Tom Matte

How could The Sun produce a historical list of the most outstanding athletes in Maryland's history and not include Tom Matte? I don't even want to guess. One of the criteria was that the player had to have lived in Maryland for three years. Tom Matte has maintained his home in Maryland ever since he first joined the Colts in 1961 - a total of 51 years - when he first was a running back behind Lenny Moore . A professional football team in those days had only 38 players, which meant that each player had to be versatile and able to fill in at any spot.

Many of you no doubt saw the popular feature Top Maryland Athletes in Sun History that has appeared on http://www.baltimoresun.com since April. The list was compiled by veteran Sun sportswriter Mike Klingaman in conjunction with The Sun's 175th on May 17. The main criteria for selection was that the man or woman either came from Maryland or a significant portion of his or her career took place in Maryland. The list counted down from 175 to 1 over a period of about six weeks.

As sports relics go, it is nondescript: a 3-inch vinyl wristband covered with tiny writing. Visitors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame are apt to walk right past it to gawk at the more inviting lore displayed nearby. Hey, Dad, check out the size 19 Hall of Fame ring worn by Bronko Nagurski! And look at this square-toed kicking shoe that belonged to some dude named Agajanian - it says here he had one toe on his right foot! Though a less obtrusive keepsake, the brown wristband represents a seminal moment in the rich history of the Baltimore Colts.

Helen Delich Bentley is right on point in criticizing the omission of Tom Matte from The Sun's historical list of outstanding Maryland athletes ("Tom Matte deserves spot on greatest list," May 15). Anyone who's old enough to remember the Baltimore Colts' surprisingly successful season of 1965 despite injuries to Johnny Unitas and backup quarterback Gary Cuozzo recalls what it was like to root for an underdog team whose unlikely substitute quarterback, Mr. Matte, stepped up and led his teammates to victory in late-season games with plays that had to be written on his wrists.

CFL Colts owner Jim Speros said he received an oral commitment yesterday for state funds in the renovation of Memorial Stadium.Speros said he reached an agreement on state funding with Mark Wasserman, head of the Department of Economic and Employment Development, that includes a partial loan and a partial grant. He declined to say how much money was involved."We're working out the financial details of the deal," said Speros, whose Canadian Football League expansion team debuts this summer.

Colts legend Tom Matte to attend golf tournament COCKEYSVILLE - Baltimore Colts legend Tom Matte and U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin are among those scheduled to attend the Lucent Technologies! Baltimore Reads Celebrity Golf Classic at Chestnut Ridge Country Club tomorrow to benefit the Baltimore Reads literacy organization. The annual event has raised more than $500,000 for the group since 1992, and organizers expect it to bring in about $60,000 this year. About 150 participants are expected.

Move over, Boog. Make room for Tom Matte.In what is becoming a sort of gastronomical Hall of Fame for retired Baltimore athletes, Matte, a former Colts running back, will be shoulder to shoulder with ex-Orioles great Boog Powell when Camden Yards opens next month.Powell will be back for the second year, signing autographs and selling his popular barbecue sandwiches off a grill on the Eutaw Street pavilion between the stadium and adjacent B&O warehouse.Matte will be right next to him, selling platters of St. Louis-style ribs.

John Mackey's suffering is over, but even in death he keeps giving to the game he loved. Mackey, the Hall of Fame tight end who played nine seasons for the Baltimore Colts, died Wednesday of frontal temporal dementia But soon researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine will study his brain to see if there's a link between repeated concussions in football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the perfect storm of head injuries that leaves ex-players reeling from depression, dementia, suicidal thoughts and God knows what else.

This was a first birthday party with "proud parents" galore. The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum teemed with folks who had some part in its creation last year. That meant renovating and adding onto the oldest industrial building on Baltimore's waterfront to honor two of the city's most famous 19th-century African-Americans. "This took a tremendous team effort," said Living Classrooms Foundation's president and CEO James Piper Bond, whose organization is affiliated with the Douglass-Myers.

A contract has finally been reached in the previously announced sale of soft rock music WVRT-FM (104.3) to the parent company of rival adult contemporary music station WWMX-FM (106.5).The E. W. Scripps Company, which is selling its radio interests to concentrate on television, said yesterday it will sell Variety 104 to Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., for $9.75 million.An agreement to sell was announced in mid-June, pending negotiation of final contract details.Yesterday's contract announcement included no word on possible format changes.

For the fans, Sunday's AFC title game between the Ravens and New England Patriots is just another step to the Super Bowl. But those who have played in a conference championship for Baltimore say that, psychologically, the game means much, much more. "You've reached a point where you're right at the epitome of what you want — the Super Bowl," Tom Matte said. "Lose the conference title and your season ends abruptly. You're dead in the water. You go home. "That's why this week's is the ultimate game, the most important one of the season, the game that requires more mental preparation than even the Super Bowl.

John Mackey's suffering is over, but even in death he keeps giving to the game he loved. Mackey, the Hall of Fame tight end who played nine seasons for the Baltimore Colts, died Wednesday of frontal temporal dementia But soon researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine will study his brain to see if there's a link between repeated concussions in football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the perfect storm of head injuries that leaves ex-players reeling from depression, dementia, suicidal thoughts and God knows what else.

Earlier this week, Brent Boyd walked into Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building, noticed the sharp wood paneling and the three low-hanging chandeliers. The first thing he thought was, "This is the most opulent room I've been in." The second was, "What the hell am I doing in here?" Exactly one year earlier, Sept. 18, 2006, Boyd says, he was admitted to a Reno, Nev., hospital. He couldn't talk, and doctors thought he had suffered a stroke. Boyd remembers the date but not the day. He was in the midst of a 90-day period for which he has no recollection, he says.

This was a first birthday party with "proud parents" galore. The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum teemed with folks who had some part in its creation last year. That meant renovating and adding onto the oldest industrial building on Baltimore's waterfront to honor two of the city's most famous 19th-century African-Americans. "This took a tremendous team effort," said Living Classrooms Foundation's president and CEO James Piper Bond, whose organization is affiliated with the Douglass-Myers.

As sports relics go, it is nondescript: a 3-inch vinyl wristband covered with tiny writing. Visitors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame are apt to walk right past it to gawk at the more inviting lore displayed nearby. Hey, Dad, check out the size 19 Hall of Fame ring worn by Bronko Nagurski! And look at this square-toed kicking shoe that belonged to some dude named Agajanian - it says here he had one toe on his right foot! Though a less obtrusive keepsake, the brown wristband represents a seminal moment in the rich history of the Baltimore Colts.

IT LOOKED LIKE the alumni association of our youth. Two by two the old buffaloes marched out Tuesday night, listening to the cheers on Memorial Stadium Night in a suburban country club dining room the way they'd once heard them at an old, vanished ballpark on 33rd Street. "Mike Flanagan and Scott McGregor," said Fred Manfra, the Orioles radio announcer, his voice instantly drowned out by several hundred folks who'd ducked in out of the evening's rain and gathered to benefit the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.

Barry Stitz is the first winner of the Spirit's Anita Nall Award for the team's Rookie of the Year.Stitz, a graduate of Archbishop Curley and Towson State, is one of Notebookeight Spirit rookies. He finished the regular season as the No. 2 rookie scorer in the NPSL with 63 points, trailing only the Denver Thunder's Andy Crawford, who had 66."Barry stepped in as a starter and proved his durability by playing in all 40 games," coach Kenny Cooper said, noting that Eric Dade and Joe Koziol were the only others who played in every game.

Colts legend Tom Matte to attend golf tournament COCKEYSVILLE - Baltimore Colts legend Tom Matte and U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin are among those scheduled to attend the Lucent Technologies! Baltimore Reads Celebrity Golf Classic at Chestnut Ridge Country Club tomorrow to benefit the Baltimore Reads literacy organization. The annual event has raised more than $500,000 for the group since 1992, and organizers expect it to bring in about $60,000 this year. About 150 participants are expected.