes, 12 cheerleaders, and 7 color guards. It appeared nationally on television during halftime of the 1958 and 1959 NFL Championship Games. The band adopted a "cowboy" theme, playing on the horse mascot of the Colts, and was sometimes called "The Baltimore Colts Cowboy Band." It also performed at parades and other public events, including the 1962 Maryland Democratic state convention. According to an ESPN documentary titled The Band That Wouldn't Die, band leaders received advance warning of the team's overnight move to Indianapolis in 1984 and removed their equipment from team headquarters before the moving vans arrived; at that time, the band's uniforms were being dry-cleaned.
The Fight Song
The band regularly performed a fight song titled "The Baltimore Colts," composed in 1947 by Jo Lombardi, musical director of the Hippodrome Theatre, and Benjamin Klasmer, assistant director. The singalong lyrics began: "Let's go, you Baltimore Colts, / And put that ball across the line." After the band was rebranded as the Marching Ravens, a new fight song was used. In 2010, John Ziemann announced that the band considered using the Colts' fight song with new lyrics for the Ravens. Fans voted online, with over 10,000 ballots cast; 79% favored using the Colts' fight song with new lyrics. The revised version starts: "Baltimore Ravens, let's go / And put that ball across the line."
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