By Gary Lambrecht
Baltimore Sun, July 8, 1995

    Baltimore's Canadian Football League franchise, only 17 months old, entered a new era yesterday, when owner Jim Speros christened the team with a new nickname. Say hello to the Baltimore Stallions. 
    Speaking at a news conference on Memorial Stadium's 55-yard line, which he reached by riding a horse across the field, Speros ended the short life of the Baltimore Football Club. After a banner reading "Home of the Stallions" was unveiled atop the upper deck behind the end zone, Speros said, "This is a name that makes a lot of sense to our football team and to our area. I think our fans will get behind us. We need to market our product and market our team, and it's tough to do that without a name. "I think Stallions is one of the best names not being used in sports." 
    It's also a name that Speros chose with a wary eye cast toward the National Football League, which owns the trademark rights to the name. Speros, who lost a court fight with the NFL after he named his team the "CFL Colts" last year, informed officials at NFL Properties on Thursday of his intention to use Stallions. "I don't want to spend any more money or time or effort fighting the NFL," Speros said. "I'm not looking for a legal fight." The name was originally intended for an NFL expansion team in St. Louis. Since the Los Angeles Rams have moved to St. Louis, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Speros is in the clear with his choice. "It does not present a conflict to us. It's really a moot point," Aiello said. "Since St. Louis did not get a team, we're not planning on taking steps involving the CFL team's use of the name. We wish them the best of luck." 
    Said Speros: "I don't think anyone benefits from a lawsuit. There's no sense in dragging our team through that again. From a financial standpoint, there's a sigh of relief. I don't have to go down that road again." 
    A limited amount of Stallions merchandise will be sold at tonight's home opener against the San Antonio Texans. 
   Speros said he also strongly considered Mustangs, but his preference for Stallions goes back to last year, when he nearly chose it over Colts. Shortly after Baltimore ended its inaugural season by losing in the Grey Cup game, Stallions garnered 35 percent of the 20,000 votes cast in a name-the-team contest, finishing a strong second behind CFLs. 
Ultimately, Speros decided to call the team the Baltimore Football Club, retaining its horse-head logo and adding a "Big, Bad and Blue" slogan. That all changed yesterday. "We're 0-1 as the Baltimore Football Club, and it's going to end like that," Speros said.

WINNING A MUST FOR STALLIONS 
Team eyes rebound after opening loss

By Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, July 8, 1995

    It's too early to say Baltimore cannot afford to lose tonight. But judging by the businesslike, sometimes tense, atmosphere in practice this week, the Stallions are preparing for their home opener against the San Antonio Texans with a must-win mind-set. 
    Baltimore began the season as the clear favorite to win the Canadian Football League's Southern Division and the Stallions talked that way last week. Then, the B.C. Lions threw cold water in their faces by handing them a 37-34 defeat. Baltimore helped the Lions by breaking down on offense, defense and especially on special teams, giving up important field position by allowing 312 return yards. Lessons learned? "We've had way more intense, focused practices this week," Baltimore coach Don Matthews said. "Our mental preparation last week was not sufficient, and that includes the coaches. We feel badly about the way we played in Vancouver, and we're anxious to get back out there." 
    "We made ourselves look bad last week," added linebacker Alvin Walton. "We can't give up big plays on special teams, and I was one of the guilty parties there. I know I didn't have a good game. We just have to play like we know we can." 
    Tonight, Baltimore faces a team it has never beaten. San Antonio spent its first two seasons as the Sacramento Gold Miners, the league's first American expansion team, before relocating for the 1995 season. Last year, Sacramento defeated Baltimore twice. The majority of the gold Miners are back as Texans, with 24 veterans back from a 9-8-1 team. 
    Baltimore's main concern will be quarterback David Archer. He directed the Texans to 30 unanswered second-half points in a 47-24 victory over Shreveport in the team's season opener. At 33 and with seven NFL seasons behind him before he made his mark two years ago in Sacramento, Archer frustrates defenses with his courage in the pocket and the accuracy in his throwing arm. Last week, he completed 19 of 26 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns, hitting eight different receivers in the process.
   San Antonio also used running back Mike Saunders effectively. Acquired as a free agent last month, Saunders, a former Saskatchewan Roughrider, has shown that he might be a capable replacement for Troy Mills, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers after gaining 2,003 all-purpose yards in 1994. Saunders burned Shreveport for 169 rushing yards and a touchdown last week. The trick for the Stallions' defense is to keep Saunders from getting outside, while adjusting their pass rush to the short drops they will probably see often from Archer. 
    Baltimore failed to record a sack against B.C., mainly because the Lions protected Danny McManus with six or seven blockers, and McManus released short passes quickly - accounting for much of his 397 passing yards. 
    The Stallions could be tested in the defensive backfield, where Courtney Griffin will replace the injured Karl Anthony at cornerback, but Matthews expects newly activated Grant Carter to give the line a spark at strong-side defensive end. Carter would have been a starter by now, had he not pulled a hamstring in Baltimore's exhibition finale two weeks ago. After the team waived Jock Jones on Monday, Carter, who had an excellent game against Ottawa in the exhibition opener, moved into the spot opposite rush end Elfrid Payton. "I watched the [B.C.] game on TV, but I could only watch for about four plays. Then I went bowling," Carter said. "Every fiber of my body can't wait to get out there. I'm having trouble staying calm about it." 
    Offensively and on special teams, Baltimore also figures to benefit from the return of fullback Peter Tuipulotu, one of the league's better blockers and a fine receiver. He also missed the opener with a hamstring pull. Tuipulotu's presence could be a deciding factor in how well Baltimore sustains its drives.
    Last week, the Stallions punted five times, managed a modest 19 first downs and scored only 10 points in the first half. "There's high expectations for us this year. But when we lost that game, we realized there's more to it than just having great players and looking good last year," Tuipulotu said. "We have the talent, but we have to perform on the field. I think the team is going to respond this week." 
    NOTES: Former Maryland basketball star Joe Smith, recently selected as the top pick in the NBA draft, will participate in tonight's coin toss.

STALLIONS HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
50-24 2nd-quarter surge fuels rout of Texans

By Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, July 9, 1995

    The Baltimore Stallions brought a new name and a different look into Memorial Stadium for their Canadian Football League home opener last night. Looking hardly like the team that faltered repeatedly and lost a tough season opener to British Columbia last week, the Stallions pounced on visiting San Antonio with 24 second-quarter points, then rolled to a 50-24 victory before 31,016. 
    It was a rousing home opener for Baltimore. A day after shedding the Baltimore Football Club for a new nickname, the Stallions erased last weeks' terrible start in Vancouver by scoring the game's first three points early in the first quarter. The Stallions were just getting warmed up. Baltimore (1-1) matched up with San Antonio (1-1) in a defensive battle that produced a 3-3 tie after the first quarter, and the Stallions actually trailed 10-6 early in the second quarter. But the Stallions took control, first with a stout defense that forced seven first-half punts, then with an offense that quarterback Tracy Ham ignited with his legs and his arm, and finally with excellent special teams work from kicker Carlos Huerta and rookie punt returner Chris Wright. 
    The game basically came down to the final five minutes of the first half, when the Stallions, behind Ham, burned San Antonio for three touchdowns and turned that a 10-6 deficit into a 27-10 lead at the half. Ham shook off a shaky start by completing 17 of 25 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed seven times for 57 more yards. 
   He was a nightmare for the Texans in the last half of the second quarter. In a three-minute span, Ham threw touchdown passes to Robert Clark and Chris Armstrong. On his 18-yard pass to Clark, Ham bought time by evading the Texans' pass rush with some terrific scrambling, before finding Clark wide open in the corner of the end zone with 4:20 left in the half. That gave Baltimore a 13-10 lead. Three minutes later, he found Armstrong over the middle for a 21-yard score to give Baltimore a 20-10 advantage with 1:25 left in the half. 
    "That's exactly what we bought when we bought Tracy Ham," Baltimore coach Don Matthews said. "When things go bad, with his athletic ability, he has the ability to make things happen, especially the one where he roamed around and found Robert Clark." "This was a good, good team effort," Matthews added. "Last week, we lost in all phases. This week, we won in all phases." Said Ham: "When you're in a league with a field this size, my ability to move around becomes an important part of our offense. Anytime you're playing against a team and not getting what you want, it's a feeling-out process. We had to make adjustments." 
    After Ham's heroics, Wright then made the play that broke the Texans, when he slipped two tackles while returning a punt 69 yards for a touchdown with 45 seconds left in the half to put San Antonio in a 27-10 hole. That marked the second straight game in which Wright ran back a punt for a touchdown. He also set a team record with his 69-yarder last night. San Antonio cut the lead to 30-17 midway through the third quarter, when Mike Saunders - held to 29 yards rushing on 12 carries - scored from a yard to complete a 74-yard drive, the Texans' only long, successful march of the evening. After that, Baltimore scored 20 straight points to put the game out of reach. 
    The Stallions were sharp in every phase. Ham completed passes to seven different receivers. Running back Mike Pringle rushed for 99 yards. The defense, led by rush end Elfrid Payton (three sacks, one fumble recovery), linebacker O. J. Brigance (seven tackles) and tackles Robert Presbury and Jerald Baylis, bottled up Saunders inside and kept constant pressure on San Antonio quarterback David Archer. He threw for 348 yards, but most of those yards came after the game was a rout. 
    On special teams, Carlos Huerta kicked five extra points and tied a team record by kicking five field goals and set a team record with a 51-yard field goal. Wright turned in another workmanlike effort, returning six punts for 96 yards and four kickoff for 106. 
    "You can't make mistakes against them," San Antonio coach Kay Stephenson said. "They played real good defense and put pressure on us. They covered us well all night. They were a good football team last year, and they're a good football team this year. 
    The news wasn't all good for the Stallions. Offensive tackle Neal Fort left the game in the fourth quarter with possible cartilage damage in his knee. He will be examined today.

'STALLIONS' NICKNAME QUICKLY CATCHES ON

By Ohm Youngmisuk 
Baltimore Sun, July 9, 1995

    The Big, Bad and Blue finally have a nickname to go with their slogan - the Stallions. And, so far, fans are catching on to the name and embracing it. "I like it," said Ed Ellis, 24, of Baltimore. "I guess everybody would prefer Colts, but this is our name now." Many fans at last night's game said the new nickname finally gives credibility to the second-year team. 
   Last year, a judge ruled that Baltimore could not use the name CFL Colts, and the team was renamed the Baltimore Football Club after 20,000 people voted in a poll in The Sun not to have a nickname. Stallions came in a close second in the poll. The name is also a trademark of the NFL, but the league said Friday there won't be a conflict. 
    "I didn't like the Baltimore Football Club," said Andrew Levy, 49, of Westminster. "It was very amateurish. BFC made it sound like Arena Football. The name didn't denote a professional level. BFC...that was horrendous." Said Gary Fowble, 39, of Hampden, "I knew they had to keep it with something that had to do with the logo. A Stallion is professional, a big horse. This is professional football. We needed a team and a name and now we have it." Levy's son Andy, 23, said that the Stallions was his second choice as a nickname. "My personal first choice was Colts," he said. "It belonged to Baltimore long before Indianapolis, but I would've preferred the French word for Colts [Poulain]. There is a lot of French heritage in Canada. I would've liked to have seen the NFL stop that." 
    Elizabeth Smeak, 25, a souvenir vendor, said three of the four shirts being sold with the name Stallions on it, sold out at her stand within half an hour after the gates opened. All hats sold out as well, and all the Stallions shirts were gone by half-time. "More customers complained about the Baltimore Football Club name," Smeak said. "They didn't have a team mascot or name to refer them by. Now they don't have to yell 'Go BFC,' they can yell, 'Go Stallions.'" 
    Two fans showed they weren't ready to let go of the past just yet. Frank Monaldi Sr., and Frank Petrucci waved a banner reading "How do you spell Stallions...C-O-L-T-S". "I'm not upset with the name," Monaldi said. "It would have been great to keep the Colts but that's the past and now we have to move on."

PASSING AND RUNNING, HAM HAS ANSWERS FOR STALLIONS

By Roch Eric Kubatko 
Baltimore Sun, July 9, 1995

    Tracy Ham didn't want to call it a struggle. Three points in the first quarter just meant it was time to tinker. Adjustments would win last night's game against San Antonio. 
    Ham battled back from a rough beginning to lead the Baltimore Stallions to a 50-24 victory at Memorial Stadium, accumulating 290 all-purpose yards, including 233 and two touchdowns - to Robert Clark and Chris Armstrong - through the air. Ham completed 17 of 25 passes, rushed seven times for 57 yards and a score, and threw a block that sprung Shannon Culver for a 29-yard gain in the second quarter. 
    On a night when the Stallions couldn't do much early on, Ham eventually did everything. "Anytime you're playing against a team and not getting what you want, it's a feel-out process," he said. Ham's legs were every bit as important as his right arm, whether he was racing downfield and dodging would-be tacklers or buying time until someone got open, as he did on an 18-yard scoring pass to Clark in the second quarter. 
    Clark got wide open in the back of the end zone as Ham scrambled from one sideline to the next. "When you're in a league with a field this size, my ability to move around becomes an important part of our offense," he said. "When you move around like that, people get lost. And I've found there's always people in the back of the end zone. And as usual, he wasn't afraid to take a hit. "It's a physical game and physically, I'm prepared for it," he said. "I don't like it, but that's part of the game. I try to stand in there. When it's my turn, it's my turn, and I have to do anything I can to get the ball in the end zone." 
    Said coach Don Matthews: "Tracy is a great competitor. He's going to contribute however he can." Distribution was a big part of the win. Seven receivers caught passes. "It's important that I do move the ball around," Ham said. "We don't want to allow anybody to just clamp down on Chris [Armstrong}. We have guys who have shown they can make big plays. I just try to get everybody the ball and allow them to work and not just put everything on one guy's shoulders."
   On his touchdown, which put Baltimore ahead, 13-10. Clark said. "We had a lot of guys bunched up and I just kind of got lost in the crowd. Everybody went right and I went left. I was just thinking, "Don't drop it, don't drop it.' You've just got to concentrate. "It took us a little time to get calmed down tonight," he added. "We just weren't doing things right."
    That is, until Ham could do no wrong. "Tracy's a good quarterback. He's a leader on the field," Clark said. "When he goes out there, he tries to read the defense, keep us calm and make sure everybody's doing what they're supposed to do." "He just did what he normally does. Sometimes it doesn't look good, but it's not always his fault." Clark said when the team sees Ham throw a block downfield, "it kind of makes you want to bring your level up. Seeing him do that kind of thing makes you want to go out and do your job that much better."

WRIGHT'S LONG RETURN SOMETHING TO FLIP OVER

By Roch Eric Kubatko and Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, July 9, 1995

    Baltimore rookie Chris Wright saw daylight. The members of San Antonio's special teams saw the back of his jersey. Judging by Wright's first two games, that's a vantage point would-be tacklers better get used to. Last week, he returned a punt 55 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown that put Baltimore ahead of B.C. 34-30. The Lions came back to win, 37-34. This time, there would be another long return, but no crushing defeat. 
    Wright fielded a punt by San Antonio's Todd Jordan late in the second quarter, broke a couple of tackles and raced 69 yards for a touchdown, giving the Stallions a 27-10 lead in a game they won, 50-24.
    "We were very patient on special teams tonight," he said. "Every time they kicked to me, we were one block away."
    Wright was a busy man last night, returning six punts for 96 yards and four kickoffs for 106. But he had enough energy to celebrate his touchdown with a cartwheel and back flip, landing just beyond the back line of the end zone. What better way to conclude the longest punt return in team history? I couldn't do it in college because you'd get an unsportsmanlike call," he said. "I hoped I'd make it to the professional level so I could do it." 
    Of his scoring run, Wright said: "I saw a crease. I read my players' blocks and hit the crease. A guy grabbed me and I made him get off me, then I saw the crease on the outside and hit it again. Then, it was footwork after that." 
    Wright, 5 feet 8, 175 pounds, attended Georgia Southern, which also produced quarterback Tracy Ham. He left as the school's all-time leader in kick return yardage with 1,569 , and was signed by Baltimore in April as a free agent. "He played his way on our football team," said coach Don Matthews. "He is so special on his returns, and so quick. That gives us the one dimension we didn't have last year."

Redemption
    Kicker Carlos Huerta still was fuming over what he considered a poor showing in his regular-season debut with Baltimore - two missed field goals in four tries against B.C. He made up for it last night, setting a regular-season franchise record with a 51-yard field goal, and tying another mark with five field goals. He also made five converts in what was a perfect night for the former University of Miami and Las Vegas Posse standout. "I didn't have much confidence after that game," he said, "But you have to deal with the bad along with the good."

Smith among the crowd
    When you are the No.1 pick in the NBA draft, you can afford to be fashionably late. Joe Smith, the former Maryland player, was supposed to perform the coin toss last night. Instead, Smith and former Wake Forest star Randolph Childress didn't show until near the end of the first quarter.         "Mike Anderson [a partner of Len Elmore, who represents Smith and Childress] got pulled over on the freeway," Smith said. We were trying to make it here and we got pulled over." Childress, who was driving in a separate car with Smith behind Anderson, said: "We tried to get here too fast. I didn't think we were going that fast. We didn't get a ticket, but we came off an exit too fast." 
    This isn't the first time Smith has been late to make an appearance. "I was supposed to throw it out [at an Orioles game] but I got there a little late, too," Smith said. 
    As far as the CFL goes, Smith is learning the game. "Actually, this is my first game," Smith said. "I don't even know the rules. Somebody just explained the rules to me. I really don't get to see much football live. It seems very exciting. The crowd is really into it." 
    Another former Maryland star, Walt Williams of the Sacramento Kings, joined Smith and Childress at the game.

No-name to new name
    Some of Baltimore's players shrugged with indifference. Some sounded happy about the change. But everyone pretty much agreed that the team's new nickname - Stallions - is a huge improvement over the Baltimore Football Club. "It's great to have a name. Baltimore Football Club sounded like a rugby team," guard John Earle said. "Now, we have our own identity, along with the horse logo, which is good. Now I can say I play for the Stallions. That sounds so much better." As for veteran offensive tackle Shar Pourdanesh, the new name carries little weight one way or the other. "It doesn't mean a thing to me," Pourdanesh said. "It doesn't change any aspect of the game for me. I still have to go out there and block. Maybe after the season, I'll reflect on the name change."

Happy with turnout
Speros was all smiles last night, partly because of some encouraging attendance figures. A crowd of 31,016 showed up for the home opener, still well below last year's average of 37,348 and a bit shy of the 1994 regular season low of 31,172. But considering that by the end of Monday barely 20,000 tickets had been sold, Speros was happy. "We sold about 4,000 tickets during the week, and we expected a big walk-up crowd tonight. Since we opened at 8:30 we were averaging between 100 and 150 tickets per hour," Speros said. "I think coming up with the new name sparked people up a little bit, and with this weather, you can't pick a better night for football."

FIERY PAYTON GIVES SPARK AT END 
Rush man's 3 sacks help lift Stallions

By Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, July 10, 1995

    Elfrid Payton typically wears his emotions on his shoulder pads. And it was Payton, with his fiery demeanor and explosive play, who provided the Baltimore Stallions an early spark from his rush end position in Saturday night's home opener. 
    The Stallions did so much and did it so proficiently during their 50-24 rout over the San Antonio Texans that it's difficult to pinpoint the key Baltimore moment. Tracy Ham's second-quarter, 18-yard touchdown pass to Robert Clark - preceded by some creative scrambling by Ham - gave Baltimore a 13-10 lead it never surrendered. Chris Wright's 69-yard punt return just before the half demoralized the Texans, putting them in a 27-10 hole. 
    Payton made his presence felt much earlier, when he sacked Texans quarterback David Archer for a 10-yard loss that forced the Texans to punt from deep in their end late in the first quarter. That helped Baltimore get the ball back near midfield and take a 6-3 lead on a 14-yard field goal by Carlos Huerta. It also marked Baltimore's first sack of the season, a welcome sign after the Stallions failed to record a sack in their season-opening loss to the B.C. Lions. 
    The defense, with Payton leading the charge, went on to stuff the Texans for most of the first half, forcing seven punts. Payton wound up with three of the Stallions' four sacks. On his last sack late in the game, Payton forced a fumble, recovered it. returned it 36 yards and nearly scored a touchdown. "It felt good to get some sacks. Hopefully, we can keep it going next week," Payton said. "We got fired up for this one. Without a doubt, we played with more emotion."
   Why hold anything back? With five of their first seven games on the road, the Stallions badly needed to win their home opener to re-establish their status as the favorites to win the CFL's Southern Division. They promptly pleased the home crowd with an effort that was in sharp contrast to their error-prone performance in Vancouver. 
    "Getting that first win, no matter where it is, is always important," Baltimore coach Don Matthews said. "I always feel a little anxiety until we get that first one. The good thing was we had control of the game for most of 60 minutes."     After watching the Stallions whip San Antonio in every phase of the game, Matthews is relaxing again. The offense produced four touchdowns and five field goals, as Ham led the way with 233 yards passing, 57 yards rushing, two touchdown passes and a 1-yard scoring run. Running back Mike Pringle added 99 yards. Baltimore did not commit a turnover. The special teams blocked and covered well all night. Malcolm Goodwin, re-signed last week because of his special teams prowess, made three tackles in that role. 
    Besides Wright's scoring romp, Huerta buried his 2-for-4 effort in the season opener by tying a team record with five field goals, including a 51-yarder, a regular-season team record. The Stallions scored 47 points over the final three quarters. 
    Defensively, the Stallions forced three turnovers, harassed Archer constantly, took away the deep pass with tight secondary coverage, and watched linebacker O.J. Brigance control the middle with a team-high seven tackles. 
    It also was a good night for Baltimore's newcomers. Defensive end Grant Carter, making his first CFL start, recorded three tackles and a sack. Courtney Griffin, starting in place of injured cornerback Karl Anthony, had two tackles and covered well. Even cornerback Gary Wilkerson, signed last week to take Anthony's roster spot, intercepted a fourth-quarter pass in the end zone. 
    Even the injury news was good for Baltimore yesterday. The team feared that offensive tackle Neal Fort might have suffered cartilage damage in his right knee early in the fourth quarter, but tests have revealed a swollen knee that should not prevent Fort from making his next start. Halfback Ken Watson left the game with a sore back in the fourth quarter, but he's fine as well. The same goes for offensive guard John Earle (finger). 
    The Stallions move on to San Antonio next week to complete the first of their four home-and-home series. "I told them that it's real difficult to sweep if you don't win the first one," Matthews quipped. "We're going to approach this next one like it's a brand-new game, not the back end of a doubleheader. We've got to put this one behind us." 
    NOTES: Wright leads Baltimore with 313 all-purpose yards. Wright also made two tackles on special teams against San Antonio...With Saturday's victory, Matthews tied Bob O'Billovich for fifth place on the all-time CFL victory list with 111....Payton has three sacks and three fumble recoveries. His sacks cost San Antonio 27 yards in losses....Josh Miller continues to punt well. He averaged 45 yards on six attempts against the Texans.