06-11-2023 HOF - Flipbook - Page 25
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 11, 2023
S
ure, there’s a cap on what the Ravens can spend
on players’ salaries, but there’s no limit to what
the team can mete out to the community. It’s no
coincidence that, in Richard W. “Dick” Cass’ last
seven years as the Ravens’ president, the team gave
more than $50 million in charitable contributions
to an appreciative hometown.
During Cass’ 18-year tenure — he retired last
year — the Ravens donated $2 million to refurbish
two high school athletic fields; created a host of
college scholarships; outfitted dozens of sports teams; funded after-school
programs; and spruced up city playgrounds.
Moreover, at the behest of Cass and team owner Steve Bisciotti, the
club recently donated $20 million to renovate the Hilton Rec Center in
West Baltimore. It has also funded two bookmobiles (filled with giveaway
books), financed Habitat for Humanity projects in Pigtown and Sandtown-Winchester, and given $2.4 million to two area nonprofits to help
combat domestic violence.
“The Ravens and the Bisciotti Foundation understand that Baltimore
has a great many needs,” Cass, 77, says. “We’re in a position to help — and
it’s our obligation to do that.”
It’s a philanthropic mindset that was espoused by Bisciotti and embraced
by Cass when he joined the team in 2004 as the new owner’s first hire. A
lawyer by trade, Cass took a job that is often dry and backstage, and gave
it a face and a soul. He has served on the boards of the Greater Baltimore
Committee, the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Baltimore Community
Foundation and the Maryland Science Center.
In 2017, the Ravens contributed $1.2 million to refurbish Renaissance
Academy High School in West Baltimore to keep it from closing. During
the coronavirus pandemic, Cass supervised a $2 million gift to the Maryland Food Bank and United Way, among others.
Age: 77
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Current residence: Chevy Chase
Education: Mercersburg Academy (Pennsylvania);
Princeton University; Yale Law School
Career highlights: Partner at D.C.-based law firm Wilmer,
Cutler and Pickering; president, Baltimore Ravens
Civic and charitable activities: Board member
of Kennedy Krieger Institute; Baltimore Community
Foundation; Greater Baltimore Committee;
Maryland Science Center
Family: Married to Heather Cass for 53 years;
two children, four grandchildren
The largesse is not confined to
local needs. In the aftermath of
hurricanes Katrina and Harvey,
the Ravens gave nearly $2.5
million to aid victims in the Gulf
Coast.
When he became team president, Cass confesses, “I didn’t
have a good feel for what I’d be
doing, day to day. But the philanthropic activity has helped [the
Ravens] become embedded in the
community. Some sports teams
never reach that point. You can
overcome it with success on the
field, to some degree, but if you’re
only talking football, it’s harder to
get that loyalty.”
The son of a Coast Guard officer, Cass moved often as a child;
the upheavals helped him learn
“how to deal with all kinds of
people.” Sports were a constant;
a slim but scrappy quarterback,
he played football until hurting
his knee in college at Princeton
University. He played baseball
with the same resolve. At 12, he
overheard an opposing youth
league coach denigrate his fielding.
“He [Cass] doesn’t have a strong
arm. We can run on him,” the
coach said. Cass took the slam to
heart.
“That game, I threw out four
runners who tried to steal on me,”
he says. “It made my day. I played
with a chip on my shoulder. Baltimore has [a chip] too. This is a
very small business community;
some years, there are no Fortune
500 companies quartered in the
Baltimore area. [Civic leaders]
must listen to what others say, be
resilient and tough, and respond.
Everyone is better with a chip on
their shoulder.”
While some may believe that
the team’s community efforts are
publicity-driven, Cass says not.
“There are some who would
think that,” he says. “I understand
the cynicism, but what we are
doing outside of the Ravens is very
broad, and goes much deeper.”
The professional gifting is
backed by personal experience.
In 2006, at age 59, Cass donated
a kidney to a former classmate at
Yale Law School.
He shrugged off the surgery,
saying, “You only need one
[kidney].”
“I played with a
chip on my shoulder.
Baltimore has
[a chip] too. ...
Everyone is better
with a chip on their
shoulder.”
— Richard W. “Dick” Cass
In 2014, after Ravens running
back Ray Rice was arrested in a
high-profile domestic assault
case, Cass reached out to Sandi
Timmins, executive director of
The House of Ruth Maryland.
Damage control was not first on
his agenda; a blank check would
not do.
“Dick said, ‘I need to understand this better,’” Timmins says.
“He has since introduced me to
players who might help raise
awareness of intimate partner
violence in their circles, had us
speak to Ravens staff on the issue
and even created a ‘safe space’
where we can go to talk to others.
What sets him apart from others
who provide financial support is
that he understands the importance of leveraging his own reputation, and that of the Ravens, in
bringing [domestic violence] to
light.”
Having lived in three other NFL
cities, Brad Schlaggar believes the
team’s community involvement
under Cass is “a stark contrast” to
that of its peers.
“A lot of what the Ravens do
flies under the radar and is driven
by a strong desire to help,” says
Schlaggar, president and CEO of
the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
“Dick works in the shadows, and
his efforts come from a place of
high social consciousness.
“He does stuff because it’s the
right thing to do, not because
there’s a light shining on it.”
— Mike Klingaman
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