# 1953 Baltimore Colts season

The 1953 Baltimore Colts season was the first season for the second Colts franchise as a member club of the National Football League (NFL). The Colts had a record of 3 wins and 9 losses and finished fifth in the Western Conference for the year.

## Background

The Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) were one of three teams merged with the NFL in 1950, despite having suffered a woeful 1–11 season in 1949. Adding complexity to the prospects of a team with an obvious talent shortage, as the odd 13th team in the league the Colts were given a round-robin schedule in 1950, meeting every team but the Chicago Bears one time and allowed a standard home-and-away relationship only with the neighboring Washington Redskins.
A predictable debacle ensued, with the Colts again going 1–11 in 1950. Amidst a sea of red ink, the original AAFC Colts shut down operations, with the team's players distributed to the other 12 teams of the league via the 1951 NFL draft.
There would be no professional football in Baltimore during the 1951 and 1952 seasons.
With the original Dallas Texans franchise a major financial failure in their one and only season in Dallas, by the end of 1952 it became clear that a new 12th team would be needed by the NFL. On December 8, 1952, a drive to "Bring Back the Colts" was launched in Baltimore, with headquarters located at Baltimore Memorial Stadium. Doors were thrown open at 9 am and by midnight more than $25,000 towards the purchase of season tickets was pledged. This amount was matched on Day 2 and again on Day 3; at the end of six weeks more than $300,000 for 15,0000 season tickets was pledged, with over 99% of this figure ultimately collected.
This show of enthusiasm drew attention around the country and proved decisive. In January 1953, a Baltimore-based group led by Carroll Rosenbloom won the rights to a new Baltimore franchise to begin play later that year.
Rosenbloom's group was awarded the remains of the Texans organization, including the rights to its players. Among these players were future Hall of Fame defensive linemen Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan, who would comprise a nucleus for the new Colts franchise. Rosenbloom chose the blue and white color scheme used by the original Dallas Texans, while appropriating the bucking-horse-with-football logo used by the original AAFC Baltimore Colts franchise.
Despite using the Texans' colors and many of their players, the Colts did not and never have reckoned themselves as a continuation of the Texans franchise or their predecessors, the Boston/New York Yanks/Bulldogs. Likewise, the NFL reckons the Colts as a 1953 expansion team.

## Season highlights

In the season opener against the Chicago Bears on September 27, Colts' defensive back Bert Rechichar set an NFL record for the longest field goal (56 yards), breaking the previous unofficial record of 55 yards (set by drop kick by Paddy Driscoll in 1924). It stood for over seventeen years, until Tom Dempsey booted a 63-yarder in 1970.
The Colts opened the season strong, winning 3 of their first 5 contests — including two against the venerable Bears and a home win over neighboring Washington — before going into a tailspin in which they racked up 7 consecutive losses.
The 1953 Colts have the unusual distinction of having a losing record, despite having a league-leading 56 defensive takeaways.

## Offseason
### Draft

1953 Baltimore Colts draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Billy Vessels | HB | Oklahoma | 1952 Heisman Trophy winner; signed with Edmonton Eskimos (WIFL). Joined Colts in 1956. |
| 2 | 14 | Bernie Flowers | E | Purdue | signed with Ottawa Rough Riders (IRFU) |
| 3 | 26 | Buck McPhail | FB | Oklahoma | |
| 4 | 39 | Tom Catlin | LB | Oklahoma | |
| 5 | 51 | Jack Little | T | Texas A&M | |
| 6 | 63 | Jim Sears | DB | USC | |
| 7 | 75 | Bill Athey | G | Baylor | |
| 8 | 87 | Jim Prewett | T | Tulsa | |
| 9 | 99 | Bob Blair | E | TCU | |
| 10 | 111 | John Cole | B | Arkansas | |
| 11 | 123 | Gene Rossi | B | Cincinnati | |
| 12 | 135 | Kaye Vaughan | G | Tulsa | Signed with Ottawa Rough Riders (IRFU) |
| 13 | 147 | Bobby Moorhead | B | Georgia Tech | |
| 14 | 159 | Frank Continetti | G | George Washington | |
| 15 | 171 | Buddy Sutton | B | Arkansas | |
| 16 | 183 | Jim Currin | E | Dayton | |
| 17 | 195 | George Rambour | T | Dartmouth | |
| 18 | 207 | LeRoy Labat | B | LSU | |
| 19 | 219 | Bill Powell | B | California | |
| 20 | 231 | Pete Russo | T | Indiana | |
| 21 | 243 | Frank Kirby | T | Bucknell | |
| 22 | 255 | Merlin Gish | C | Kansas | |
| 23 | 267 | Mike Housepian | G | Tulane | |
| 24 | 279 | Monte Brethauer | DB | Oregon | |
| 25 | 291 | Joe Szombathy | E | Syracuse | |
| 26 | 303 | Scott Prescott | C | Minnesota | |
| 27 | 315 | Ray Graves | B | Texas A&M | |
| 28 | 327 | Joe Sabol | B | UCLA | |
| 29 | 339 | Jack Alessandrini | G | Notre Dame | |
| 30 | 351 | Tom Roche | T | Northwestern | |
| Made roster ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 27 | Chicago Bears | W 13–9 | 1–0 | Memorial Stadium | 23,715 | Recap |
| 2 | October 3 | Detroit Lions | L 17–27 | 1–1 | Memorial Stadium | 25,159 | Recap |
| 3 | October 11 | at Chicago Bears | W 16–14 | 2–1 | Wrigley Field | 35,316 | Recap |
| 4 | October 18 | at Green Bay Packers | L 14–37 | 2–2 | City Stadium | 18,713 | Recap |
| 5 | October 25 | Washington Redskins | W 27–17 | 3–2 | Memorial Stadium | 34,031 | Recap |
| 6 | October 31 | Green Bay Packers | L 24–35 | 3–3 | Memorial Stadium | 33,797 | Recap |
| 7 | November 7 | at Detroit Lions | L 7–17 | 3–4 | Tiger Stadium | 46,508 | Recap |
| 8 | November 15 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 14–45 | 3–5 | Shibe Park | 27,813 | Recap |
| 9 | November 22 | Los Angeles Rams | L 13–21 | 3–6 | Memorial Stadium | 27,268 | Recap |
| 10 | November 29 | San Francisco 49ers | L 21–38 | 3–7 | Memorial Stadium | 26,005 | Recap |
| 11 | December 5 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 2–45 | 3–8 | L.A. Memorial Coliseum | 26,696 | Recap |
| 12 | December 13 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 14–45 | 3–9 | Kezar Stadium | 23,432 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. |||||||||

### Standings

NFL Western Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Detroit Lions | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 8–2 | 271 | 205 | W6 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 8–2 | 372 | 237 | W4 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 8 | 3 | 1 | .727 | 7–3 | 366 | 236 | W2 |
| Chicago Bears | 3 | 8 | 1 | .273 | 2–7–1 | 218 | 262 | L2 |
| Baltimore Colts | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 2–8 | 182 | 350 | L7 |
| Green Bay Packers | 2 | 9 | 1 | .182 | 2–7–1 | 200 | 338 | L5 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
NFL Eastern Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Cleveland Browns | 11 | 1 | 0 | .917 | 9–1 | 348 | 162 | L1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 7 | 4 | 1 | .636 | 6–3–1 | 352 | 215 | W1 |
| Washington Redskins | 6 | 5 | 1 | .545 | 6–3–1 | 208 | 215 | L1 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 5–5 | 211 | 263 | W2 |
| New York Giants | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 3–7 | 179 | 277 | L2 |
| Chicago Cardinals | 1 | 10 | 1 | .091 | 0–10 | 190 | 337 | W1 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Coaching staff

* Head coach: Keith Molesworth
* Backfield coach: Nick Wasylik
* Line coach: Ray Richards
* Assistant Line coach and trainer: Otis Douglas

## Roster

Appearing at some time during the 1953 season on Baltimores's 33-man in-season roster were the following players.
    † - Denotes starter; 1953 Colts ran a single-wing offense around a tailback rather than a quarterback
    * - Denotes NFL Hall of Famer
    ‡ - Not on end of season roster