Eagles and Conditions Rained on Rams’ Parade

To no one’s surprise, it rained in Los Angeles 50 years ago today. After all, the weatherman said it would rain.

The members of the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles pleaded with Commissioner Bert Bell to postpone the NFL championship game game until Christmas Day. Even the owners--the Rams’ Dan Reeves and the Eagles’ Jim Clark--argued for a postponement.

It seemed possible. Television commitments weren’t yet a major factor in the NFL. Only two years before, the Chicago Bears’ TV revenue amounted to $900 per game.

Nothing doing, Bell ruled. Play, rain or shine.

It didn’t merely rain, it poured. Philadelphia won on the flooded Coliseum turf, 14-0, with fullback Steve Van Buren gaining a record 196 yards in 31 carries.

As the Eagles’ Vic Lindskog said afterward: “It seemed like all I heard all afternoon was the PA announcer saying: ‘Van Buren carries--gain of five.’ ”

It rained hard for the first three quarters and the game ended under the lights.

The players sought a postponement because in that era their championship shares came directly from the live gate. The advance ticket sale was 27,980, but only 22,245 showed up.

As it turned out, the Eagles’ shares for winning the championship came to $1,000. The Rams’ losing shares were $780.

Lindskog and his teammates agreed the wet field favored the Eagles.

“We run the ball 70% of the time and the Rams throw about 60% of the time,” he said. “We had to make less adjustments than they did.”

Also on this date: In 1903, American League owners awarded league president Ban Johnson a $5,000 bonus and a salary increase of $2,500, to $10,000.