Matt Stover

Ravens great Matt Stover will preside over this year's lighting of Baltimore's Washington Monument, organizers announced Tuesday. Stover spent 13 seasons as a Raven, earning respect as one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history and the admiration of Baltimore fans who appreciated both his on-field performance and his off-field love for their city. Although not signed by the Ravens following the 2008 season (he would later sign with Indianapolis and help them get to Super Bowl XLIV)

Matt Stover's accomplishments in his 13-season tenure with the Ravens and 20-year career in the NFL are too many to list. The highlights include ranking fourth in NFL history in career points (2,004) and field goals made (471), seventh in field-goal accuracy (83.7 percent on 471-for-563 kicking) and first in field goals made outdoors (445) and field-goal accuracy outdoors (84.9 percent). But for Stover, who retired after the 2009 season and will be inducted into the Ravens' Ring of Honor during halftime of Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium, the achievements pale in comparison to what he viewed as his true objective.

Matt Stover, the leading scorer in Ravens' history and an important member of the 2000 Super Bowl-winning team, will be placed in the team's Ring of Honor at halftime of Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Stover played 18 seasons with the Ravens/Browns before finishing his career with the Indianapolis Colts in 2009. Only middle linebacker Ray Lewis has had a longer tenure with the Ravens than Stover did. With the Ravens, Stover accounted for 1,464 points, went 354-for-418 on field-goal attempts and 402-for-403 in extra points.

Despite getting unceremoniously released midway through his first season by the Ravens as their primary kicker, Steve Hauschka said he doesn't harbor a grudge against the Ravens. “My job as an athlete is to focus on the things that I can control, and that's kicking the ball,” said Hauschka, who now kicks for the Seattle Seahawks - the Ravens' opponent this Sunday. “I don't think the team's decision is really going to affect it. When it really comes down to it, my job is to kick the ball.

Earlier this week Mike Duffy and Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com revealed the final five members of their all-time top 50 . They were: Peter Boulware (No. 5), Matt Stover (No. 4), Ed Reed (No. 3), Jonathon Ogden (No. 2) and Ray Lewis (No. 1). The authors note that rankings are based on player contributions while in a Ravens uniform, thus former greats who rolled through Baltimore — think Deion Sanders and Vinny Testaverde — don’t count. There seems to be a consensus on the top three, but is No. 4 too high for a kicker?

Former Ravens kicker Matt Stover addressed scholarship recipients at M&T Bank Stadium on Friday, emphasizing integrity and a willingness to work. The Baltimore Community Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit that give scholarships to local high school and college students, organized the event in a suite at the stadium. "BCF and the Ravens do such a good job of giving back to the kids," Stover said. "Giving $5,000 a year to each one of these kids is an amazing amount of money, and to be able to do that year in, year out is incredible.

News item: Matt Stover officially announced his retirement at a news conference at The Castle on Thursday and will be inducted into the Ravens' Ring of Honor during the upcoming season — provided there is an upcoming season. My take: The numbers don't lie. Stover was one of the greatest kickers in the history of the game, and he would be on the Acela Express to Canton if there weren't an inexplicable prejudice among Hall of Fame voters against one of the sport's most important positions.

Matt Stover's decision to retire from professional football is not surprising. He is 43 years old in a field where the average age Is about 26. But in the years he played for the Ravens and during the one season when his family stayed in the Baltimore area and he commuted to Indianapolis to kick for the Colts, he was that rare commodity, a genuine role model. He was very good at his profession. His 1,464 points with the Ravens make him the team's all-time leading scorer. His heroics, trotting onto to the field to send the football tumbling between the uprights for game-winning field goal, became a fixture of Baltimore's Sunday afternoons.

Matt Stover will announce his retirement from the NFL on Thursday, formally ending the memorable career of one of the greatest players in Ravens history. The oh-so steady kicker coolly booted field goal after field goal for 13 years in Baltimore, and the Ravens wouldn’t have won Super Bowl XXXV without him. For that, Stover is one of the most beloved figures in franchise history -- you will never hear a former teammate or a diehard fan refer to him as just a wimpy kicker -- and he will soon be added to the team’s Ring of Honor.

We have countless awesome sports photos in the archives here at The Baltimore Sun , and I have decided to share one with you each week in a regular feature called "Throwback Thursday. " With Matt Stover set to retire Thursday afternoon, he was an obvious choice for this week's search. I was torn between this photo and one of a floppy-haired Stover looking like a crazed Tom Cruise as he ran off the field at M&T Bank Stadium. But this Kenneth K. Lam photo seemed like a better and more entertaining choice for a few reasons.