 RAMS MEMORIESBY WATERFIELD (7) (Nov 11) |
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I live in Orange Co ( San
Juan Cap.to be exact). I attended my first Ram game at the coliseum in 1949 when the
Waterfield led Rams lost to the Eagles in the rain in the then equivalent Super Bowl.
Since then I missed a total of 17 home games before the St.Louis move. I flew to St Louis
to attend the opening game there. Since then I've been back 10 times. I travelled to both
the Tenn and Detroit games. I was a Ram Booster club memeber at Anaheim . Do you remember names like Horner, Towler, Kalminer, Smith, Gehrke, Lewis, and later Jones, Lundy, Olsen, Grier? Hey we're talking about my childhood here. Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch ( No 40 ). Yes many memories. Van Brocklin to Hirsch (and Fears) truly opened up the pro game and made it ripe for t.v. That combination led to the first real long break away touchdown passes that were seen regularly in the game. Hirsch patterned the over the shoulder catch behind the D back. And boy could Van Brocklin ever throw the long ball. While not fast, Hirsch's weird running style gave him the name "crazylegs". He even ran back punt returns because his footwork was so deceptive. Simply put the Rams were the team that opened up the game to make it the true spectator sport it is today. My favorite photograph in my office is of Gabriel in an all white uniform over the center waiting for the snap with snow all around and falling. In the foreground is Jack Snow (84). . What's great is seeing the blur of no 84 in the falling snow waiting for the snap. But it had to be one of those playoff games where the gods looked the other way! Actually that photograph brings back bad memories. Enough of that. Of course, I was hurt when they moved. I joined Steinberg's little group to fight it. I was one of the demonstrators at the final Redskin game at Anaheim. After all they were taking a part of my youth away. Yet, quite obviously, I have followed and supported the team since then. Throughout the 50s---wow---did we ever have support ! Many, many games with over 100,000 Rams fans. But in the last Redskin game there were more Wash. fans than Ram fans. The ever changing dynamics of population, ownership, performance---whatever. The St Louis fans are far more supportive than what we had here. I actually believe St Louis is afar better town for the Rams given their lack of support here (mainly because of the transient nature of So Cal). When I go into rests and bars in St Louis it give me a great feeling to see Ram shirts, hats, and all the signs of overall support. Incidentally, I have met John Shaw on at least four occasions and in two of them we talked at length about the economics and financial packaging necessary to operate a sports franchise along with the anti-trust implications re the NFL and free agency. |
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