The Colts' origin is with the Miami Seahawks, one of the charter franchises of the AAFC. After playing a single disastrous season, the Seahawks were seized by the league, and were purchased and reorganized by a group of businessmen as the Baltimore Colts. The new team struggled through the next three seasons, but managed to grow a sizable fan base in Baltimore. In 1949, the Colts were one of three AAFC teams, along with the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns, to be brought into the NFL following the AAFC-NFL merger. They played only during the 1950 season before financial pressures forced them to fold.
The All-America Football Conference had initially intended to place a team in Baltimore in its opening 1946 season, but this fell through as its prospective owner, retired boxer Gene Tunney, was unable to secure a stadium deal. Needing an eighth team to avoid byes, the AAFC granted a franchise to a group of Miami-based boosters, the Miami Seahawks.
Unfortunately, the Seahawks were beset with problems: they were in the second-smallest market in the NFL or AAFC (ahead of only Green Bay), while Seahawks owner Harvey Hester was the only AAFC owner who was not a millionaire. The season saw them play seven of their first eight games on the road, and combined with a very poor team, the Seahawks drew a paltry total of 49,151 fans to their seven home games.
At the end of the season, the team was $350,000 in debt, including $80,000 in outstanding travel and payroll costs. This was well beyond Hester's ability to pay, and to make matters worse, his boosters walked away upon realizing the extent of the debt. Hester was subsequently declared bankrupt, leaving AAFC Commissioner Jim Crowley with no option but to seize the franchise.
Five businessmen, led by Washington, D.C. attorney Robert D. Rodenburg, made a bid to purchase the Seahawks' assets and use them to start a new team in Baltimore. The AAFC quickly approved the deal, and the team was reorganized as the Baltimore Colts, a name chosen due to the city's long history of horse racing and breeding. Due to the club's inherited talent drought, the Colts were permitted to recruit a player from each of the AAFC's four strongest teams.
Nevertheless, the Colts struggled financially through the 1947 season, leading the owners to walk away after the season. The team was little better on the field, winning only two games to finish in the Eastern Division basement.
Sensing a crisis, the AAFC supplied its three weakest teams (the Colts, the Chicago Rockets and the Brooklyn Dodgers) with superior players. The team found new ownership, but its financial crisis was not resolved.
Even with stronger players, the Colts were barely competitive on the field in 1948. However, the Eastern Division was rather poor that year; none of its four teams tallied a winning record. The Colts tied for first with the Buffalo Bills with a 7–7 record, and lost the division championship playoff to the Bills. The team then regressed in 1949, finishing dead last with a 1–11 record.
In 1948, both the AAFC and the NFL were struggling, and determined that the continued viability of professional football depended on a merger between the leagues. The leagues began negotiating a deal in which three AAFC teams would be brought into the NFL, and the owners of the others would be compensated for their interest. The Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, clearly the AAFC's strongest teams, were obvious choices.
It initially appeared that the Bills would be the third team in the merger. However, the Colts' owners pressed to be included in the Bills' place, even though they were one of the weakest teams in the league, but George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, initially refused to cooperate. He considered Baltimore to be part of his home territory, and believed the Colts would infringe on his rights.
Marshall finally relented in exchange for the Colts paying him $150,000 for the infringement. With this obstacle overcome, the merger was finalized, and the Colts were brought into the NFL.
The Bills were arguably a better choice for entry into the NFL; they were in a more isolated market, had stronger attendance and performed better on the field. The newly merged league's owners scheduled a second vote to add the Bills in order to balance the schedule. However, in those days, adding a new team required a unanimous vote, and the Chicago Bears's George Halas and the Los Angeles Rams' Dan Reeves persuaded two other clubs to vote with them in blocking the merger. (The Bills were not the same as the modern Buffalo Bills franchise, which joined the NFL in 1970.)
The Colts were nominally part of the "National Conference" along with the other eastern teams in the merged league, but unlike the other twelve teams, Baltimore was scheduled as a "swing team" and played every team in the NFL over the course of the 1950 season; the other twelve teams played a double round robin schedule in their conference, plus one crossover game with the opposing conference and a game with Baltimore.
Despite the addition of the Bills players, the Colts struggled through the 1950 season, ending with a record of 1–11–0.
Facing a financial crisis, Colts owner Abraham Watner sold the team and its player contracts back to the NFL for $50,000, and the team officially folded.
Interestingly enough, the Baltimore Colts in 1950 had two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Y.A. Tittle and George Blanda (only one game) on their roster. Tittle was the Colts starter for most of his time with Colts but after three disappointing seasons went on to be one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. They also had another future Hall of Famer in Art Donavan. The team even drafted Bobby Layne second overall in the 1948 draft but he ended up playing in the NFL and eventually went on to have a Hall of Fame career. In 1950, just like Blanda, they also had Frank Filchock for one game, a player who was banned from the NFL. Another quarterback the Colts had was Adrian Burk. Burk in his rookie season would not win a game in his five starts but had a solid career with the Philadelphia Eagles including a seven touchdown pass game in 1954. Burk who was a first round pick by the Colts only played one year for them since the team folded and he went on to the Eagles then later became an official in the NFL after his playing career.
Despite this, fan support continued in many quarters: notably, the team's marching band and fan club remained intact. Three years later, another franchise, also named the Colts, came to Baltimore.
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