Baltimore (part three)...guns, the Colts and Don Shula and heading to Texas!

OK, we are continuing on with some of my memories of living in Baltimore. We actually lived in Lutherville/Timonium, about 30 minutes north from downtown Baltimore by expressway. My dad was managing a business that was down by the wharf, not such a nice place back in those days (mid 61' to mid 63'). He had a unique burglar alarm system set up for the business. Since he was very knowledgeable about electronics, he had a special alarm set up. He had the regular alarm that would notify the police when something was happening. This alarm was not much different from what we are use to today. When a break in occurred, the alarm bells would go off and the nearest police station would be alerted. The only problem was that his business was located in a very tough neighborhood and the police were always busy with something more important than small time break in's. Of course, my dad did not look at them as small time. He had one of his technicians rig up a second alarm at our house so when the burglar alarm was tripped, a bell would also go off at our house. I really don't know how he did that back then but he did.....certainly not a big deal today. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Here is where it gets interesting, at least to me. My dad had both a pistol and a shotgun in the front hallway closet. When that bell went off, usually at night (and not to often, thank goodness), he would grab the guns and a bag of ammunition. He and I ran to his car, he drove. My dad was a fast driver anyway so just any excuse would set him off. Anyway, it was my job during the drive to load the guns (my mother would not allow loaded guns in the house) and have them ready for him when we got to his building. Once we arrived, he would stick the pistol in his pants and carry the shotgun. Sometimes the police were there before us and sometimes not. If they were, he would unlock the front door, turn off the alarm and let the police do the search...usually with a dog. If the police did not arrive before us, he would turn off the alarm, put me next to the phone with some numbers ready to call, grab a big flashlight and head into the warehouse part of the building. For a 16 year old, this could not have been more exciting. I really learned the affects of adrenalin on my body back in those days. I swear, if he could, he would have shot anything that moved in that building but it never happened. Usually, if there was somebody in the building, the loud alarm bell would go off and scare them away. There was only one time that I remember the police catching a person. They got there before we did but we did get to see the police lead this guy out from the building all bloody. The police had turned two dogs loose and once the dogs found the bad guy, the police were in no hurry to call the dogs off. Just a little street justice before the bad guy was hauled off. The police were sending a message to the neighborhood!! Nothing like bonding with your father at 80 mph and two loaded guns. Oh well.

My dad was friends with the owner of the Baltimore Colts back then (I don't know how they met but I'm sure it was through the DuPont family my dad worked for).The owner was Carroll Rosenbloom. We got to see a few Colts games but the real memory here was that my dad became friends with Johnny Unitas, the quarterback for the Colts at the time. Johnny Unitas owned a few bowling alleys around the Baltimore area called The Colt Lanes and he had one in Towson, a town next to where we lived. I was looking for a part time job and I guess my dad said something to Mr. Unitas and the next thing I knew, I was working in one of Johnny Unitas' bowling alleys. How cool was that!! I did all kinds of stuff but it was mainly just cleaning up, sorting bowling shoes, getting the bowlers beers (something I was NOT suppose to do) and stuff like that BUT I did get to bowl for free and even got a few lessons from the pro who was working at the same alley. By the time I made it to San Antonio, I was both a pretty good golfer and a pretty good bowler...two sports that would come in handy in my later life.

The last thing I will mention is that we were getting ready to move to San Antonio Texas (I will write much more about this in future blogs) and my mom and dad had to put our house up for sale. As mentioned before this was a very large house, in a great area and I'm sure was pretty expensive. I could have cared less about that kind of stuff back then. Remember, my dad's connection with the Baltimore Colts. The Colts were looking to hire a new coach and they were interviewing Don Shula.Don Shula and his wife were in Baltimore for the interview while our house was on the market. I remember that the Realtor called and told my dad that the Colts had just called her and Don Shula and his wife wanted to have a viewing of our house. I remember my dad and mom being excited to meet him. Anyway, I do not remember being there but the showing took place, my parents met the Shula's and as I remember, they did not buy the house. If you do not know who Don Shula is, here is a little from his Wikipedia posting.

Early coaching career

Shula's first coaching position was as a defensive backs coach at the University of Virginia in 1958 where he coached under head coach Dick Voris. He stayed for one season before moving on to the same position at the University of Kentucky in 1959 where he coached under head coach Blanton Collier. In 1960, Shula entered the NFL as defensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions.

Shula played under both Paul Brown and Weeb Ewbank, a Brown disciple, who is also in the Hall of Fame. After Ewbank left the Baltimore Colts to coach the New York Jets in 1963, Shula was hired by Colts' owner Carroll Rosenbloom to coach Baltimore. Shula's hiring was controversial because he was thought to be too young at only age 33.

Shula took the controls and led the Colts to an 8–6 record in 1963. He was successful, compiling a 71–23–4 record in seven seasons with Baltimore, but he was just 2–3 in the postseason, including two losses in championship games in which the Colts were heavy favorites, the 1964 NFL championship game won by the Browns 27–0 and Super Bowl III, the game in which Joe Namath of the New York Jets guaranteed and delivered a victory.

The 1965 team lost a special tie-breaker playoff game in overtime against the Green Bay Packers while using running back Tom Matte at quarterback because of injuries to Johnny Unitas and his backups. The 1967 team failed to make the playoffs despite a regular season record of 11–1–2, losing the Coastal Division on a tiebreaker due to an 0–1–1 record vs. the Los Angeles Rams. The Colts' only loss was a 34–10 setback to the Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the final Sunday of the season.

When I think about it, I feel a little bit like Forrest Gump.....always being around famous people and events but never directly involved with them. There are so many famous and near famous people my parents knew and my sister and I were always exposed to them in one way or another. I will have to say that my mom and dad really did live interesting lives and they remembered to include their children when they could! I really wish I was a bit older back then so I could have been more involved with my parents social life!!

Well, a new and very important chapter in my life (and my sister's too) is about to begin. Ford Motor Company bought the business that my dad was running for the DuPont family and had a very important position open up in Texas. Ford changed the name of the company to Ford Aeronutronic and asked my dad to move to Houston Texas for reasons I will blog about later (or see below) but my dad refused to live in Houston and told Ford that if they truly wanted him in Texas, they would have to let him live in San Antonio. I guess Ford wanted him bad enough because they let him live in San Antonio.

Here is what Wikipedia says about Ford Aeronutronic....

Aeronutronic was a defense and space related division of Ford Motor Company set up in 1956. In 1961 Ford purchased Philco and merged the two companies in 1963. Aeronutronic provided major support for the development of Project Space Track. Philco Aeronutronic became NASA's primary communications equipment vendor during the 1960s, also building the consoles in the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Many portions of the Philco side of the company were sold off in the 1970s and 80s, until in 1975 all that was left was the original Aeronutronic divisions. These were renamed Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation in December 1976, and then again to Ford Aerospace Corporation in January 1988. In October 1990 what remained was sold to Loral to become Loral Aeronutronic, before eventually disappearing when Loral was purchased by Lockheed Martin in 1997.

My dad, going to work for Ford was interesting because of the history of the Howe family and the Ford Motor Company. You see, my father's father (my grandfather) was friends with Henry Ford and opened up one of the first Ford dealerships in the state of Ohio. I wish I knew a lot more about that time in our family history but I don't. I do know rumors and family stories but I don't know them as fact so I don't want to publish them. What I do know for a fact is that my Grandfather lost his dealership during the depression.

Well, we are moving to San Antonio. We get there in the summer of 1963 (the summer before my senior year). We stayed in San Antonio from 1963 to about 1970 or when I was 17 to 24. BOY, DID MY LIFE TAKE ON A NEW DIRECTION!!!!! If you were 17 to 24 during this time....you will know exactly what I mean. I will be able to write volumes about these seven years....some good, some bad but all interesting.
You couldn't cram any more history into 7 years as what was seen from November 1963 to mid 1970.

THE WORLD WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE!!