Once Upon a Time in the West : History: The Rams ushered in the era of professional team sports in Southern California. Heartbreak and controversy soon followed.

Half a century ago, Southern California got the Rams because the owner of the franchise was dissatisfied with his financial situation in the Midwest.

Sometimes, what goes around really does come around.

The Cleveland Rams won the 1945 NFL championship, upsetting a Washington Redskins team led by the legendary Sammy Baugh, 15-14. After the game, owner Daniel F. Reeves petitioned the league to move to Los Angeles.

Initially, most NFL owners and league officials opposed the move. But when Reeves proved to them that he had lost $50,000 during the 1945 championship season, they gave him permission to move and the Rams became the West Coast’s first NFL franchise.

Today, $50,000 might not cover the phone bill run up by the parties hammering out the deal that probably will send the Rams to St. Louis, but the bottom-line business of pro football obviously has changed very little in 50 years.

The Ram franchise, on the other hand, has seen more than its share of upheaval during its stay in Los Angeles and Anaheim, first under the reign of Reeves, who died of cancer in 1971. The next year, Robert Irsay bought the team from Reeves’ estate and traded it to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Baltimore Colts. When Rosenbloom died in a swimming accident in 1979, his widow, Georgia, became the majority owner.

They’ve had their quarterback controversies. Ranging from the sublime--Van Brocklin vs. Waterfield--to, well, Pat Haden vs. James Harris. Now it has come to Chris Miller vs. Chris Chandler, the winner each week decided by whoever is ambulatory.

They’ve had their coaching controversies, too. How about George Allen? Reeves fired him after a 10-3-1 1968 season and then rehired him two weeks later in the face of a player mutiny. Two years later, Allen became head coach of the Washington Redskins. In 1978, Rosenbloom rehired Allen again. . . for two weeks. He fired him after the second exhibition game.

The Rams have won a few big ones on the field, but mostly they have seen their hopes squashed on the spongy grass of San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the frozen turf of Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium and under the friendly Southland sunshine at the Coliseum and even the Rose Bowl.

Few longtime Ram fans will ever forget images of the steam billowing above the heads of huffing Ram defensive linemen after another fox-and-hare chase of Viking quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Or the agony of another playoff loss on another frigid afternoon in Minnesota.

Or Dallas running back Preston Pearson sprinting under Roger Staubach spirals as the Cowboys flashed the scoreboard lights to the tune of a combined 65 points in the 1975 and ’78 NFC Championship games. Or Dallas’ “Doomsday Defense” allowing the Rams a total of seven points in those two games.

Or Dieter Brock bouncing passes 10 yards short of Ram receivers with another Super Bowl berth on the line on a blustery day in 1985 when the Rams were shut out, 24-0, by the Bears at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

Or Eric Dickerson gaining 16 yards during another playoff drubbing, the 51-7 loss to Washington in 1983.

Or how about Ram quarterback Jim Everett throwing himself onto the ground in the fetal position when the nearest 49er was three yards away during a 30-3 loss to San Francisco in the 1989 NFC Championship game?

There are, however, a few season-ending high points for the Los Angeles Rams’ highlight film. They won their first championship in 1951 when Van Brocklin and Tom Fears teamed up for a 73-yard scoring pass play to beat Cleveland, 24-17.

And in 1967 and ‘69, they won the now extinct Playoff Bowl, a matchup of the second-place team in the Eastern and Western conferences, beating Cleveland, 30-6, and Dallas, 31-0.

But most Ram memories tend to be measured in degrees of bittersweet.

The Rams haven’t had a sniff at the playoffs in the ‘90s, but they made regular appearances in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Eight times they were one victory short of a spot in the Super Bowl.

They made it once.

Two days before Christmas in 1967, the Rams were overmatched in Green Bay; the Packers scored three rushing touchdowns and sacked Ram quarterback Roman Gabriel five times on their way to a 28-7 rout in the conference title game.

Two days after Christmas in 1969, the Rams shook off the effects of Minnesota temperatures that hovered in the high teens and had a 20-14 lead with 12 minutes to play. But Viking quarterback Joe Kapp orchestrated a long, time-consuming drive and scored from one yard to keep the Rams out of another Super Bowl.

In 1974, ’75 and ‘76, the second, third and fourth seasons of Chuck Knox’s first stint as head coach, the Rams won 32 games, lost nine and tied one.

In 1974, a Lawrence McCutcheon fumble on the Minnesota 19-yard line and an interception of a Harris pass inside the Viking five spelled disaster during a 14-10 NFC Championship game loss in Minnesota.

The next year, the fans in blue and gold at the Coliseum were blue again. Everyone knew by halftime there would be no Rams in the Super Bowl as Dallas jumped out to a 21-0 lead en route to a 37-7 romp.

And Ram fans had their holiday spirit doused again a year later. A blocked field goal and a blocked punt put the Rams in a hole, but they crawled back to within four points. Then Chuck Foreman turned a short Tarkenton pass into a 57-yard romp and Sammy White scored from 12 yards to seal a 24-13 triumph for the host Vikings.

Two years later, Ram followers were crushed yet again when Dallas shut out the Rams, 28-0, in another NFC title-game disappointment at the Coliseum.

The Rams finally got their shot at a Super Sunday on Jan. 20, 1980, after a less-than-awe-inspiring 9-0 victory over a fledgling Tampa Bay team in the NFC Championship game. They faced Pittsburgh, a veteran team that had won three of the previous five Super Bowls.

The Steelers were heavily favored, but a year earlier Warren Beatty led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory over Pittsburgh in the movie “Heaven Can Wait,” and Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw figured that was a bad omen.

For three quarters, it looked as if he was right. The Rams led, 19-17, going into the final quarter, and Ram fans at the Rose Bowl could see the promised land after a years-long pilgrimage. Ram quarterback Vince Ferragamo, who was starting only his eighth game in the NFL, was on target. Bradshaw wasn’t. Three of his passes had been intercepted.

The Rams seemed to know exactly what the Steelers’ offense would do, having the strategic advantage of a coaching staff that included defensive coordinator Bud Carson, offensive coordinator Lionel Taylor and defensive line coach Dan Radakovich, all former Steeler assistants.

The Pittsburgh offensive scheme had not changed . . . with one exception. The exception was 60-Prevent-Slot-Hook-and-Go, a play Bradshaw later said he hadn’t been able to complete once in a week of practice.

It worked twice in the fourth quarter, however, and both times John Stallworth seemed to float above the Ram secondary before making the catch and escaping downfield. The first play resulted in a 73-yard touchdown and a 24-19 Steeler lead.

The second--after linebacker Jack Lambert intercepted a Ferragamo pass at the Steeler 14-yard line--was good for 45 yards. It set up a one-yard Franco Harris touchdown run that sent the Ram faithful onto Southland freeways deflated again.

Ray Malavasi was the head coach when the Rams made their only Super Bowl appearance, but he’ll probably be best remembered for falling asleep during a morning radio show and snoring loudly while the host asked questions such as, “How exciting will your offensive game plan be this Sunday?”

Seven head coaches have had tenures of three or fewer seasons since the franchise moved West, including Joe Stydahar, who guided the Rams to their first championship in 1951, and Waterfield, who suffered through a 9-24-1 record in 2 1/2 seasons in the early ‘60s.

But when you think of Los Angeles Rams’ coaches, you think first of Allen, Knox and John Robinson.

Allen came to the Rams in 1966, after the franchise won a bitter legal battle with Bears owner George Halas, who had refused to release Allen from his duties as an assistant in Chicago. Allen will be remembered for his tidiness and devotion to geriatric defensive players. He didn’t mind if a player dogged it in practice, but if he threw a paper cup on the ground, Allen went berserk.

Still, his players loved him, especially the veterans. Allen’s starting linebackers and defensive backs in 1970 averaged almost 33 years of age. And Allen was a winner, compiling a 49-19-4 record for a .708 winning percentage at the helm of the Rams.

For a while, Knox was the winningest Ram coach, with a .780 winning percentage during his first go-round with the club. Knox II began in 1992 and was pretty much an exercise in futility. Knox was fired early this month.

Robinson arrived from USC on Valentine’s Day in 1983 and it proved to be a sweet move for a franchise in desperate need of an image lift. The Rams had gone 6-10 in 1981 and 2-7 in the strike-shortened ’82 season and owner Georgia Frontiere had become the subject of fan and media ridicule.

Robinson, the orator and the coach, came to the rescue and the Rams made six playoff appearances in the next seven years. But another NFC Championship game defeat, the embarrassing 30-3 debacle in San Francisco after the 1989 season, marked the beginning of the end for Robinson. The Rams went 8-24 after that loss and Robinson resigned before the final game of the 1991 season.

In 1991 and ‘92, the Rams did not have a representative in the Pro Bowl, but every other year since moving from Cleveland, they have had at least two.

Hall of Fame tackle Merlin Olsen went to 14 Pro Bowls; guard Tom Mack was honored 11 times; linebacker Les Richter eight; defensive ends Jack Youngblood and Deacon Jones and offensive tackle Jackie Slater seven; Van Brocklin, linebacker Isiah Robertson, guard Dennis Harrah and centers Rich Saul and Doug Smith six, and defensive back Eddie Meador, halfback Arnett, McCutcheon and guard Kent Hill five times.

There have been plenty of heroes--from Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch to Willie “Flipper” Anderson--and there are sure to be more. The only difference is that today, those posters of Jerome Bettis are going up in hundreds of bedrooms in St. Louis.

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All-Time Leaders

The Anaheim Years (1980-94)

PASSING

Player Att Comp Yds Int TD Years 1. Jim Everett 3,277 1,847 23,758 123 142 1986-93 2. Vince Ferragamo 1,143 661 8,401 59 63 1980-84 3. Dieter Brock 365 218 2,658 13 16 1985 4. Jeff Kemp 353 173 2,395 9 14 1981-85 5. Chris Miller 317 173 2,104 14 16 1994

RUSHING

Player Att Yds TD Years 1. Eric Dickerson 1,525 7,245 56 1983-86 2. Cleveland Gary 665 2,634 24 1989-93 3. Jerome Bettis 613 2,454 10 1993-94 4. Greg Bell 582 2,435 31 1987-89 5. Charles White 504 2,133 14 1985-88

RECEIVING

Player Rec Yds TD Years 1. Henry Ellard 593 9,761 48 1983-93 2. Willie Anderson 259 5,246 26 1988-94 3. Pete Holohan 159 1,625 7 1988-90 4. Robert Delpino 152 1,574 9 1988-92 5. Mike Guman 150 1,433 4 1980-88

SCORING

Player TD XP FG TP Years 1. Mike Lansford 0 315 158 789 1982-90 2. Eric Dickerson 57 0 0 342 1983-86 3. Henry Ellard 52 0 0 312 1983-93 3. Tony Zendejas 0 114 66 312 1991-94 5. Greg Bell 34 0 0 204 1987-89

Rams in Review

During 49 seasons in Southern California, the Rams compiled a 378-317-18 record, for a winning percentage of .543. Their best percentage, .813, came in 1967 and 1975; the worst, .107, in 1962. Season percentage, including postseason games:

1951: NFL Champs

1994: .250%

The 49 Seasons

During the nearly half-century in California, the Rams reached postseason play 21 times, seven of 15 seasons in Anaheim. Among their 13 head coaches (Chuck Knox twice), George Allen was the most successful, winning nearly 70% of his games. A year-by-year profile; records include postseason games:

Season Record Coach(es) 1946 6-4-1 Adam Walsh 1947 6-6 Bob Snyder 1948 6-5-1 Clark Shaughnessy 1949 8-3-2 Clark Shaughnessy 1950 10-4 Joe Stydahar 1951 9-4 Joe Stydahar 1952 9-4 Joe Stydahar, Hampton Pool 1953 8-3-1 Hampton Pool 1954 6-5-1 Hampton Pool 1955 8-3-1 Sid Gillman 1956 4-8 Sid Gillman 1957 6-6 Sid Gillman 1958 8-4 Sid Gillman 1959 2-10 Sid Gillman 1960 4-7-1 Bob Waterfield 1961 4-10 Bob Waterfield 1962 1-12-1 Bob Waterfield, Harland Svare 1963 5-9 Harland Svare 1964 5-7-2 Harland Svare 1965 4-10 Harland Svare 1966 8-6 George Allen 1967 12-2-2 George Allen 1968 10-3-1 George Allen 1969 12-4 George Allen 1970 9-4-1 George Allen 1971 8-5-1 Tommy Prothro 1972 6-7-1 Tommy Prothro 1973 12-3 Chuck Knox 1974 11-5 Chuck Knox 1975 13-3 Chuck Knox 1976 11-4-1 Chuck Knox 1977 10-5 Chuck Knox 1978 13-5 Ray Malavasi 1979 11-8 Ray Malavasi

*

Season Postseason 1946 None, second in division 1947 None, fourth in division 1948 None, third in division 1949 Lost NFL championship 1950 Won playoff game, lost NFL championship 1951 Won NFL championship 1952 Lost conference playoff 1953 None, third in conference 1954 None, fourth in conference 1955 Lost NFL championship 1956 None, sixth in conference 1957 None, fourth in conference 1958 None, third in conference 1959 None, sixth in conference 1960 None, sixth in conference 1961 None, sixth in conference 1962 None, seventh in conference 1963 None, sixth in conference 1964 None, fifth in conference 1965 None, seventh in conference 1966 None, third in conference 1967 Lost conference playoff, won Playoff Bowl 1968 None, second in division 1969 Lost conference playoff, won Playoff Bowl 1970 None, second in division 1971 None, second in division 1972 None, third in division 1973 Lost conference playoff 1974 Won division playoff, lost NFC championship 1975 Won division playoff, lost NFC championship 1976 Won division playoff, lost NFC championship 1977 Lost division playoff 1978 Won division playoff, lost NFC championship 1979 Won division playoff and NFC championship, lost Super Bowl

*

Anaheim Years Begin

Season Record Coach(es) 1980 11-6 Ray Malavasi 1981 6-10 Ray Malavasi 1982 2-7 Ray Malavasi 1983 10-8 John Robinson 1984 10-7 John Robinson 1985 12-6 John Robinson 1986 10-6 John Robinson 1987 6-9 John Robinson 1988 10-7 John Robinson 1989 13-6 John Robinson 1990 5-11 John Robinson 1991 3-13 John Robinson 1992 6-10 Chuck Knox 1993 5-11 Chuck Knox 1994 4-12 Chuck Knox

*

Season Postseason 1980 Lost wild-card game 1981 None, third in division 1982 None, fourth in division in strike year 1983 Won wild-card game, lost division playoff 1984 Lost wild-card game 1985 Won division playoff, lost NFC championship 1986 Lost wild-card game 1987 None, third in division in strike year 1988 Lost wild-card game 1989 Won wild-card game, division playoff, lost NFC championship 1990 None, third in division 1991 None, fourth in division 1992 None, tied for third in division 1993 None, fourth in division 1994 None, fourth in division

Source: Los Angeles Rams; Times reports