The Jets played the Colts, formerly of Baltimore, both home and away as AFC Eastern Division opponents every season from 1970 to 2001. Now, the Colts play in the AFC North, but this game counts the same.
Both New York NFL teams are inextricably linked with the Colts. It's an NFL myth that the 2 most important games in the League's history involved the Baltimore Colts vs. New York: The 1958 NFL Championship Game, against the Giants at the original Yankee Stadium (a.k.a. "The Greatest Game Ever Played"); and Super Bowl III, capping the 1968 season, between the NFL Champion Colts and the AFL Champion Jets at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
(If there has been an NFL game more important than those 2, it was likely also a Giants game, the 1925 game against the Chicago Bears and their rookie sensation Red Grange, which packed the Polo Grounds and saved the Giant franchise at the least, the NFL as a whole at the most.)
Of course, none of that has anything to do with Indianapolis. But then, neither should the Colts, even though they've now been there almost as long as they were in Baltimore: This is their 32nd season in Indianapolis, while they played only 31 seasons in Baltimore (1953 to 1983, unless you count the failed Baltimore Colt franchise of 1947 to 1950).
Before You Go. Lucas Oil Stadium has a retractable roof. Given that this is Christmas week, the roof will almost certainly be closed. Even before you go in, the weather won't be all that bad: The website of the Indianapolis Star is predicting mid-30s for Sunday afternoon, and mid-2s for the evening. You will need a Winter jacket. But they are not predicting either rain or snow.
Indiana used to be 1 of 2 States, Arizona being the other, where Daylight Savings Time was an issue; however, since 2006 -- 4 years after a West Wing episode lampooned this -- the State has used it throughout. There will be no need to adjust your timepieces.
Tickets. The stadium seats 62,421, one of the lower capacities in the NFL (although 2,000 more than the team's previous homes, Baltimore's Memorial Stadium and the Hoosier Dome), but the Colts are only averaging 58,837 fans per home game. You might be able to get get tickets without going to StubHub or the NFL Ticket Exchange.
Seating sections are color-coded. Forget the Dark Purple, Gray and Teal seats, as those are club seating/skyboxes. In the lower level sections, a.k.a. Street Level, Green are $136, Blue are $114 and Red are $98. In the upper level, a.k.a. Terrace Level, Yellow are $79, Orange are $61 and Light Purple are $50.
There are 6 levels in the stadium. In both the 100 Level and the 200 Level, tickets are $304 in midfield and $117 in the end zone. In the 300 Level and the 400 Level, they're $158 and $109. In the 500 Level, they're $88 in midfield and there's no end zone seating. And in the 600 Level, they're $80 and $61.
Getting There. Keep in mind, this is Christmas week. The normal travel rules may not apply, due to demand reducing the available seats and jacking up prices.
It's 714 miles from Times Square in Manhattan to Monument Circle in the center of the City of Indianapolis, and 708 miles from MetLife Stadium to Lucas Oil Stadium. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there. With the right times of day on your flights, you can get there and back for under $700 round-trip. The Number 8 bus is a 45-minute ride from the airport to downtown.
You can't take the train this time. Because Amtrak's Cardinal only runs 3 times a week, you'd have to leave Penn Station on Friday at 6:45 AM, and arrive at Union Station in Indianapolis on Saturday at 5:15 AM, leaving more than a full day before kickoff. And it wouldn't matter this time anyway, because the train is already sold out. The return trip would be at 11:59 PM on Sunday, getting back to New York at 9:58 PM on Monday. Round-trip fare would be about $200. Union Station is at 350 S. Illinois Street, corner of South Street.
Indianapolis' Union Station
Greyhound runs 7 buses a day from Port Authority Bus Terminal to Indianapolis, although 4 of these require you to change buses, mostly in Pittsburgh. The fare is $536, but it can drop to $338 with advanced purchase. The station is at 154 W. South Street, around the corner from Union Station, and a block away from the stadium. (That's right, "West South Street," but that's South Street, west of downtown.)
If you decide to drive, it's far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. You'll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike, and take Interstate 78 West across New Jersey, and at Harrisburg get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which at this point will be both I-70 and I-76. When the two Interstates split outside Pittsburgh, stay on I-70 west. You'll cross the northern tip of West Virginia, and go all the way across Ohio (through Columbus), and halfway through Indiana.
If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, 3 hours and 45 minutes in Ohio, and an hour and 15 minutes in Indiana. That' going to be 11 and a half hours. Counting rest stops, preferably 6 of them, and accounting for traffic in both New York and Indianapolis, it should be about 14 hours.
Once In the City. Indianapolis, named (as was its State) for the Native Americans, was founded in 1821, and is home to over 865,000 people -- making it the 2nd-largest city in the Midwest, behind Chicago -- with a metropolitan area of 2.4 million.
Like many other cities, Indianapolis experienced "white flight": While it was 81 percent white in 1970, that figure is now down to 56 percent, with 29 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian.
Notably, Indianapolis was spared a race riot after Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Senator Robert F. Kennedy had planned to give a speech in a black neighborhood in advance of the Indiana Primary, and the Mayor at the time, Richard Lugar, later himself a Senator and a Presidential candidate (Republican, 1996), advised Bobby to cancel. He wouldn't, and gave a speech calling for an end to violence, as Dr. King would have wanted. He kept the peace, and won the Primary. Two months later, he was also assassinated.
The centerpoint of the City, and indeed of the State, is the 284-foot-high Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument inside Monument Circle, at Market & Meridian Streets. Interstate 465 serves as a beltway.
The sales tax in the State of Indiana is 7 percent. ZIP Codes in Indianapolis start with the digits 462, and the Area Code is 327, with 463 overlaid. Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) supplies the electricity. There's no subway, but IndyGo offers a $4.00 all-day pass for its buses.
Going In. Lucas Oil Stadium, named for an energy company, opened in 2008. Its official address is 500 South Capitol Avenue. It is bounded by Capitol, McCarty Street, Missouri Street and South Street. It's downtown, with the Amtrak station only a block away and the Greyhound station across the street, so unless you flew in, you won't need to take public transportation to get there.
Indianapolis doesn't have a "sports complex," but the Pacers' Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the Triple-A ballpark are short walks away on either side.
Parking at the stadium is $20, and all parking is first-come-first-served. Tailgating must take place either in front of, or behind, the parked vehicle without blocking the drive aisle. For safety reasons, all aisle ways must have room for a vehicle to pass through. There will be no tailgating in an empty parking space: No parking spaces will be purchased for tailgating, and all parking spaces must be occupied with a vehicle. There will be no tents set up across aisle ways. Charcoal grills and the throwing of balls are not permitted.
The stadium looks like red brick, as do a lot of buildings in the city. Actually, it's made out of Indiana limestone -- as is the decidedly not-brick-looking Empire State Building. This makes it look more like an oversized version of an old-style gym. This was also done with the new Pacers arena. Inside, the "old gym" look continues, making it a huge improvement over the Hoosier Dome, which more closely, inside and out, resembled the atrocious Metrodome in Minneapolis.
In spite of its retractable roof, the stadium has artificial turf, specifically FieldTurf. In fact, the Colts haven't played a home game on natural grass since they left Baltimore after the 1983 season. While fully enclosed, behind each end zone is a large window that can be opened; however, there's not much of a view to speak of, since Indianapolis isn't exactly loaded with interesting skyscrapers.
Lucas Oil Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVI, the Giants' 2nd title game victory over the New England Patriots. It hosted the NCAA Final Four in 2010 (Duke beating Butler despite Butler playing in their hometown) and 2015 (Duke winning for the 5th time, the 3rd time in Indy, over Wisconsin). Indianapolis is where the NCAA keeps its headquarters, and after 4 Final Fours were held at the Hoosier Dome, they've decided to make sure the Final Four is held in Indianapolis at least once every 5 years. For this event, the stadium can be adjusted into a 70,000-seat configuration. (UPDATE: It hosted the Final Four in 2021, Baylor beating Gonzaga; and will host it again in 2026.)
It has also hosted the Big Ten Football Championship since its first game in 2011, and is under contract to do so through 2021. And it will host the College Football National Championship Game for the 2021-22 season.
It was built on the site of the Expo Center, which hosted 2 shows by Elvis Presley on October 5, 1974.
Food. Indiana is in the heart of the Midwest, right-smack-dab in the middle (or what used to be the middle, before Penn State, and then Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland, were admitted) of Big Ten Country, where tailgate parties are practically a sacrament. So you would expect there to be great food inside the Colts' stadium.
Certainly, there are plenty of stands. The stadium's website specifically mentions these varieties, although not at which sections they can be bought: Hot Dogs, Pork Tenderloins, Homestyle Pot Roast Sandwich, Gyros, Pizza, Philly Cheese Sandwich (I'm presuming they mean "Philadelphia-style Cheesesteak Sandwich," unless they mean "Philadelphia Band Cream Cheese Sandwich"), Chicken Caesar Salad, "Barbeque" (the Q should be a C), French Fries, Onion Rings and Ice Cream (I'd recommend the last 2, but not together).
About those pork tenderloins: The Thrillist article says:
The concessions menu offers one true gem: an authentic breaded tenderloin sandwich. This is basically a piece of pork pounded paper-thin, flash-fried, and served on a bun with fries. Unheard of outside of Indiana, it's the Hoosier state sandwich and well worth a taste.
Team History Displays. The Colts hang their championship banners at each end of the stadium. At the north end are the ones they've won from 2004 onward, including their 2006 World Championship and 2009 AFC Championship banners. At the south end are the ones they won from 1995 to 2003.
There is no mention of their achievements from their days in Baltimore, which is as it should be, since the Indianapolis Colts did not win the 1958, 1959, 1968 and 1970 NFL Championships, nor Super Bowl V.
In the 2 cities combined, the franchise has won 4 World Championships, including 2 Super Bowls, and 5 NFL Championships. They've won 19 Division Championships: The NFL Western (yes, the NFL placed Northeastern city Baltimore in the West) in 1958, 1959 and 1964; the NFL Coastal in 1968; the AFC Eastern in 1970, 1975, 1976 and 1977 in Baltimore, and 1987 and 1999 in Indianapolis; and the AFC South in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014.
The Colts have a Ring of Honor, whose members include the following players: Offensive lineman Chris Hinton, the only man in the Ring (besides Marchibroda) who was with the team in Baltimore; quarterback Jim Harbaugh, now the head coach at the University of Michigan; quarterback Peyton Manning; running backs Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James; receivers Bill Brooks, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne; and center Jeff Saturday.
Non-players in the Ring include: Robert Irsay, the owner who moved them to Indianapolis; Ted Marchibroda, who coached them to the Playoffs in both cities (and is the only man to be head coach of both the Colts and their replacements in Baltimore, the Ravens); Tony Dungy, who coached them to their Super Bowl XLI win; Bill Polian, the general manager who built the great Colts team of the 2000s; and their fans as "the 12th Man." So that's 14 individuals, including 10 players, plus the fans.
Hinton, Brooks, Dickerson, Harbaugh, Faulk and James preceded their Super Bowl XLI win. Manning, Harrison, Wayne and Saturday played on that team; each of those except Harrison was also on the team that lost Super Bowl XLIV. They have yet to elect a defensive player.
The Colts have 8 retired numbers. All but Manning's 18 are from their Baltimore years: 19, quarterback Johnny Unitas; 22, running back Buddy Young; 24, running back Lenny Moore; 70, defensive tackle Art Donovan; 77, guard Jim Parker; 82, receiver Raymond Berry; and 89, defensive end Gino Marchetti. Not only is 12 not retired for the fans, but it's being worn by current starting quarterback Andrew Luck.
Only Young left the team before it won the 1958 NFL Championship. The rest were all together from 1957 to 1961, and Donovan was the only other that didn't last until 1966. Donovan was the 1st Baltimore athlete to get his number retired, before Unitas, before Brooks or Frank Robinson. Unitas was the only one to last to their Super Bowl III loss, much less their Super Bowl V win.
From the Baltimore years: Unitas, Moore, Donovan, Parker, Berry, Marchetti, and a pair of players from the Super Bowl V win, tight end John Mackey and linebacker Ted Hendricks, are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Also from that team, linebacker Mike Curtis should be in the Hall of Fame, but isn't. Also worthy of consideration is defensive end Charles "Bubba" Smith, who's probably now better known as an actor.
Mackey wore Number 88, also worn by Harrison. Hendricks wore 83. Curtis and James wore 32. None of these numbers has yet been retired, but neither is any of them currently being worn. The last Colt to wear 32, in 2015, was safety Colt Anderson, 1 of only 2 players in NFL history to be named "Colt" (Washington Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy is the other), and the 1st ever to play for the Colts (although end Lloyd Colteryahn played for them in their early days). Center Ryan Kelly now wears Smith's 78.
Also in the Hall are 1954-62 head coach Weeb Ewbank (who led the Colts to World Championships in 1958 and 1959 and then beat them for one for the Jets in 1969), and 1953-56 defensive back and 1963-69 head coach Don Shula (who lost Super Bowl III, then was replaced by Don McCafferty who won Super Bowl V, but Shula went on to coach the Miami Dolphins in 5 Super Bowls, winning VII and VIII).
From the Indianapolis years: Dickerson, Faulk and Harrison are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So are Polian and 2002-08 head coach Tony Dungy, who led the Super Bowl XLI win. So is Chicago Bears legend Richard Dent, who played the 1996 season with the Colts. Manning becomes eligible in 2021.
Unitas, Berry, Parker, Marchetti, and Hendricks were named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary team in 1994. Moore, Mackey and Dickerson, were named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999. All of those, as well as Manning and Faulk, were named to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010. A statue of Manning now stands outside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Despite their long history, only 4 Heisman Trophy winners have ever played for the Colts franchise, and only 1 of those in Indianapolis: Gino Torretta, the 1992 winner at the University of Miami, played quarterback for the Colts in 1997, and was so bad, he was one of the reasons the Colts had to draft Manning, who, that year, finished 2nd to Michigan's Charles Woodson in the Heisman voting.
Two of the Baltimore players made little impact: Running back Frank Sinkwich, the 1942 winner at Georgia, played for the original Colt team, in the AAFC in 1947, but didn't do much. Nor did Billy Vessels, the Oklahoma running back who won the Trophy in 1952, in his brief Baltimore run in 1956.
But Alan "the Horse" Ameche, who won it with Wisconsin in 1954, played with the Colts from 1955 to 1960, scored the winning touchdown in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, and was apparently on his way to a Hall of Fame career when an Achilles tendon injury forced him out of the football business and into the restaurant business.
The games between the former Baltimore team, the Colts, and the current Baltimore team, the Ravens, mean a whole lot more to Baltimore than to Indianapolis. To people in Indiana, the Ravens are just another team that they might face in the AFC Playoffs.
Actually, being in the AFC South means that the teams that should be their geographic rivals aren't: The 2 closest teams are the Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Colts lead the Bears 24-19 and the Bengals 19-12; but if you count only games where they represented Indianapolis, the Colts trail the Bears 3-6 and lead the Bengals 14-8.
Ask a Colts fan who their arch-rivals are, and they'd probably say the New England Patriots. At least that dates back to the old AFC East, from 1970 to 2001, including Baltimore vs. Boston from 1970 to 1983. But it's more for their Playoff matchups, especially since it became Peyton Manning (and now, Andrew Luck) vs. Tom Brady.
The Pats hold a whopping 52-29 lead in the rivalry, including having won the last 8. Counting just the Colts' Indianapolis years, they trail the Pats 14-38. The Colts' last win was on November 15, 2009, a 35-34 win at Lucas Oil Stadium. There have been 5 Playoff meetings, with the Pats winning in 2003-04, 2004-05, 2013-14 and 2014-15, and the Colts winning in 2006-07.
Stuff. The Colts Pro Shop is in the stadium's northeast corner, at South & Capitol. Additional souvenir stands are all over.
In 2013, Lew Freedman published Indianapolis Colts: The Complete Illustrated History, taking the team from their 1984 arrival through the 2012 season, the first with Andrew Luck at quarterback. Freedman has written many sports books, including a similar book about the Giants and a biography of LeBron James.
The DVDs Colts: The Complete History (including the Baltimore years but only going up to 2006 and thus missing the Super Bowl win by 1 season) and the official Super Bowl XLI DVD should be available at the Pro Shop. If not, they are available at Amazon.com
During the Game. According to a recent Thrillist article, Colt fans were ranked 18th, in the middle of the NFL's pack when it comes to "obnoxiousness":
There are basically three kinds of Colts fans: die-hards who thought building the Hoosier Dome before you had an actual team was a stroke of GENIUS; Peyton Manning fans who dropped $200 on an authentic jersey in 2005 and don't much feel like switching; and people who know nothing about football and are just attracted by the smell of frying pork.
Because of their Midwestern/Heartland image, Colts fans like a "family atmosphere." They don't much like New York, but they won't bother Giant or Jet fans just for being Giant or Jet fans, or for wearing Giant or Jet gear in their stadium. Indiana is first and foremost a basketball State, so as long as you don't mention the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, or say anything bad about Reggie Miller or former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, you should be okay.
From September 1 to 7, 2017, at the height of the NFL National Anthem protest controversy,
After the Game. Indianapolis is a big city, bigger than most people realize, and has every problem that comes with that, including crime. But since the stadium is right downtown, this will probably not affect you. As I said, leave the home fans alone, and they'll probably leave you alone.
There is a restaurant called the Indianapolis Colts Grille, in the Marriott Hotel at 110 W. Washington Street, a 6-block walk from Lucas Oil Stadium.
I can't find a reference to a bar in Indianapolis were expatriate (not to be confused with "ex-Patriot") New Yorkers gather to watch the Giants, but Claddagh Irish Pub, at 234 S. Meridian Street, corner of Jackson Street, 4 blocks from the stadium, is said to be the local headquarters of Jet fans. I can't find any reference to places where Yankee or Met fans gather in Indianapolis.
If your visit to Indianapolis is during the European soccer season, as we are now in, your best bet to see your club is at Chatham Tap, 719 Massachusetts Avenue, on the northeastern edge of downtown. Another possibility is the Union Jack Pub, at 924 Broad Ripple Avenue, about 8 miles north of downtown. Bus 17 will take you to both.
Sidelights. Indianapolis is often said to be boring: Its most common nickname is "India-no-place." On February 3, 2017, Thrillist made a list ranking the 30 NFL cities (New York and Los Angeles each having 2 teams), and Indianapolis came in 21st, in the bottom 1/3rd, saying it's "like a big suburb that's really trying."
But there are some things worth visiting, particularly for a sports fan. As I said, the city's new NFL stadium, new NBA arena, and new minor-league ballpark are within a few blocks of each other downtown.
* Victory Field. This 12,230-seat ballpark opened in 1996 as the home of the Indianapolis Indians of the International League (formerly in the American Association), one of the oldest and proudest minor-league franchises. While the Indians have won just 1 Pennant since moving in, in 2000, they are still a legendary franchise, winning 10 International League Pennants.
There have been 10 future Hall-of-Famers who have played for them: Napoleon Lajoie, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Rube Marquard, Ray Schalk, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Gabby Hartnett, Al Lopez, Harmon Killebrew and Randy Johnson. Three others managed them: Luke Appling, Joe McCarthy and Al Lopez. In addition to McCarthy, Yankee Legends associated with them are Roger Maris, Don Zimmer and Aaron Boone.
Considering their name, it is a bit odd that they were only briefly, from 1952 to 1956, a farm team of the Cleveland Indians. They contributed players to the Pennant winners of the 1939 and '40 Cincinnati Reds, the 1948 Boston Braves, the 1954 Indians, the 1959 Chicago White Sox; and the Reds again in 1970, '72, '75 and '76. Currently, they are the top farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 501 W. Maryland Street & West Street.
* Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Formerly Conseco Fieldhouse, the Pacers' new arena was designed to be a throwback, "the Camden Yards of basketball," if you will. (A little ironic, but at least this time they only took Baltimore's idea, not it's team. Then again, Washington, D.C. already took the Bullets, now Wizards, in 1973.) In particular, there is a strong resemblance to "Indiana's Basketball Cathedral," Hinkle Fieldhouse. (More about which in a moment.) It seats 18,165. (UPDATE: It was renamed Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 2021.)
In their first season at the new arena, 1999-2000, the Pacers reached the NBA Finals for the first time, but got swept by the Los Angeles Lakers. They have not gotten back since.
The WNBA's Indiana Fever and minor-league hockey's Indianapolis Ice also play at Bankers Life. It has regularly (but not every year) hosted the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. 125 S. Pennsylvania Street at Georgia Street.
* Site of Hoosier Dome/RCA Dome. The 60,000-seat building that, along with Bob Irsay's greed, made the move of the Colts to Indianapolis possible hosted only 24 seasons of NFL football, from 1984 to 2007.
The building, whose name was changed in 1994, hosted 4 Final Fours: 1991 (Duke's 1st title, shocking defending champion UNLV and then beating Michigan's Fab Five), 1997 (Arizona's only title to date, over defending champion Kentucky), 2000 (Michigan State over Florida) and 2006 (Florida over UCLA).
The stadium was demolished in 2008, and its fabric roof was recycled to make hundreds of new products. An expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is now on the site. 100 S. Capitol Avenue at Georgia Street.
* Site of Market Square Arena. Home of the Pacers from 1974 to 1999, this 16,530-seat arena had a weird egg shape, possibly the result of a Seventies-inspired drug haze. It also hosted minor-league hockey, and the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers from 1974 to 1979. This was the first major league team of Wayne Gretzky. It also hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1980 (Louisville over UCLA), and what turned out to be Elvis's last concert, on June 26, 1977. 300 E. Market Street at Alabama Street.
The closest NHL team to Indianapolis is the Columbus Blue Jackets, 174 miles away. The Chicago Blackhawks are a little further away, 184 miles. Due to their long-term presence (the Jackets have only played since 2000), the Hawks are the most popular NHL team throughout Indiana, including those areas closer to St. Louis and Nashville.
* Bush Stadium. This was the Indians' home from 1931 to 1995. It was first known as Perry Field, after the Indians' owner. In 1942, he took his own name off it, and, in line with the war effort, renamed it Victory Field, a name brought back for its replacement.
In 1967, it was renamed Owen J. Bush Stadium, in honor of "Donie" Bush, a former major league shortstop from Indianapolis who had managed the Pirates to the 1927 National League Pennant, and also served the Indianapolis Indians as manager and team president.
Like Wrigley Field in Chicago and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Bush Stadium had ivy on its outfield walls. In 1987, it was dressed up to resemble both Chicago's Comiskey Park and Cincinnati's Redland Field (later Crosley Field) for the movie Eight Men Out, about the 1919-21 Black Sox Scandal, as it was one of the few remaining pre-1920 ballparks left. (Comiskey Park was still standing, but it didn't yet have an upper deck in 1919, so it was unsuitable for the film.) Interestingly enough, both the White Sox and the Reds had the Indians as their top farm team for some time (though not, of course, at the same time).
The Indians won Pennants at Bush Stadium in 1949, 1956, 1963, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1994. Peak capacity was 15,000. The Indianapolis ABCs of the Negro Leagues -- named for the American Brewing Company -- played here from 1931 to 1938. So did the Indianapolis Clowns, for whom Hank Aaron played briefly in 1952, making him the last remaining active former Negro League player, in 1976. The Clowns were also the last remaining Negro League team, playing until 1966.
Parts of the stadium have been preserved and turned into housing. 1501 W. 16th Street, northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.
Across W. 16th Street, at 1502, is Kuntz Stadium, a 5,257-seat soccer stadium. The U.S. national team played 3 games there in the late 1980s. That shows you how far that team has come: They couldn't even sell out 5,000 seats. If they were to play in Indy now, they would sell out the 62,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium.
* Washington Park. The Indians and the ABCs -- the latter then led by perhaps the greatest of the pre-1947 black players, Oscar Charleston -- played here before Perry Field/Bush Stadium opened. 1235 W. Washington Street, on ground now occupied by the Indianapolis Zoo, about a mile and a half east of downtown. Bus 8.
The nearest MLB teams to Indianapolis are the Cincinnati Reds, 112 miles away; the Chicago White Sox, 178 miles; the Chicago Cubs, 188 miles; and the St. Louis Cardinals, 242 miles. But according to a recent New York Times article, the most popular team in and around Indianapolis is the Cubs, with the Yankees 2nd, and the Reds and the Boston Red Sox battling it out for 3rd. Why? And why not the much-closer White Sox or Cardinals? Because of the media, particularly the influence of Chicago's superstation WGN, and ESPN and Fox constantly showing the Yankees and Red Sox.
* Hinkle Fieldhouse. Formerly Butler Fieldhouse, and renamed for longtime basketball coach Tony Hinkle, this gym was built for Butler University in 1928, and has hosted countless Indiana basketball memories, including the State high school championships. Most notably, it hosted the 1954 Final, which saw Milan defeat Muncie Central, inspiring the film Hoosiers, which filmed on the same court and used the original announcers. (Milan had also been to the Final 2 years earlier, so while it was an upset, it wasn't like Milan was a total unknown. An underdog, yes; a dark horse, no.)
Seating 15,000 at its peak (a sellout of which at the 1987 Pan American Games becoming, to this day, the largest crowd ever to attend a volleyball match in America), modernizations, including wider seats, have reduced capacity to 10,000. But it still stands, and is one of the oldest remaining buildings to have hosted one of the 4 major sports leagues in North America. 510 W. 49th Street, north of downtown. Number 28 bus, then walk west on 49th from Illinois Street to Rookwood Avenue.
Indiana University is in Bloomington, 50 miles to the southwest. Purdue University is in West Lafayette, 68 miles to the northwest. The University of Notre Dame is in South Bend, 149 miles to the north. And Ball State University is in Muncie, 60 miles to the Northeast.
They made the Playoffs in 1942, '47 and '48. In 1948, they, along with the NBL's Minneapolis Lakers, Fort Wayne Pistons and Rochester Royals, jumped to the Basketball Association of America, which became the NBA a year later. Because the league didn't allow commercial names, the team's name was changed to the Indianapolis Jets. But they only lasted 1 season, as the Olympians arrived.
Today, the Kautskys/Jets are noted mainly for having on their roster John Wooden, who coached UCLA to 10 National Championships from 1964 to 1975; and Branch McCracken, who coached Indiana to the 1940 and 1953 National Championships.
In 1949, the Indianapolis Olympians were welcomed into the NBL, but then the merger with the BAA happened to become the NBA, and the Olympians, so named because of their players' representation of the U.S. in winning the Gold Medal at the 1948 Olympics in London, were in, and the Jets were out. They included Alex Groza (brother of Cleveland Browns star Lou Groza), Ralph Beard, Cliff Barker and Wallace "Wah-Wah" Jones, all of whom had played on the University of Kentucky's 1948 and '49 National Champions; Paul Walther of the University of Tennessee and Clarence "Kleggie" Hermsen of the University of Minnesota.
Also playing at the Butler fieldhouse, the Olympians won the Western Division in 1950, and made the Playoffs again in 1951. But after that season, Groza and Beard were banned from the NBA for life after they admitted shaving points at Kentucky. The Olympians never recovered, and folded after the 1953 season.
The Anderson Packers played from 1946 to 1951 at Anderson High School, 4610 Madison Avenue, 41 miles to the northeast. Not reachable by public transportation.
The Fort Wayne Pistons began in the NBL in 1941, 128 miles to the northeast, and won that league's title in 1944 and '45 -- making them, technically if not officially, the World Champions of professional basketball for those seasons. Owner Fred Zollner and his sister Janet ran a foundry, manufacturing Pistons.
The team moved into the NBA in 1948, and won the Western Division and reached the Finals in 1955 (losing to the Syracuse Nationals) and 1956 (losing to the Philadelphia Warriors). But despite moving from the gym at North Side High School (475 E. State Boulevard) to the new 13,000-seat Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (still standing at 4000 Parnell Avenue) in 1952, they were stuck in a market that was too small for the major leagues.
In 1957, Zollner moved the team to Detroit -- the Motor City, so keeping the "Pistons" name made sense. (Ironically, they weren't much closer to Indianapolis than they were to Detroit. Or Chicago, for that matter.) After that, Indianapolis wouldn't have another NBA team until the Pacers arrived with the ABA merger 19 years later.
* Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Opening in 1939 as part of the Indiana State Fair complex, this 6,800-seat arena, formerly known as the Fairgrounds Coliseum, was the Pacers' first home, from 1967 to 1974. It was their home when they won the American Basketball Association Championship in 1970, 1972 and 1973.
Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson successfully defended his title here, beating Brian London on May 1, 1959. On October 31, 1963, a propane leak at a concession stand caused an explosion that killed 74 people during a Holiday On Ice show. Elvis sang there on April 12, 1972.
It has also been home to a series of minor-league hockey teams. The Indianapolis Capitals won the Calder Cup, the championship of the American Hockey League, in 1942 and 1950. The Indianapolis Ice won the Turner Cup, the championship of the International Hockey League, in 1990; and the Ray Miron Cup, the championship of the Central Hockey League, in 2000. The Indiana Ice won the Clark Cup, the championship of the United States Hockey League, in 2009 and 2014.
The current team is called the Indy Fuel, tied into the city's racing theme. 1202 E. 38th Street, northeast of downtown. Number 39 bus.
* Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The most famous building in the State of Indiana, and the largest sports facility in the world, has nothing to do with basketball or football or baseball. It's the home of the Indianapolis 500, held there every year (usually on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend) since 1911 (except for the World War years: 1917, '18, '42, '43, '44 and '45).
The track opened in 1909, and has spread the name of the city all over the world, as drivers from as far away as Britain (Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti), Brazil (Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan), Australia (Scott Dixon and the aptly-named Will Power), Colombia (Juan Pablo Montoya) and Japan (Takuma Sato) have won the 500 in recent years.
The permanent seating capacity is 257,325. Infield seating can push it to over 400,000 -- and the Indy 500 sells out every year. Although the mailing address is "4790 W. 16th Street, Speedway, Indiana 46222," it's within the city limits of Indianapolis, 5 miles northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.
* Michael Carroll Stadium. This is the home of the Indy Eleven, of the new version of the North American Soccer League, the 2nd division of North American soccer. It sets 12,111. 1001 W. New York Street, a mile west of downtown. There is no bus service there. The nearest MLS team is the Columbus Crew, 178 miles away. The Chicago Fire are 183 miles away.
Early in his career, Elvis gave 8 concerts in 4 days, December 4 through 7, 1955 at the Lyric Theater, at 121 N. Illinois Street, a block west of the Monument. A parking deck is on the site now.
Elvis also sang in Indiana at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum on March 30, 1957, June 12, 1972, and October 25, 1976; at Roberts Memorial Stadium in Evansville on June 13, 1972 and October 24, 1976; at Assembly Hall in Bloomington on June 27, 1974 and May 27, 1976; at the Notre Dame Athletic Center (now the Joyce Center) on September 30 and October 1, 1974 and October 20, 1976; and at the Hulman Civic Center in Terre Haute on July 9, 1975.
* Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Standing 284 1/2 feet high at the geographic center of the City and the State, this tower was dedicated in 1902, commemorating the Indiana military personnel of the recent Spanish-American War, the American Civil War, the Mexican-American War, the frontier conflicts that were a part of the War of 1812 (which produced several battles in Indiana), and the American capture of Vincennes from the British during the War of the American Revolution. During the holiday season, it is decorated like a Christmas tree. (If that sounds sacrilegious, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the considerably shorter Civil War Monument is turned into an artificial Christmas tree, and nobody objects.) Monument Circle, at Meridian & Market Streets.
The tallest building in the State of Indiana is the Salesforce Tower, formerly named the Chase Tower, with a roof 700 feet high and spires rising to 830 feet. 111 Monument Circle.
Indianapolis is not big on museums. The best-known is the Indiana State Museum, at a complex that includes the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Washington & West Streets, downtown. Number 8 bus if you don't feel like walking.
William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States and former Territorial Governor (died just 1 month after his 1841 Inauguration), and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President (1889-1893), both lived in Indiana (as did Abraham Lincoln as a boy). But Grouseland, the house of "Old Tippecanoe," is 130 miles away in Vincennes. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is just north of downtown, at 1230 N. Delaware Street. Number 19 bus.
Benjamin Harrison is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery. So are Vice Presidents Thomas Hendricks (served under Grover Cleveland, died in office 1885), Charles Fairbanks (Theodore Roosevelt, 1905-09) and Thomas Marshall (Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21).
So are Bob Irsay, the man who moved the Colts from Baltimore; poet James Whitcomb Riley, novelist Booth Tarkington, bank robber John Dillinger, Sudoku inventor Howard Garns, and James Baskett, the 1st black man to win an Oscar, for playing Uncle Remus in Walt Disney's Song of the South. 700 W. 38th Street, about 4 1/2 miles north of downtown. Bus 38.
Only 3 TV shows are known to have been set in Indianapolis. Close to Home and the U.S. version of the British hit Men Behaving Badly are best forgotten. But the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984, and starred Bonnie Franklin and launched Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli to stardom, was groundbreaking: It was not only the first TV show to show a divorced single mother (rather than a widowed one), but it actually made Indianapolis seem like a fun place to be.
Parks and Recreation is set in the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee. The Fugitive established the hometown of Dr. Richard Kimble (Dave Janssen) as Stafford, not far from South Bend, and the final episode, at the time of its August 29, 1967 airing the most-watched program in U.S. TV history, took place there, although the amusement park where the climactic scene took place was filmed in Southern California. Stranger Things is set in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins.
Movies set in Indianapolis are also rare. Some early scenes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind were set there, before moving out to the iconic Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Last year, the cult hit The Fault In Our Stars was set there, but filmed in Pittsburgh.
*
No matter what the Colts achieve, and 2 trips to the Super Bowl in 30 years is more than some teams have done, Indiana will always be a basketball State, and Indianapolis will always be a basketball city. But that doesn't mean a visiting football fan can't have fun there.
The Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument,
at Monument Circle
The sales tax in the State of Indiana is 7 percent. ZIP Codes in Indianapolis start with the digits 462, and the Area Code is 327, with 463 overlaid. Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) supplies the electricity. There's no subway, but IndyGo offers a $4.00 all-day pass for its buses.
The State House
Stadium with roof closed
Indianapolis doesn't have a "sports complex," but the Pacers' Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the Triple-A ballpark are short walks away on either side.
Parking at the stadium is $20, and all parking is first-come-first-served. Tailgating must take place either in front of, or behind, the parked vehicle without blocking the drive aisle. For safety reasons, all aisle ways must have room for a vehicle to pass through. There will be no tailgating in an empty parking space: No parking spaces will be purchased for tailgating, and all parking spaces must be occupied with a vehicle. There will be no tents set up across aisle ways. Charcoal grills and the throwing of balls are not permitted.
Stadium with roof open
The stadium looks like red brick, as do a lot of buildings in the city. Actually, it's made out of Indiana limestone -- as is the decidedly not-brick-looking Empire State Building. This makes it look more like an oversized version of an old-style gym. This was also done with the new Pacers arena. Inside, the "old gym" look continues, making it a huge improvement over the Hoosier Dome, which more closely, inside and out, resembled the atrocious Metrodome in Minneapolis.
In spite of its retractable roof, the stadium has artificial turf, specifically FieldTurf. In fact, the Colts haven't played a home game on natural grass since they left Baltimore after the 1983 season. While fully enclosed, behind each end zone is a large window that can be opened; however, there's not much of a view to speak of, since Indianapolis isn't exactly loaded with interesting skyscrapers.
It has also hosted the Big Ten Football Championship since its first game in 2011, and is under contract to do so through 2021. And it will host the College Football National Championship Game for the 2021-22 season.
It was built on the site of the Expo Center, which hosted 2 shows by Elvis Presley on October 5, 1974.
On September 12, 2017, Thrillist had an article ranking all 31 NFL stadiums. Lucas Oil Stadium ranked 8th, in the top quartile:
The brick behemoth is meant to look like an old-school high school gym -- albeit one with a retractable roof and a massive (also retractable) bank of windows at its north end. With the top closed, the noise from 62,000 spectators gets projected onto the field, making this a decidedly unfriendly place for visiting teams.
Certainly, there are plenty of stands. The stadium's website specifically mentions these varieties, although not at which sections they can be bought: Hot Dogs, Pork Tenderloins, Homestyle Pot Roast Sandwich, Gyros, Pizza, Philly Cheese Sandwich (I'm presuming they mean "Philadelphia-style Cheesesteak Sandwich," unless they mean "Philadelphia Band Cream Cheese Sandwich"), Chicken Caesar Salad, "Barbeque" (the Q should be a C), French Fries, Onion Rings and Ice Cream (I'd recommend the last 2, but not together).
About those pork tenderloins: The Thrillist article says:
The concessions menu offers one true gem: an authentic breaded tenderloin sandwich. This is basically a piece of pork pounded paper-thin, flash-fried, and served on a bun with fries. Unheard of outside of Indiana, it's the Hoosier state sandwich and well worth a taste.
Team History Displays. The Colts hang their championship banners at each end of the stadium. At the north end are the ones they've won from 2004 onward, including their 2006 World Championship and 2009 AFC Championship banners. At the south end are the ones they won from 1995 to 2003.
There is no mention of their achievements from their days in Baltimore, which is as it should be, since the Indianapolis Colts did not win the 1958, 1959, 1968 and 1970 NFL Championships, nor Super Bowl V.
The Colts have a Ring of Honor, whose members include the following players: Offensive lineman Chris Hinton, the only man in the Ring (besides Marchibroda) who was with the team in Baltimore; quarterback Jim Harbaugh, now the head coach at the University of Michigan; quarterback Peyton Manning; running backs Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James; receivers Bill Brooks, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne; and center Jeff Saturday.
Non-players in the Ring include: Robert Irsay, the owner who moved them to Indianapolis; Ted Marchibroda, who coached them to the Playoffs in both cities (and is the only man to be head coach of both the Colts and their replacements in Baltimore, the Ravens); Tony Dungy, who coached them to their Super Bowl XLI win; Bill Polian, the general manager who built the great Colts team of the 2000s; and their fans as "the 12th Man." So that's 14 individuals, including 10 players, plus the fans.
It should be "1998-2011." They had the room.
Hinton, Brooks, Dickerson, Harbaugh, Faulk and James preceded their Super Bowl XLI win. Manning, Harrison, Wayne and Saturday played on that team; each of those except Harrison was also on the team that lost Super Bowl XLIV. They have yet to elect a defensive player.
The Colts have 8 retired numbers. All but Manning's 18 are from their Baltimore years: 19, quarterback Johnny Unitas; 22, running back Buddy Young; 24, running back Lenny Moore; 70, defensive tackle Art Donovan; 77, guard Jim Parker; 82, receiver Raymond Berry; and 89, defensive end Gino Marchetti. Not only is 12 not retired for the fans, but it's being worn by current starting quarterback Andrew Luck.
Only Young left the team before it won the 1958 NFL Championship. The rest were all together from 1957 to 1961, and Donovan was the only other that didn't last until 1966. Donovan was the 1st Baltimore athlete to get his number retired, before Unitas, before Brooks or Frank Robinson. Unitas was the only one to last to their Super Bowl III loss, much less their Super Bowl V win.
From the Baltimore years: Unitas, Moore, Donovan, Parker, Berry, Marchetti, and a pair of players from the Super Bowl V win, tight end John Mackey and linebacker Ted Hendricks, are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Also from that team, linebacker Mike Curtis should be in the Hall of Fame, but isn't. Also worthy of consideration is defensive end Charles "Bubba" Smith, who's probably now better known as an actor.
Mackey wore Number 88, also worn by Harrison. Hendricks wore 83. Curtis and James wore 32. None of these numbers has yet been retired, but neither is any of them currently being worn. The last Colt to wear 32, in 2015, was safety Colt Anderson, 1 of only 2 players in NFL history to be named "Colt" (Washington Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy is the other), and the 1st ever to play for the Colts (although end Lloyd Colteryahn played for them in their early days). Center Ryan Kelly now wears Smith's 78.
Also in the Hall are 1954-62 head coach Weeb Ewbank (who led the Colts to World Championships in 1958 and 1959 and then beat them for one for the Jets in 1969), and 1953-56 defensive back and 1963-69 head coach Don Shula (who lost Super Bowl III, then was replaced by Don McCafferty who won Super Bowl V, but Shula went on to coach the Miami Dolphins in 5 Super Bowls, winning VII and VIII).
From the Indianapolis years: Dickerson, Faulk and Harrison are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So are Polian and 2002-08 head coach Tony Dungy, who led the Super Bowl XLI win. So is Chicago Bears legend Richard Dent, who played the 1996 season with the Colts. Manning becomes eligible in 2021.
Unitas, Berry, Parker, Marchetti, and Hendricks were named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary team in 1994. Moore, Mackey and Dickerson, were named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999. All of those, as well as Manning and Faulk, were named to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010. A statue of Manning now stands outside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Two of the Baltimore players made little impact: Running back Frank Sinkwich, the 1942 winner at Georgia, played for the original Colt team, in the AAFC in 1947, but didn't do much. Nor did Billy Vessels, the Oklahoma running back who won the Trophy in 1952, in his brief Baltimore run in 1956.
But Alan "the Horse" Ameche, who won it with Wisconsin in 1954, played with the Colts from 1955 to 1960, scored the winning touchdown in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, and was apparently on his way to a Hall of Fame career when an Achilles tendon injury forced him out of the football business and into the restaurant business.
The games between the former Baltimore team, the Colts, and the current Baltimore team, the Ravens, mean a whole lot more to Baltimore than to Indianapolis. To people in Indiana, the Ravens are just another team that they might face in the AFC Playoffs.
Actually, being in the AFC South means that the teams that should be their geographic rivals aren't: The 2 closest teams are the Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Colts lead the Bears 24-19 and the Bengals 19-12; but if you count only games where they represented Indianapolis, the Colts trail the Bears 3-6 and lead the Bengals 14-8.
Ask a Colts fan who their arch-rivals are, and they'd probably say the New England Patriots. At least that dates back to the old AFC East, from 1970 to 2001, including Baltimore vs. Boston from 1970 to 1983. But it's more for their Playoff matchups, especially since it became Peyton Manning (and now, Andrew Luck) vs. Tom Brady.
The Pats hold a whopping 52-29 lead in the rivalry, including having won the last 8. Counting just the Colts' Indianapolis years, they trail the Pats 14-38. The Colts' last win was on November 15, 2009, a 35-34 win at Lucas Oil Stadium. There have been 5 Playoff meetings, with the Pats winning in 2003-04, 2004-05, 2013-14 and 2014-15, and the Colts winning in 2006-07.
Stuff. The Colts Pro Shop is in the stadium's northeast corner, at South & Capitol. Additional souvenir stands are all over.
In 2013, Lew Freedman published Indianapolis Colts: The Complete Illustrated History, taking the team from their 1984 arrival through the 2012 season, the first with Andrew Luck at quarterback. Freedman has written many sports books, including a similar book about the Giants and a biography of LeBron James.
The DVDs Colts: The Complete History (including the Baltimore years but only going up to 2006 and thus missing the Super Bowl win by 1 season) and the official Super Bowl XLI DVD should be available at the Pro Shop. If not, they are available at Amazon.com
During the Game. According to a recent Thrillist article, Colt fans were ranked 18th, in the middle of the NFL's pack when it comes to "obnoxiousness":
There are basically three kinds of Colts fans: die-hards who thought building the Hoosier Dome before you had an actual team was a stroke of GENIUS; Peyton Manning fans who dropped $200 on an authentic jersey in 2005 and don't much feel like switching; and people who know nothing about football and are just attracted by the smell of frying pork.
Because of their Midwestern/Heartland image, Colts fans like a "family atmosphere." They don't much like New York, but they won't bother Giant or Jet fans just for being Giant or Jet fans, or for wearing Giant or Jet gear in their stadium. Indiana is first and foremost a basketball State, so as long as you don't mention the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, or say anything bad about Reggie Miller or former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, you should be okay.
From September 1 to 7, 2017, at the height of the NFL National Anthem protest controversy,
FiveThirtyEight.com polled fans of the 32 NFL teams, to see where they leaned politically. Despite Indiana's natural conservatism, Colt fans were said to be in the more liberal half of NFL fanbases, 4.9 percent more liberal than conservative.
The Colts' mascot is a man in a suit designed to look like a blue horse, named Blue. The Colts hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular.
They don't seem to have a fight song, although in their Baltimore years they had the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, which kept going, nicknamed "The Band That Wouldn't Die," and are now the Baltimore Marching Ravens. But don't expect to hear the old fight song, "Fight On You Baltimore Colts," at either Lucas Oil or M&T Bank Stadium. What you could expect to hear is the Black Keys' song "Gold On the Ceiling."
They don't seem to have a fight song, although in their Baltimore years they had the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, which kept going, nicknamed "The Band That Wouldn't Die," and are now the Baltimore Marching Ravens. But don't expect to hear the old fight song, "Fight On You Baltimore Colts," at either Lucas Oil or M&T Bank Stadium. What you could expect to hear is the Black Keys' song "Gold On the Ceiling."
Blue, horsing around with a pair of Colts cheerleaders
After the Game. Indianapolis is a big city, bigger than most people realize, and has every problem that comes with that, including crime. But since the stadium is right downtown, this will probably not affect you. As I said, leave the home fans alone, and they'll probably leave you alone.
There is a restaurant called the Indianapolis Colts Grille, in the Marriott Hotel at 110 W. Washington Street, a 6-block walk from Lucas Oil Stadium.
I can't find a reference to a bar in Indianapolis were expatriate (not to be confused with "ex-Patriot") New Yorkers gather to watch the Giants, but Claddagh Irish Pub, at 234 S. Meridian Street, corner of Jackson Street, 4 blocks from the stadium, is said to be the local headquarters of Jet fans. I can't find any reference to places where Yankee or Met fans gather in Indianapolis.
If your visit to Indianapolis is during the European soccer season, as we are now in, your best bet to see your club is at Chatham Tap, 719 Massachusetts Avenue, on the northeastern edge of downtown. Another possibility is the Union Jack Pub, at 924 Broad Ripple Avenue, about 8 miles north of downtown. Bus 17 will take you to both.
Sidelights. Indianapolis is often said to be boring: Its most common nickname is "India-no-place." On February 3, 2017, Thrillist made a list ranking the 30 NFL cities (New York and Los Angeles each having 2 teams), and Indianapolis came in 21st, in the bottom 1/3rd, saying it's "like a big suburb that's really trying."
But there are some things worth visiting, particularly for a sports fan. As I said, the city's new NFL stadium, new NBA arena, and new minor-league ballpark are within a few blocks of each other downtown.
* Victory Field. This 12,230-seat ballpark opened in 1996 as the home of the Indianapolis Indians of the International League (formerly in the American Association), one of the oldest and proudest minor-league franchises. While the Indians have won just 1 Pennant since moving in, in 2000, they are still a legendary franchise, winning 10 International League Pennants.
There have been 10 future Hall-of-Famers who have played for them: Napoleon Lajoie, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Rube Marquard, Ray Schalk, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Gabby Hartnett, Al Lopez, Harmon Killebrew and Randy Johnson. Three others managed them: Luke Appling, Joe McCarthy and Al Lopez. In addition to McCarthy, Yankee Legends associated with them are Roger Maris, Don Zimmer and Aaron Boone.
Considering their name, it is a bit odd that they were only briefly, from 1952 to 1956, a farm team of the Cleveland Indians. They contributed players to the Pennant winners of the 1939 and '40 Cincinnati Reds, the 1948 Boston Braves, the 1954 Indians, the 1959 Chicago White Sox; and the Reds again in 1970, '72, '75 and '76. Currently, they are the top farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 501 W. Maryland Street & West Street.
* Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Formerly Conseco Fieldhouse, the Pacers' new arena was designed to be a throwback, "the Camden Yards of basketball," if you will. (A little ironic, but at least this time they only took Baltimore's idea, not it's team. Then again, Washington, D.C. already took the Bullets, now Wizards, in 1973.) In particular, there is a strong resemblance to "Indiana's Basketball Cathedral," Hinkle Fieldhouse. (More about which in a moment.) It seats 18,165. (UPDATE: It was renamed Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 2021.)
In their first season at the new arena, 1999-2000, the Pacers reached the NBA Finals for the first time, but got swept by the Los Angeles Lakers. They have not gotten back since.
The WNBA's Indiana Fever and minor-league hockey's Indianapolis Ice also play at Bankers Life. It has regularly (but not every year) hosted the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. 125 S. Pennsylvania Street at Georgia Street.
* Site of Hoosier Dome/RCA Dome. The 60,000-seat building that, along with Bob Irsay's greed, made the move of the Colts to Indianapolis possible hosted only 24 seasons of NFL football, from 1984 to 2007.
* Site of Market Square Arena. Home of the Pacers from 1974 to 1999, this 16,530-seat arena had a weird egg shape, possibly the result of a Seventies-inspired drug haze. It also hosted minor-league hockey, and the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers from 1974 to 1979. This was the first major league team of Wayne Gretzky. It also hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1980 (Louisville over UCLA), and what turned out to be Elvis's last concert, on June 26, 1977. 300 E. Market Street at Alabama Street.
The closest NHL team to Indianapolis is the Columbus Blue Jackets, 174 miles away. The Chicago Blackhawks are a little further away, 184 miles. Due to their long-term presence (the Jackets have only played since 2000), the Hawks are the most popular NHL team throughout Indiana, including those areas closer to St. Louis and Nashville.
* Bush Stadium. This was the Indians' home from 1931 to 1995. It was first known as Perry Field, after the Indians' owner. In 1942, he took his own name off it, and, in line with the war effort, renamed it Victory Field, a name brought back for its replacement.
In 1967, it was renamed Owen J. Bush Stadium, in honor of "Donie" Bush, a former major league shortstop from Indianapolis who had managed the Pirates to the 1927 National League Pennant, and also served the Indianapolis Indians as manager and team president.
The Indians won Pennants at Bush Stadium in 1949, 1956, 1963, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1994. Peak capacity was 15,000. The Indianapolis ABCs of the Negro Leagues -- named for the American Brewing Company -- played here from 1931 to 1938. So did the Indianapolis Clowns, for whom Hank Aaron played briefly in 1952, making him the last remaining active former Negro League player, in 1976. The Clowns were also the last remaining Negro League team, playing until 1966.
Parts of the stadium have been preserved and turned into housing. 1501 W. 16th Street, northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.
Across W. 16th Street, at 1502, is Kuntz Stadium, a 5,257-seat soccer stadium. The U.S. national team played 3 games there in the late 1980s. That shows you how far that team has come: They couldn't even sell out 5,000 seats. If they were to play in Indy now, they would sell out the 62,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium.
* Washington Park. The Indians and the ABCs -- the latter then led by perhaps the greatest of the pre-1947 black players, Oscar Charleston -- played here before Perry Field/Bush Stadium opened. 1235 W. Washington Street, on ground now occupied by the Indianapolis Zoo, about a mile and a half east of downtown. Bus 8.
* South Street Park. In 1878, the Indianapolis Blues went 24-36 in the National League, and folded. They played at South Street Park, bounded by Delaware Street, South Street, Alabama Street and a railroad. The site is now retail and a hotel.
* Tinker Park. In 1884, the Indianapolis Hoosiers went a horrible 29-78 in the American Association, and folded. They played at Seventh Street Park, bounded by Senate Boulevard, 16th Street, Capitol Street and 18th Street. In 1887, a new team with the same name began National League play there, with the ballpark renamed Athletic Park, but the new Hoosiers only lasted through the 1889 season. It was later renamed Tinker Park. The Indiana University Medical Center is on the site now, about 2 miles north of downtown. Bus 28.
* Federal Park. In 1914, the Federal League was founded, and their 1st Pennant was won by a new version of the Indianapolis Hoosiers, going 88-65. They played at Federal Park. In spite of the Hoosiers' success, they wanted another team in the New York market, along with the Brooklyn Tip-Tops, and the Hoosiers played the 1915 season in Harrison, New Jersey, as the Newark Peppers. Federal Park was at 400 Kentucky Avenue at West Street, 2 blocks west of Lucas Oil Stadium.
Don't expect Indianapolis to get a major league team anytime soon: The metro area would rank 29th in Major League Baseball. It would actually rank higher in the NHL, 25th, but who thinks of hockey when they think of Indiana sports?
The nearest MLB teams to Indianapolis are the Cincinnati Reds, 112 miles away; the Chicago White Sox, 178 miles; the Chicago Cubs, 188 miles; and the St. Louis Cardinals, 242 miles. But according to a recent New York Times article, the most popular team in and around Indianapolis is the Cubs, with the Yankees 2nd, and the Reds and the Boston Red Sox battling it out for 3rd. Why? And why not the much-closer White Sox or Cardinals? Because of the media, particularly the influence of Chicago's superstation WGN, and ESPN and Fox constantly showing the Yankees and Red Sox.
* Hinkle Fieldhouse. Formerly Butler Fieldhouse, and renamed for longtime basketball coach Tony Hinkle, this gym was built for Butler University in 1928, and has hosted countless Indiana basketball memories, including the State high school championships. Most notably, it hosted the 1954 Final, which saw Milan defeat Muncie Central, inspiring the film Hoosiers, which filmed on the same court and used the original announcers. (Milan had also been to the Final 2 years earlier, so while it was an upset, it wasn't like Milan was a total unknown. An underdog, yes; a dark horse, no.)
Seating 15,000 at its peak (a sellout of which at the 1987 Pan American Games becoming, to this day, the largest crowd ever to attend a volleyball match in America), modernizations, including wider seats, have reduced capacity to 10,000. But it still stands, and is one of the oldest remaining buildings to have hosted one of the 4 major sports leagues in North America. 510 W. 49th Street, north of downtown. Number 28 bus, then walk west on 49th from Illinois Street to Rookwood Avenue.
Indiana University is in Bloomington, 50 miles to the southwest. Purdue University is in West Lafayette, 68 miles to the northwest. The University of Notre Dame is in South Bend, 149 miles to the north. And Ball State University is in Muncie, 60 miles to the Northeast.
On November 19, 2018, Moneywise
compiled a list of their Worst
College Football Stadiums, the bottom 19 percent of college
football, 25 out of 129. Ball State was ranked 15th: "Scheumann Stadium would never make a Top 10 list from Ball State alum David Letterman."
* Previous Indiana NFL teams. The Muncie Flyers played only in the NFL's 1st 2 seasons, 1920 and 1921, when it was still known as the APFA, the American Professional Football Association. They only played 3 games against NFL teams, lost them all, dropped out, and folded after the 1925 season.
Bosse Field, built in 1915 and the oldest regularly-used stadium for minor-league baseball, was the home of the Evansville Crimson Giants. They also lasted just 2 seasons, going 3-2 against NFL competition in 1921 and 0-3 in 1922. The ballpark has an address named for the city's favorite baseball son: 23 Don Mattingly Way (formerly N. Main Street), 164 miles southwest of Indianapolis, across the Ohio River from Henderson, Kentucky.
The Hammond Pros were founding members of the APFA/NFL in 1920, but folded after the 1926 season, never having won more than 2 games in a season. And while they represented that industrial city just outside Chicago, home to writer and radio show host Jean Shepherd of A Christmas Story fame, they didn't play in Hammond. They played at Cubs Park, soon to be renamed Wrigley Field. Downtown Hammond is 159 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis, and Wrigley is 30 miles northwest of that -- still closer than the 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara is to downtown San Francisco.
* Previous Indiana NBA teams. The 1st pro basketball team in Indianapolis was first called the Indianapolis Kautskys, founded by grocer Frank Kautsky in 1931. In 1937, they joined the National Basketball League, and were thus big enough to move into Butler (Hinkle) Fieldhouse.
They made the Playoffs in 1942, '47 and '48. In 1948, they, along with the NBL's Minneapolis Lakers, Fort Wayne Pistons and Rochester Royals, jumped to the Basketball Association of America, which became the NBA a year later. Because the league didn't allow commercial names, the team's name was changed to the Indianapolis Jets. But they only lasted 1 season, as the Olympians arrived.
Today, the Kautskys/Jets are noted mainly for having on their roster John Wooden, who coached UCLA to 10 National Championships from 1964 to 1975; and Branch McCracken, who coached Indiana to the 1940 and 1953 National Championships.
In 1949, the Indianapolis Olympians were welcomed into the NBL, but then the merger with the BAA happened to become the NBA, and the Olympians, so named because of their players' representation of the U.S. in winning the Gold Medal at the 1948 Olympics in London, were in, and the Jets were out. They included Alex Groza (brother of Cleveland Browns star Lou Groza), Ralph Beard, Cliff Barker and Wallace "Wah-Wah" Jones, all of whom had played on the University of Kentucky's 1948 and '49 National Champions; Paul Walther of the University of Tennessee and Clarence "Kleggie" Hermsen of the University of Minnesota.
Also playing at the Butler fieldhouse, the Olympians won the Western Division in 1950, and made the Playoffs again in 1951. But after that season, Groza and Beard were banned from the NBA for life after they admitted shaving points at Kentucky. The Olympians never recovered, and folded after the 1953 season.
The Anderson Packers played from 1946 to 1951 at Anderson High School, 4610 Madison Avenue, 41 miles to the northeast. Not reachable by public transportation.
The Fort Wayne Pistons began in the NBL in 1941, 128 miles to the northeast, and won that league's title in 1944 and '45 -- making them, technically if not officially, the World Champions of professional basketball for those seasons. Owner Fred Zollner and his sister Janet ran a foundry, manufacturing Pistons.
The team moved into the NBA in 1948, and won the Western Division and reached the Finals in 1955 (losing to the Syracuse Nationals) and 1956 (losing to the Philadelphia Warriors). But despite moving from the gym at North Side High School (475 E. State Boulevard) to the new 13,000-seat Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (still standing at 4000 Parnell Avenue) in 1952, they were stuck in a market that was too small for the major leagues.
In 1957, Zollner moved the team to Detroit -- the Motor City, so keeping the "Pistons" name made sense. (Ironically, they weren't much closer to Indianapolis than they were to Detroit. Or Chicago, for that matter.) After that, Indianapolis wouldn't have another NBA team until the Pacers arrived with the ABA merger 19 years later.
Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson successfully defended his title here, beating Brian London on May 1, 1959. On October 31, 1963, a propane leak at a concession stand caused an explosion that killed 74 people during a Holiday On Ice show. Elvis sang there on April 12, 1972.
It has also been home to a series of minor-league hockey teams. The Indianapolis Capitals won the Calder Cup, the championship of the American Hockey League, in 1942 and 1950. The Indianapolis Ice won the Turner Cup, the championship of the International Hockey League, in 1990; and the Ray Miron Cup, the championship of the Central Hockey League, in 2000. The Indiana Ice won the Clark Cup, the championship of the United States Hockey League, in 2009 and 2014.
The current team is called the Indy Fuel, tied into the city's racing theme. 1202 E. 38th Street, northeast of downtown. Number 39 bus.
* Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The most famous building in the State of Indiana, and the largest sports facility in the world, has nothing to do with basketball or football or baseball. It's the home of the Indianapolis 500, held there every year (usually on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend) since 1911 (except for the World War years: 1917, '18, '42, '43, '44 and '45).
The track opened in 1909, and has spread the name of the city all over the world, as drivers from as far away as Britain (Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti), Brazil (Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan), Australia (Scott Dixon and the aptly-named Will Power), Colombia (Juan Pablo Montoya) and Japan (Takuma Sato) have won the 500 in recent years.
The permanent seating capacity is 257,325. Infield seating can push it to over 400,000 -- and the Indy 500 sells out every year. Although the mailing address is "4790 W. 16th Street, Speedway, Indiana 46222," it's within the city limits of Indianapolis, 5 miles northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.
* Michael Carroll Stadium. This is the home of the Indy Eleven, of the new version of the North American Soccer League, the 2nd division of North American soccer. It sets 12,111. 1001 W. New York Street, a mile west of downtown. There is no bus service there. The nearest MLS team is the Columbus Crew, 178 miles away. The Chicago Fire are 183 miles away.
Early in his career, Elvis gave 8 concerts in 4 days, December 4 through 7, 1955 at the Lyric Theater, at 121 N. Illinois Street, a block west of the Monument. A parking deck is on the site now.
* Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Standing 284 1/2 feet high at the geographic center of the City and the State, this tower was dedicated in 1902, commemorating the Indiana military personnel of the recent Spanish-American War, the American Civil War, the Mexican-American War, the frontier conflicts that were a part of the War of 1812 (which produced several battles in Indiana), and the American capture of Vincennes from the British during the War of the American Revolution. During the holiday season, it is decorated like a Christmas tree. (If that sounds sacrilegious, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the considerably shorter Civil War Monument is turned into an artificial Christmas tree, and nobody objects.) Monument Circle, at Meridian & Market Streets.
The tallest building in the State of Indiana is the Salesforce Tower, formerly named the Chase Tower, with a roof 700 feet high and spires rising to 830 feet. 111 Monument Circle.
Indianapolis is not big on museums. The best-known is the Indiana State Museum, at a complex that includes the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Washington & West Streets, downtown. Number 8 bus if you don't feel like walking.
William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States and former Territorial Governor (died just 1 month after his 1841 Inauguration), and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President (1889-1893), both lived in Indiana (as did Abraham Lincoln as a boy). But Grouseland, the house of "Old Tippecanoe," is 130 miles away in Vincennes. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is just north of downtown, at 1230 N. Delaware Street. Number 19 bus.
Benjamin Harrison is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery. So are Vice Presidents Thomas Hendricks (served under Grover Cleveland, died in office 1885), Charles Fairbanks (Theodore Roosevelt, 1905-09) and Thomas Marshall (Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21).
So are Bob Irsay, the man who moved the Colts from Baltimore; poet James Whitcomb Riley, novelist Booth Tarkington, bank robber John Dillinger, Sudoku inventor Howard Garns, and James Baskett, the 1st black man to win an Oscar, for playing Uncle Remus in Walt Disney's Song of the South. 700 W. 38th Street, about 4 1/2 miles north of downtown. Bus 38.
Only 3 TV shows are known to have been set in Indianapolis. Close to Home and the U.S. version of the British hit Men Behaving Badly are best forgotten. But the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984, and starred Bonnie Franklin and launched Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli to stardom, was groundbreaking: It was not only the first TV show to show a divorced single mother (rather than a widowed one), but it actually made Indianapolis seem like a fun place to be.
Parks and Recreation is set in the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee. The Fugitive established the hometown of Dr. Richard Kimble (Dave Janssen) as Stafford, not far from South Bend, and the final episode, at the time of its August 29, 1967 airing the most-watched program in U.S. TV history, took place there, although the amusement park where the climactic scene took place was filmed in Southern California. Stranger Things is set in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins.
Movies set in Indianapolis are also rare. Some early scenes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind were set there, before moving out to the iconic Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Last year, the cult hit The Fault In Our Stars was set there, but filmed in Pittsburgh.
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No matter what the Colts achieve, and 2 trips to the Super Bowl in 30 years is more than some teams have done, Indiana will always be a basketball State, and Indianapolis will always be a basketball city. But that doesn't mean a visiting football fan can't have fun there.
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