Sure, 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.
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].”
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.”
Richard W. “Dick” Cass
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
