#50: Rocky Mountain-Bound (Part 2)

Ball Moves Its Flag to Colorado

As we approached the end of another cold and overcast December in Indiana in 1997, I was about to head out to watch my friend and Ball Corporation colleague, Mike Dooley, coach a youth basketball team.

Mike and I both worked in Ball’s corporate headquarters in Muncie, a small town where it seemed like everyone knew everyone else and rumors were a common currency.

In fact, one rumor currently making the rounds (yet again) was that any day now Ball would move its headquarters, which had called Muncie home since 1886, to Colorado to join its growing packaging and aerospace operations there.

As I grabbed my keys and headed for the door, I glanced in a mirror – and came to a stop so abrupt, I almost twisted my knee.

“I can’t wear this,” I said, pulling at my hoodie. “What if people think it’s a sign?”

I had thrown on a “Colorado” sweatshirt I had bought o…