TOWSON, Md. – In a time not long after the National Football League (NFL) left Memorial Stadium, the Baltimore Stallions brought the sport back to Charm City.  And Towson University played a big role.
 
A new book set to be released in April, "The Baltimore Stallions: The Brief, Brilliant History of the CFL Champion Franchise," written by Towson alum Ron Snyder, remembers the Baltimore Stallions, a Canadian Football League (CFL) franchise for two seasons, 1994 and 1995.  The franchise had two exceptional years, including winning the Grey Cup for the 1995 season after being the runner-up the previous season.
 
"It was the first team that captured our imagination," said Snyder. "It was fun, exciting football.  They were good with all the elements, blue-collar players in a blue-collar city."
 
The Stallions arrived 10 years after the Baltimore Colts of the NFL moved to Indianapolis, returning professional football to 33^rd Street.  The team was part of the CFL's expansion into the United States, which had five teams south of the U.S. border from 1994-95.  The Stallions' Grey Cup win in 1995 made Baltimore the lone non-Canadian team to ever win the CFL title, which holds to this day.
 
Towson held several connections to the Stallions, including being host for its training camp on the lower fields.  During training camp, players would live in the Glen Towers plus coaches used offices on campus for meetings.
 
"This was a couple of years after the Towson program almost was ended, it was close to being eliminated for budget reasons," said Snyder. "The 1993 and 1994 [Tiger] teams put Towson back on the map, and to see the training camp here, neat to see the guys that went to Towson having them on the Stallions, practicing where they played at with Towson."
 
On the 1995 Grey Cup champion team included two Tigers, quarterback Dan Crowley, the current director of the Tiger Athletic Fund, and wide receiver Mark Orlando.  Crowley was a backup quarterback and the team's holder, playing in all games that year, while Orlando joined the team post-training camp after trying out for the San Francisco 49ers. 
 
"The most positive piece of the whole experience was not only playing at Memorial Stadium, but also doing training camp in 1995 at Towson," said Crowley. "Being at Towson four years and then playing professionally doing the same things, eating three times a day in the same dining hall, practicing on the lower field and then watching film in the coaches' offices, the comfort level for me made everything so much easier."
 
"It was a blessing for me after being cut from San Francisco to have a landing spot in my backyard," said Orlando. "I joined right when they were breaking training camp, it was nice as I was familiar with Towson and I immediately had a friend and partner in crime with Crowley.  I even got to stay in the same apartment that I was living in, the transition was perfect."
 
Orlando had been seen several Baltimore Orioles and Colts games growing up and now got to play on the same field as those teams he'd seen as a kid.
 
Several members of the support staff also came from the Black & Gold.  The team's trainer, Steve Kinsey, was an offensive lineman in the late 80s and came back to the area after the team contracted Towson Sports Medicine for medical services, plus Mike Gathagan, 1987 graduate and current Towson Athletics senior associate athletic director of strategic communications, served as the public relations director for the Stallions.
 
"It was neat; the contract with the Stallions was late in the game, we only had a few weeks to get everything together," said Kinsey.  "We were able to use the training room at Towson until the practices moved to Memorial Stadium, it brought me full circle from being a football player at Towson to being the athletic trainer for a professional football team playing at the school I played at."
 
"I have been fortunate to have many terrific jobs throughout the years, including working in the NBA and helping run the Preakness, but those two years with the Stallions are my all-time favorite," said Gathagan. "Looking back now, it is amazing what the coaching staff and front office did just to get on the field in '94. Training camp began just three months after the franchise was awarded. Lots of long days but it was worth every minute. The team was competitive from day one and I forged so many friendships."
 
In addition, then-Towson head coach Gordy Combs also helped the Stallions out.  In that 1995 year, he was offered a role on the staff by head coach Don Mathews.  Combs chose to work with the offensive line during training camp during the month of June.
 
"The process of the practices and everything was so simple because everything was right there," said Combs. "It was great to have the familiarity with all the Towson people."
 
With the motto "Unfinished Business," the 1995 team won its final 13 games en route to an 18-3 overall record and the Grey Cup championship, defeating the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 in the title contest.  The previous week, over 30,000 people turned out to Memorial Stadium as the Stallions clinched the Southern Division title with a 21-11 victory over the San Antonio Texans.
 
"Best experience ever," said Crowley. "Our years at Towson got cut short twice despite going 8-2 twice and not invited to the playoffs; our senior year was devastating, third-best offense in the nation, but our careers came to an abrupt halt.  To go to the CFL and be a part of a Stallions team that only lost three games out of 21 was amazing.  The longest season ever, the most enjoyable season ever, and I've got some of my best friends in life from that team."
 
"That was a wild season, a lot of new players, but we put the right combination together and won the whole thing," said Kinsey. "That was a fun time, I'd never been a part of something on that scale."
 
From training in Towson to long road trip through Canada, including a nine-day, three game road trip in 1995, many great memories and friendships were established from that team.  In two years, the Stallions accumulated a 27-9 record.
 
But for the Stallions, despite a great 24 months, the fun was short-lived.  The NFL was about to return to Baltimore with the Cleveland Browns moving to the city to become the Ravens the following season.  In addition, the CFL expansion into the U.S. was finished after the 1995 season.  Stallions owner Jim Speros moved the team to Montreal, with the other four U.S. teams folding.  Baltimore's finest day in the CFL was also its final stand.
 
For the Towson connections, only Crowley stayed with the franchise, playing for the Montreal Alouettes in 1996.  He enjoyed a nine-year career in the CFL, including playing in Edmonton and Ottawa.  Orlando now works for CGI Technologies and Kinsey owns a physical therapy clinic in Hereford. Gathagan now works at Towson after 14 years working as chief spokesperson for Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks while Combs spent 17 years as Towson head coach and is now the football color commentator for the Towson Sports Network.
 
Snyder's book will be available on Amazon on April 12^th, 2020.