Berlin Stadium Readied for Rams, Chiefs

Workers painted giant “Chiefs” and “Rams” logos in the end zones. Technicians stretched TV cables from a box once reserved for Adolf Hitler. Players gawked at the place where Jesse Owens won four gold medals.

More than a half-century after it hosted the 1936 Summer Games, Olympic Stadium was being turned into a football arena.

The Rams and Kansas City Chiefs held final practices on neighboring fields today while the uprights were being pieced together at the stadium and yard lines were being drawn.

Though American soldiers from throughout West Germany are expected to attend the contest, officials don’t expect a sellout.

The NFL originally planned to play the game in Frankfurt, where the large number of American servicemen has led to high interest in football. Frankfurt will be one of four European cities hosting teams in the World League of American Football that starts next March.

The game was switched to Berlin because of the historic changes in Eastern Europe that led to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and moves toward the reunification of Germany.

Irv Pankey, the Rams’ 6-5, 295-pound offensive tackle, used a hammer and chisel to carve out a few pieces of the Berlin Wall as souvenirs for his family.

Jim Everett will start Saturday for the Rams, with Mark Herrmann and Chuck Long also expected to play.

Mike Elkins will start at quarterback for the Chiefs, to be followed by Steve Pelluer. No. 1 signal-caller Steve DeBerg is not expected to play.