Angelo Murray remembers the days when the Plant City Colts were one of the most popular teams in town.
The former Colts running back, now entering his third year as team president, is trying to revive both the team and its presence around town. He’s attempting to reunite the past with the present at the beginning of football season in early August, with a reunion open to everyone who ever had anything to do with the program.
“If you even worked in the concession stands back in the day,” Murray says. “I’m trying to get everyone to come back together to recap the long, successful history of the Plant City Colts. If you ever did anything with the Colts organization … come out and see what’s going on.”
He hopes this will help him achieve his goal of reviving the Colts program’s reputation.
IN THE BEGINNING
The Colts were founded in 1968, and Murray joined the program shortly afterward, once it expanded to include the Ponies and Mustangs youth teams in 1972. The teams would often travel around the Tampa Bay area and Polk County for competition but also enjoyed a great rivalry with the Turkey Creek Trojans.
“That was a big, big game,” Murray says. “You could come out to either one of those fields, and it was standing room only. That was probably the first time I experienced a crowd that was kind of like a college football game.”
As the only youth football program located in the heart of Plant City, the Colts often played in front of a packed house at Snyder Stadium — which has since been converted into grounds for the Florida Strawberry Festival.
“It gave you a sense of pride, a sense of belonging,” Murray says. “You were proud to put on your Colts jersey and go out on Friday … I was just as proud to wear my jersey on Fridays as the guys on Plant City High were about wearing theirs.”
The Colts got some friendly competition in 1976, when the Plant City Dolphins were created. But the program still enjoyed success for many years, and Murray looks back on those days fondly.
“You learned about the team, you learned discipline and built character,” Murray says. “I think a lot of that helped mold who I am. A lot of guys, they didn’t have fathers, but those coaches were their father figures. They made them feel important. My dad and my mom were there, but a lot of guys’ parents weren’t.”
MODERN TIMES
These days, the youth football dynamics in town have shifted.
The Colts, who have since relocated to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center and the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex, no longer have the presence that they did in Murray’s day. The team’s been through its fair share of rough patches and bad situations, enough that, upon Murray’s appointment as team president, those involved were calling for sweeping changes.
“When I came back, people were like, ‘We need to change the name,’” Murray says. “‘The Colts got a bad name, the reputation is bad, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ My thing was always that a name doesn’t go bad: only the person with that name goes bad.”
When Murray rejoined the team, in 2014, he estimates that between 60 and 70 kids were involved. He knew the numbers wouldn’t change unless the team’s reputation did. So, he made the Colts into something of a fixture in the community: the team can often be found helping at events, such as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center’s Community Health Fair earlier this year, and hosting fundraisers.
Last season, according to Murray, the program size had increased to 120 kids. This season, the Colts will be able to field five full teams.
“For me, coming back, it’s special,” Murray says. “It’s special that we made this work because it was something that gave me structure. It’s important that we get this right.”
The reunion date isn’t set in stone yet, but Murray is shooting for a cookout at the beginning of the team’s Mid Florida Football and Cheerleading Conference season: the weekend of Friday, August 5.
It would be another step toward the team’s revival. Many of today’s Plant City residents either had some involvement within the Colts program or have family members that did, and Murray wants them all to see how much better things have gotten over the last few years.
“The Colts organization is still here, and we’re doing good things in the community,” Murray says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.