Robert Vincent Welch (May 26, 1927 – September 11, 1992) was an American businessman, politician, and civic leader from Indianapolis, Indiana.
Welch was a businessman and community leader in Indianapolis from the 1950s until his death in 1992. He was considered by many to be the key person in building consensus to bring a National Football League franchise to Indianapolis throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s and subsequently one of the main catalysts to build the Hoosier Dome in the early 1980s. As a businessman, he had great success in real estate and also by starting or buying and running many other companies - managing many of his investments through his main development company, RV Welch Investments. Welch is credited as the primary force to save Cathedral High School from closure when the Brothers of Holy Cross decided to close the school in 1973 - remaining chairman of Cathedral's board from 1973 to 1987. He was recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as one of the "Top 50 Most Influential People of the Century" in Indianapolis.Milestones 2000, A 20th Century Retrospective, by the Indianapolis Business Journal; printed December 1999; page 120B "Ten People Who Made a Difference in the 1980s", and page 155B "Top 50 Most Influential People of the Century" He was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in the 1975 election for mayor of Indianapolis. He died in a mid-air plane collision in 1992 while on a business trip for the state of Indiana.
Early life, education and personal life Welch was the seventh of ten children that grew up on the northside of Indianapolis near St. Joan of Arc (SJOA) Church and School. He was the son of Leo F. Welch (1893–1956) and Kathyleen Breen Welch. Bob's father was the president of Celtic Federal Savings & Loan in Indianapolis, which was the bank for Irish and other immigrant families that was founded by Leo's father, John R. Welch Sr. (1856–1934).
Welch graduated from Cathedral High School of Indianapolis in 1945 and served in World War II for eleven months before attending the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated in the winter of 1950 with US Representative John F. Kennedy as the commencement speaker. Welch was known by many to be a Notre Dame football supporter and attended most games - home or away - for more than two decades. After Notre Dame, Welch served in the Korean War (as he had not served the twelve-month minimum in WWII). His oldest brother, Leo F. Welch Jr., had been killed in the South Pacific in WWII.
Welch married Carolyn Finn, whom he had known from his childhood as a classmate at SJOA, on December 1, 1956, at SJOA Church. They had three children, Maura K., Robert V. Jr., and Elizabeth, and they have seven grandchildren.
Business career Upon completion of college and serving in the Korean War, Welch was a tire salesman and then began working for National Homes Corporation where he achieved success at selling homes throughout the midwestern and southwestern US. In 1954, he and Jack Baker (a classmate at SJOA and Cathedral) founded Baker McHenry & Welch (BMWC), a general contracting firm. During this time, he invested his own money into real estate, primarily multi-family and retail throughout central Indiana, and in 1956 founded RV Welch & Associates, which evolved and became RV Welch Investments in 1977. It was primarily a real estate development and management company. Welch was recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as one of "four people who made a difference" in residential real estate in Indianapolis (Indiana 2015 Bicentennial edition).
RV Welch Associates and RV Welch Investments grew into a large residential and commercial real estate development company in Indiana. Welch purchased or constructed and then managed thousands of single and multi-family units throughout central Indiana as well as developed many office buildings throughout central Indiana. Some of the more prominent commercial buildings were the office buildings at 116th and Meridian Street in Carmel, Indiana, and other developments. He founded and operated Fidelity Bank of Indiana in Hamilton County until the Indiana inter-county banking laws led the way to a sale of the bank to INB. He served for many years as a director for the board of American Fletcher National Bank (AFNB), one of top business banks in Indiana until it was sold to Bank One in the late 1980s. Welch also developed many residential communities throughout Indianapolis, including Windridge on what was the old Stoughton J. Fletcher mansion and estate on the northeast side of Indianapolis, and developed the land around it into luxury condominiums, among other projects. In the 1980s, Welch sold RV Welch Investments to Michael Browning, who had worked for Welch for many years and subsequently renamed the firm as Browning Investments.
Welch had many other investments throughout the years, including a significant investment in Landmark Savings Bank and other ventures. Welch was honored posthumously by the Indianapolis Junior Achievement chapter as a Laureate to the Central Indiana Business Hall of Fame in 2005.
Community leadership Country and community Welch served in WWII and the Korean War and also ran for political office. The American Legion Kensington Post of Indianapolis named the dining room in honor of Welch in 1993. He ran for governor as a Democrat in 1972, eventually conceding to Matthew E. Welsh prior to the primary. Welch also ran for mayor of Indianapolis in 1975,winning the Democratic nomination against long oddsBodenhamer, David J. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Indiana University Press. p. 538. . but eventually losing in the general election to William H. Hudnut III.Bodenhamer, David J. (1994) The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Indiana University Press. p. 538. . Welch continued to support the community by serving in his later years as executive director of the White River State Park Development Commission under appointment from Governor Evan Bayh.
Cathedral High School One of Welch's largest contributions to the Indianapolis community was his leadership role in helping to keep Cathedral High School from closure. Cathedral was founded in downtown Indianapolis in 1918 by the Brothers of Holy Cross, but as demographic changes occurred in the 1970s, the Brothers of Holy Cross determined they would close the school and pull out of Indianapolis in 1973. By all accounts, Welch - on his own initiative - was the single driving force to keeping Cathedral open. He funded the payroll when necessary (on his own or by persuading friends to help) and continued to lead the school to survive against long odds. At the time, the archdiocese did not want to maintain Cathedral nor did any religious order, so if the school were to survive it would need to be independent. Welch led efforts to form Cathedral Trustees, Inc., a non-profit organization to govern the independent school with a focus on the tradition and values on which the school had been founded and operated for 55 years. The result was an independent Catholic high school that was not directly affiliated with an order or the archdiocese.
In 1976, with Welch's leadership, the all-male Cathedral with the all-female Ladywood St. Agnes High School (LSA) on the LSA campus. LSA had been operating on the old Stoughton Fletcher estate and was run by the Sisters of Providence. However, the Sisters of Providence were planning to close LSA and sell the land, so Welch purchased the land for Cathedral and Ladywood St. Agnes (LSA) ceased to exist. Catherdral then became a co-educational high school. The old downtown Cathedral school building later became the Indianapolis Archdiocese headquarters with Welch's help. Cathedral's move and merger was met with great resistance among alumni and parents because it meant that the old Cathedral downtown building would no longer be Cathedral's home and it was also a significant cultural change for the two single-gender schools to become co-ed. Cathedral's enrollment grew gradually from approximately 500 in the late 1970s to 1200 in the 2010s. Welch remained chairman of Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. In the mid-1990s, Cathedral constructed a new gymnasium and athletic facility and dedicated it as the “Robert V. Welch Student Activities Center”.
NFL Franchise Indianapolis was generally considered to be a sleepy midwestern town in the 1960s and 1970s - also referred to as "Naptown" - but beginning in the 1970s and early 1980s many in Indianapolis began to focus on sports as a way to raise the profile of the city. One of the many sparks that helped to build confidence within Indianapolis was the efforts led by Welch to secure an NFL franchise in the city, which he began in the early 1970s. While Indianapolis in the early 1970s had an ABA/NBA franchise (Pacers) and a AAA baseball team (Indians), it was not apparent that the city could support more. By the early 1980s, however, confidence in the community grew - due in large part to Welch's years of work with the NFL - that Indianapolis would get an NFL franchise. The resulting momentum helped propel Indianapolis to not only secure an NFL franchise in 1984 (Colts) but also into a city that built premier sporting venues (such as Market Square Arena (1974), the Indiana University Natatorium (1982), and the Hoosier Dome (1984), among others) and hosted national sporting events (such as the National Sports Festival (1982), the Pan American Games (1987), eight NCAA Basketball Final Fours (1980, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2021), the Super Bowl (2012), and the College Football Playoff Championship (2022), among others). The success that Indianapolis has achieved in this regard was borne in part out of efforts by Welch in the 1970s to pursue an NFL franchise and building consensus on this effort with NFL hierarchy and the Indianapolis business and civic community.
1970s For many years from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, Welch - on his own initiative and desire - worked to convince the NFL stakeholders and many people from Indianapolis that Indianapolis could support its own NFL franchise. Over the years, Welch built support in many ways, including building personal relationships with NFL owners and hierarchy as well as building support among local civic and business leadership. He also started the Indianapolis Football Corporation - a booster club for Indianapolis citizens to join for free and support the effort. It was well known that Welch spent a great deal of time and hundreds of thousands of his own dollars throughout these years toward this cause. He attended the annual NFL owner's meetings for many years and he invited many NFL owners to be his guest at the Indianapolis 500 in his suite to show them that Indianapolis was a city that appreciated sports and could support an NFL franchise.
Early 1980s In the early 1980s, the NFL indicated to Welch and others that it intended to expand the league with a new franchise and that Indianapolis would be the leading candidate under the condition that the city construct a domed stadium in which the team could play. As a result, Welch worked with local leaders to help influence the construction of the Hoosier Dome so that the city could lure the new NFL franchise. The Indianapolis civic leadership were convinced by NFL hierarchy that if Indianapolis built the stadium, then the NFL would award an expansion franchise to the city with Bob Welch as the majority and local owner. The city began plans to construct the Hoosier Dome in 1980 and broke ground in 1982
Hoosier Dome