The

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Baltimore Stallions The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...

season was the second and final season in the history of the Baltimore CFL franchise. The team became the first (and to date, only) American-based football team to win the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

. Despite the Stallions success, attendance dropped. The club only sold 9,000 season tickets. The 1994 and 1995 Stallions radio flagship station was WJFK, 1300AM in Baltimore. Owned by Infinity Broadcasting, Bruce Cunningham of Fox45 TV served as play-by-play announcer, with former NFL Baltimore Colts stars Joe Washington, Bruce Laird, and Tom Matte providing analysis, and Mark Thoner of WLIF-FM as Producer. As it turned out, the

83rd Grey Cup The 83rd Grey Cup a.k.a. The Wind Bowl was the 1995 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Stallions won the game by a score of ...

would be the last game the Stallions would ever play. A week before the Grey Cup, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

announced they were moving to Baltimore. Owner Jim Speros balked at the prospect of competing with an NFL team and opted to move elsewhere. When it became apparent that the CFL was giving up its attempt to gain a foothold in the United States, he opted to move his team to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

as the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

. In doing so, Speros canceled his franchise in Baltimore and revived the 1946–86 Alouettes franchise. As a result, the 1995 season is officially the last season of Stallions history, and the Stallions are officially one of only two Grey Cup champions in the modern era to fold.

Preseason

Regular season

*After the 1994 season, a name-the-team fan poll was held to decide a new team name. After the team's first week of the season being known as the Baltimore Football Club, the fan poll ended and Jim Speros announced to the Baltimore faithful that their team would be known as the Baltimore Stallions. * Mike Pringle's rushing totals were 1,791 yards. Compared to his stats in the 1994 season, his yards-per-carry fell by .6 from 6.4 to 5.8. Despite the reduction, his statistics were still the best any

back The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral c ...

posted in the CFL that year.

Season standings

Season schedule

Playoffs

Mike Pringle ran for 484 playoff yards and four touchdowns in three games. The result was that the Baltimore Stallions made their second straight appearance in the Grey Cup.

Grey Cup

The 83rd Grey Cup was played between the

and the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

at Taylor Field in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

. The Stallions won the game by a score of 37–20. It marked the only time that an American-based team won the Grey Cup. Not one television station from Baltimore sent a crew to Regina to cover the Grey Cup game.Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.200, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, Only 200 fans showed up for the Stallions Grey Cup celebration. As for the Grey Cup game itself, Chris Wright scored a then CFL record 82 yard punt return touchdown. The aforementioned record stood until the 2018 Grey Cup, with Terry Williams returning a punt for 97 yards to conclude the first half.

Awards and honors

After the season, other Baltimore Stallions' received awards and accomplishments in the CFL, which are: Divisional Awards * Most Valuable Player of the East Division – Mike Pringle (RB) * Most Outstanding Rookie of the East Division –

Chris Wright Christopher Allen Wright (born January 15, 1965) is an American government official, engineer, and businessman serving as the 17th United States Secretary of Energy, United States secretary of energy since 2025. Before his appointment, he was th ...

(WR) * Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award of the East Division –

Mike Withycombe William Michael Withycombe (born November 18, 1964) is an American former professional football offensive lineman who played three seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), mainly for the Baltimore Stallions. Previously he played four seaso ...

(OG) CFL Awards * CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Mike Pringle (RB) * CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award –

(OG) * CFL's Coach of the Year –

Don Matthews Donald J. Matthews, a.k.a. "the Don", (June 22, 1939 – June 14, 2017) was a head coach of several professional football teams, mostly in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He won 231 games in the CFL, the List of Canadian Football League hea ...

Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player The Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is awarded annually since 1959 to the player of the winning team who deemed to have had the best performance in the Grey Cup Game, the Canadian Football League's championship game. This award is prese ...

–

Tracy Ham Tracy Ham (born January 5, 1964) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played for the Edmonton Eskimos, the Toronto Argonauts, the Baltimore Stallions, and the Montreal Alou ...

(QB) 1995 Southern All-Stars ''Offense'' * Mike Pringle (RB) * Chris Armstrong (SB) *

(OG) * Shar Pourdanesh (OT) * Neal Fort (OT) ''Defense'' * Jerald Baylis (DT) * Elfrid Payton (DE) * Tracy Gravely (LB) * O. J. Brigance (LB) * Irvin Smith (CB) * Charles Anthony (DB) ''Special Teams'' * Josh Miller (P) *

(ST) 1995 CFL All-Stars ''Offense'' * Mike Pringle (RB) *

(OG) * Neal Fort (OT) ''Defense'' * Jerald Baylis (DT) * O. J. Brigance (LB) * Irvin Smith (CB) * Charles Anthony (DB) ''Special Teams'' * Josh Miller (P) *

(ST)

Relocation to Montreal

In late 1995,

owner

Art Modell Arthur Bertram Modell (June 23, 1925 – September 6, 2012) was an American businessman, entrepreneur and National Football League (NFL) team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise for 35 years and established the Baltimore Ravens f ...

announced his intention to relocate his

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

club to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, where they would be rechristened the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

. This would have made the Stallions the only CFL club ever to directly compete with the NFL, whose season overlaps with the last three months of the CFL season. In late November, Jim Speros had a Save our Stallions campaign, with January 5 as the deadline to sell 20,000 season tickets. It was revealed that the team was $800,000 in debt. Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that despite the Stallions' popularity, they could not possibly compete with the NFL. After deals with

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

fell through, Speros moved the Stallions to Montreal and revived the old Alouettes name for the 1996 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1995 Baltimore Stallions Season Baltimore Stallions Season, 1995 Baltimore Stallions James S. Dixon Trophy championship seasons Grey Cup championship seasons