This Rookie Overcame Conventional Wisdom

Then as now, an unwritten law of football had it that a rookie quarterback can’t take a team to an NFL championship.

In 1945, of course, word never reached Bob Waterfield.

Fifty-four years ago today, the big, rangy kid from Van Nuys and UCLA showed everyone how good he really was. On an 8-below-zero day at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, before 32,178, Waterfield led his Cleveland Rams to the NFL title with a 15-14 win over the Washington Redskins.

And he did it with a flourish. Waterfield, 25, passed for both Ram touchdowns and three of his punts went out of bounds on Washington’s four-, eight- and 16-yard line, the third with 30 seconds to play.

It was a game remembered not only for the weather--the coldest game in championship history to that point--but for a football that hit a goal post instead of a player.

In the first quarter, Washington’s Sammy Baugh made an end zone pitch, but the ball hit the goal post for an automatic safety. That play was the difference.

It was a record gate, despite the weather. The advance sale of more than $150,000 was a new record.

Afterward, Ram owner Dan Reeves said that before the game he had made Waterfield “the highest paid football player in the world,” awarding him a $20,000 salary.

The biggest winners were the football fans of Los Angeles. Reeves moved the franchise to the Coliseum the next year.

Waterfield played seven more seasons, sharing much of the time at quarterback with Norm Van Brocklin. He retired in 1952, later coached the Rams and died at 62 in 1983.

Also on this date: In 1973, Buffalo’s O.J. Simpson gained 200 yards against the New York Jets to become the first to exceed 2,000 yards rushing in one season. . . . In 1954, 23-year-old Willie Mays won the National League’s most-valuable-player award. . . . In 1967, Philadelphia’s Wilt Chamberlain scored 68 points--41 in the second half--and grabbed 34 rebounds in a 143-123 win over the Chicago Bulls.