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Team History
The St. Louis Rams are one of the oldest clubs in the NFL. The team began in Cleveland in 1936 as a member of the American Football League. The team was granted its NFL franchised as the Cleveland Rams in 1937. After five straight losing seasons, the club not only recorded its first winning season in 1945, but won its first NFL championship that year, recording a 15-14 win over the Washington Redskins. The club was led that year by Player of the Year Bob Waterfield, a rookie quarterback who came to the Rams from UCLA. The 1945 championship season was the last in Cleveland. Unhappy with the city of Cleveland's reluctance to build a stadium for the club, owner Dan Reeves pulled up stakes and moved the team to Los Angeles, helping to pioneer the expansion of professional football to the West Coast. Following the move to LA, the Rams put together a string of successful seasons, winning four Western Division championships in the next seven years and a second NFL title in 1951 thanks to such stars as Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch and Tom Fears. The Rams earned a final division crown in the 1950s in 1955 under first-year coach Sid Gilman.
Following the successes of the early years, the Rams spent most of the 1960s as a second-tier team and did not contend for a championship again until 1967. By then, George Halas protege George Allen had taken the helm as head coach. Allen's vaunted Fearsome Foursome defensive front, containing future hall of famers Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen, built a reputation as one of the toughest in the NFL and struck fear into opposing quarterbacks. The Rams during the Allen era also featured such stars offense as strong-armed quarterback Roman Gabriel, sure-handed receiver Jack Snow. In 1972 ownership of the Rams changed hands in a unique franchise swap that saw Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom trade clubs with Rams owner Robert Irsay. With the unexpected drowning death of Rosenbloom in 1979, his widow Georgia (Frontiere) assumed control of the team. Throughout the decade, the team was one of the leagues elite, winning seven straight NFC West titles from 1973 to 1979, five under Chuck Knox and another two under Ray Malavasi. In 1979, the Rams won their first NFC Championship to make it to Super Bowl XIV, in which they lost to Pittsburgh 31-19.
Although the Rams of the 1980s would field some good teams, the decade saw the rise to prominence of division rival San Francisco. The Rams clubs of coach John Robinson were usually competitive with the 49ers and they featured one of the greatest running backs in NFL history in Eric Dickerson, but the Rams recorded only a single NFC West title during the decade in 1985. However, the Rams were shut out 24-0 in the NFC Championship game by a dominating Chicago Bears club. The Rams would make it back to the NFC Championship as a wild-card team in 1989, but were outplayed 30-3 by San Francisco to close out the decade. With the exception of 1999, the decade of the 1990s was a black period for Rams fans. Multiple coaches, changing personnel, poor on-field performance and a move from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995 saw the team put together a string of losing seasons. By the close of the 1998 season, the club was vying with Cincinnati for the title "Losingest Team of the '90s." The Rams fortunes turned dramatically in 1999, however. Under former Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil, who was in his third year with the Rams, St. Louis fielded one of the most potent offenses in NFL history and capped an inspiring "worst-to-first" season with a thrilling 23-16 Super Bowl XXXIV victory over the Tennessee Titans. The Super Bowl season also saw the emergence of one of the most inspiring stories in the NFL with the rise of Kurt Warner, a previously unknown former Arena League quarterback to Super Bowl XXXIV MVP. |