It's not that much of a surprise that Al Romero will be rooting for the Indianapolis Colts today when they face New Orleans to determine the NFL champion.

That's because Romero, a retired Santa Fe Public Schools teacher, nearly made the Colts in the 1950s when they still played in Baltimore.

An 18th-round pick out of Roswell's New Mexico Military Institute — then a four-year college — Romero was a rookie running back and played in every one of the Colts' seven exhibition games in 1954.

"I think I was the first player drafted out of the Institute," Romero says, the pride evident in his voice. "I think I was one of the first Hispanics drafted by the league."

At 5-foot, 11-inches, 205-pounds, Romero lined up alongside players like Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore and Alan Ameche — names that jump out of the NFL history book.

Although he's in his 70s, he's still keeping that tip-top shape.

"I work out an hour and a half, three times a day," Romero says.

But he never quite got to see what he could on the field during the regular season.

Although it appeared that he would make the team that year, he was drafted by another team instead.

Being a graduate of a military academy, when the U.S. entered the Korean conflict, Romero was called on by the U.S. Army. For the next 18 months he served in the military, although he essentially escaped the battlefields overseas for relatively benign duty in Alaska.

"That was better than Korea," Romero admits.

It was not better, however, than playing in the NFL.

"I did real good in the exhibition games and it appeared I was going to survive to the season," he says. "It was the thrill of a lifetime to be drafted by the Colts."

Upon his discharge in 1956, Romero attempted to make it back with Baltimore, but by then the team was loaded.

The Colts were just two seasons away from the famous championship overtime clash with the New York Giants, a game many people credit with launching the NFL toward its current popularity.

By then, however, Romero had put his dreams of an NFL career away.

"I got injured," he says. "It was really tough to make it in the NFL in those days. They were very strict. You couldn't get away with anything."

So he turned his back on the professional gridiron and headed to Santa Fe, where he taught for 38 years.

During that time, he was an assistant coach for the Santa Fe High Demons and also was the basketball coach for the old St. Michael's College, which later became the College of Santa Fe.

Although he lost contact with the Colts players from those days, he still has fond memories of that time.

"I remember Johnny Unitas," Romero says. "He was a friend to everybody. He didn't care who you were, he talked with everybody."

That Colt loyalty remained throughout the years, even as the team moved to Indianapolis.

And now that the team is looking for its third Super Bowl ring, he's more than proud of his ties to the organization.

"I still have my contract," Romero says.

Despite his admiration for the Colts of today, he's still got to run the banner for the players of his era.

Comparing Peyton Manning, the best quarterback in the business now, to Johnny U, the first of the modern quarterbacks, Romero has to side with his guy.

"Johnny Unitas was too good to compare to anybody," Romero says. "I think Johnny Unitas could beat him (Manning). He was just too good."

Nevertheless, he's predicting his team will be celebrating when the final whistle blows this evening in Miami.

"I think they're going to take it. They've demonstrated they can win when they want to. Why they didn't want to win those other two games, I don't know," he says referring to the final two games of the regular season when Indy rested its starters after a perfect 14-0 start. "I think the score is going to be 23-17."