Blanket Ball
Feb. 8. For the first time, Baltimore WYPR will partner with Project PLASE—that’s People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment—for a night of food, drinks, and dancing to support the local nonprofit’s efforts to secure temporary and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.
$95-150, 2640 St. Paul St.

Blue Jeans {& Bow Ties} Ball
Feb. 22. The Ulman Foundation, a nonprofit working to support young people and their loved ones impacted by cancer, invites you to a dinner and live auction fundraiser at The Winslow in downtown Baltimore. After dinner, be sure to stick around for drinks and dancing to celebrate The Ulman Foundation’s mission.
$150-400, 333 W. Ostend St.

Beauty & The Beast: UnMasking Your Fears
Feb. 22. Women At A Stand is teaming up with Creative Artist Unite Network to host this masquerade gala, featuring delicious bites, an open bar, live music, and a silent auction. A portion of the proceeds will go to local nonprofit House of Ruth, which provides emergency and care services for women and children affected by abuse. $60-400, 4709 Harford Rd.

Evening in Wonderland: Gala & Impact Awards
March 21. Don your most fantastical fashion and get ready for a magical party on the grounds of Baltimore’s mesmerizing Rawlings Conservatory to raise funds
for the Fashion Umbrella Foundation’s Scholarship Awards, supporting aspiring entrepreneurs studying business. $65, 3100 Swann Dr.

Great Chefs’ Dinner
April TBA. Hosted by The Family Tree, an organization fighting child abuse in Maryland, the Great Chefs’ Dinner brings together hundreds of philanthropists and leaders in abuse prevention for a ve-course meal, live and silent auctions, and an evening of building connections in this critical work. Price TBA, address TBA.

Sole of the City 10K
April 11. Winner of Baltimore magazine’s 2018 Best Baltimore Road Race, Under Armour’s run around the harbor is back for another round this spring. Buzzing with community energy, Sole of the City brings thousands of Baltimoreans together to support the children’s literacy efforts of nonprofit Reading Partners in local elementary schools. $50-70, McHenry Row

Jazz at Ringside
April 25. Discover the unique cross-sections of community Baltimore has to offer at this evening of soul-healing music, food, and—of course—boxing, a partnership between Corner Team and the Baltimore Jazz Festival. Funds raised will support Corner Team’s programs to build community for youth, seniors, and people with disabilities through sports. Price TBA, 1101 East 25th St.

Ride for the Feast
May 2-3. Kick up your kickstand in Ocean City at the start of this two-day bicycle race and you’ll end up across the state at the Baltimore City headquarters of Moveable Feast, a nonprofit providing food and care services to people living with HIV/ AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses. Funds raised will support Moveable Feast’s work in the city. Price TBA, 2308 Philadelphia Ave., Ocean City 21842

Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive
May 31. Owners of vintage cars and connoisseurs of re ned class are invited to show off their gentlemanly style—think tweed jackets, monocles, and glorious mustaches—at this fundraiser hosted by Harbor East’s Christopher Schafer Clothier. Proceeds support the Movember Foundation, a group working to raise awareness around men’s health issues.
Price TBA, 1400 Aliceanna St.

5th Annual Baltimore Floatilla
JUNE TBA. If you’ve always been curious to explore Baltimore’s iconic Inner Harbor, here’s your excuse to get out on the water. Take part in this five-mile paddleboat cavalcade
to support Healthy Harbor, the group behind the beloved Mr. Trash Wheel that also supports local education and preservation work. $30-40, 3001 Boston St.

Baltimore Pride High Heel Race
June 19. Tuck in your padding, break out your wig, and slip on your pumps to kick off a weekend of pride festivities with an unsteady sprint for the finish line. Whether you’re running or just on the sidelines, the race is fun for every- one—and the proceeds support Mount Vernon’s Chase Brexton Health Services. Price TBA, North Charles & East 25th St.

5K Race to Embrace Independence
Sept. TBA. Marian House hosts this annual race to raise funds so that the organization can continue to help women in Baltimore City move from dependence to independence. The proceeds go towards housing, food, clothing, counseling, and education for the women and children experiencing homelessness in our communities. $35, Lake Montebello Dr. & Whitman Dr.

Equinox
Sept. 19 Join the Baltimore Museum of Industry for Equinox, a celebration aiming to raise funds and awareness to support the goal of ending homelessness in Baltimore. With local brews, live music, and pro- ceeds going to the housing programs of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, you can support Equinox’s mission and be the light you want to see. $95-110, 1415 Key Hwy.

Stars, Stripes, and Chow
Nov. TBA. Head to West Covington Park for a taste of this delicious chili cookoff hosted by The Baltimore Station, a group helping veterans regain self-suf ciency in society. With support from organizations like the Baltimore Orioles, M&T Bank, and iHeartRadio, proceeds will help homeless veterans escape cycles of poverty. $25-50, 101 W. Cromwell St.

It doesn’t take Joe Ehrmann long to explode dumb-jock stereotypes. Earlier this year, the former Colts great—who’s been called “the most important coach in America”—gave a TED Talk at Morgan State University that brought the audience to its feet, and some listeners to tears, in a little more than 10 minutes. Of all the thinkers and creative types who spoke that day, he was the only one to get a sustained standing ovation. His coaching workshops at the Patterson Park Youth Sports and Education Center are even more startling. Dressed casually in a blue polo shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, the 64-year-old Ehrmann exudes a gentle power. His seen-it-all expression and upbeat demeanor suggest sadness and hope, which is disarming in a man so large. He works Eastern and Native-American philosophies, mythology, social activism, Christianity, and African-American history into his talk and often sounds more like a self-help guru, or life coach, than a defensive coach.

Someone once asked, prior to a presentation, if he would be discussing offense or defense, and he responded: “Neither. I’ll be talking philosophy.” And that’s pretty much what he does. Ehrmann’s workshops are required for coaches using the park’s new, multipurpose field and sponsored by Living Classrooms Foundation, which hopes to make his teaching program a citywide model.

Ehrmann tells the dozen coaches assembled at the youth center that sports are a vehicle for social change, which elicits a few puzzled looks. He stresses the importance of making sports co-curricular, rather than extra-curricular, so they become an extension of the school day, and he talks about players’ social and intellectual development and the importance of empathy and kindness.

He then pivots into more emotional, and potentially uncomfortable, territory. He insists that hugs are more effective than the histrionics in heavy rotation on SportsCenter and suggests his listeners ask themselves, “How does it feel to be coached by me?” He pauses a moment before saying there are two kinds of coaches: transactional and transformational. The transactional coach uses his players to meet his own needs. The transformational coach, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, helps people recognize things in themselves they otherwise wouldn’t see.

At this point, you can practically see the lightbulbs going off over the heads of his listeners, as they nod in agreement and scribble notes to themselves. Everyone, it seems, has had these types of coaches, and the memories are so clear that Ehrmann doesn’t have to ask which they’d rather be.

Ehrmann, knowing he’s connected with these men, ups the ante even further by saying they must also confront social justice issues, issues that affect the lives of not only their players, but also the community at large. He touches on economic disparity, racism, sexism, gender violence, homophobia, and how social messaging and warped perceptions of masculinity and femininity adversely affect boys and girls.

He covers a remarkable amount of territory over the course of an hour, but never loses sight of his main point: “The playing field is a field of transformation.”

Ehrmann grew up in Buffalo and came to Baltimore in 1973. “They’re both blue-collar, shot-in-your-beer towns,” he says, sitting in his Hunt Valley office, which is filled, not with sports memorabilia, but with books—the range of titles includes Growing Up in America, The Male Ego, and Dean Smith’s A Coach’s Life.

The Colts selected Ehrmann in the first round of the draft, the tenth pick overall, out of Syracuse. A ferocious defensive tackle, he lined up alongside Mike Barnes, Fred Cook, and John Dutton to form the team’s much-vaunted “Sack Pack.” His anger issues, stemming largely from an abusive father, played well on the football field. Off the field, he became a fixture in Fells Point and drank and drugged away his mental and physical pain.

At the height of Ehrmann’s football fame, his 19-year-old brother, Billy, was diagnosed with cancer and admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Coming to grips with his brother’s illness had a sobering effect on Ehrmann, who spent the better part of four months confronting death and suffering in a pediatric oncology ward. “It made me question my purpose in life,” he recalls.

A local psychologist gave him a copy of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. “It was the beginning of a real metamorphosis for me,” recalls Ehrmann, “because Frankl says that the greatest of all human freedoms is the ability to change how you respond to any given situation. No matter what life deals you, you can find meaning in it and add value to it.”

After Billy passed away in 1978, Ehrmann founded Baltimore’s Ronald McDonald House and dedicated it to his brother’s memory. In 1980, his last season with the Colts, he entered the seminary as something of a wounded warrior and emerged an ordained minister committed to social justice. By that time, he was married—he met his wife, Paula, through a radio contest in which he was the “celebrity date”—and winding down his football career. He was also looking to make a difference.

He started preaching at Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium and founded a community center, The Door, in East Baltimore. Middle East was an area plagued by all sorts of urban ills, but Ehrmann didn’t shy from the challenge. In fact, he and Paula moved to nearby Buthcers Hill.

“He cared about standing up for those who were unable to stand up for themselves,” says Paula.

“Playing football gave me the opportunity to cross so many social and economic strata,” he says, “and I wanted to confront the discrepancies between the haves and have-nots.”

One day, he ran into Biff Poggi, an old friend from his Colts days, who was delivering a carload of donated food to The Door’s food pantry. As a teenager, Poggi snuck into the weight room during Colts workouts at Goucher College. Some players grumbled and wanted him tossed out, but Ehrmann befriended him. “Even then, he was reflective and kind,” says Poggi.

After reconnecting at The Door, they stayed in touch and talked about football and philosophy. When Poggi was named head coach at Gilman, he asked Ehrmann to be his defensive coordinator. Ehrmann had hoped to coach at Lake Clifton High School but says the city wouldn’t let him, because he wasn’t a teacher. He accepted Poggi’s offer, which changed his life and set him on his current path.

With Poggi’s blessing, Ehrmann brought his holistic approach, philosophical bent, and empathic worldview to the locker room. “When we first started, Biff got it immediately,” recalls Ehrmann. “We were just coaching out of our hearts and trying to create a team where kids could be real and authentic and become good people. We knew that creating more football players wasn’t the answer to any of society’s problems.”

Writer Jeffrey Marx, a former Colts ball boy, followed Gilman’s 2001 season and documented Ehrmann’s approach in his 2003 book, Season of Life, which turned out to be a bestseller. It gave Ehrmann a national platform. “I started getting calls from all over the country,” he says. “After one or two speaking engagements, I saw the power of that book, and I decided to take the message outside [Gilman], while Biff stayed inside. I’ve been on the road almost 10 years now, speaking and conducting workshops.”

Poggi calls his friend’s work “prophetic,” and Ehrmann’s client list includes the NFL, NCAA, and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. But as Matt Hanna, a coach at the Patterson Park workshop notes, “What Joe does is the missing link in a lot of settings. He teaches things that should be common sense.” And Ehrmann himself will tell you the scope of his work has evolved to become “much broader than the sports piece.”

His four children are grown and out of the house, so he can devote more time to expanding his reach. Because his message applies to just about any community setting imaginable (from the boardroom to the classroom), he’s also worked with the Naval and Coast Guard academies, Teach For America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, family shelters, and companies such as Verizon and Boeing.

He works with Living Classrooms through its Target Investment Zone, which provides a variety of services to East Baltimore neighborhoods. “We’ve admired Joe for many years, and he became a founding partner of that program,” says Living Classrooms President and CEO James Piper Bond, who views Ehrmann’s efforts as “a health-and-wellness initiative more than simply a sports program.”

These days, Ehrmann also focuses a lot of energy on the issues of child sexual abuse and gender violence. After scandals at the likes of Penn State and Vanderbilt, he feels compelled to speak out and raise awareness. “Addressing all these issues is basically the same work I did at The Door, just on a macro level,” says Ehrmann. “You know, you don’t have to be poor to be concerned about poverty. You don’t have to be black to be concerned about racism. You don’t have to be a woman to be concerned about sexism.

“There’s a power in the collective, in learning about and from other people. That’s how you build a team.”