“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Last Time the L. A. Rams Won…
Manny P. here…
“`The 1951 Championship Game was the National Football League’s 19th finale, played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This was a rematch of the previous season’s contest in Cleveland, with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Conference playing the defending league champion Cleveland Browns of the American Conference.
“`Pop had been a fan since they won the championship in 1945 as the Cleveland Rams. When they moved to Los Angeles, his loyalty was cemented. My dad was thirteen. He spent the rest of his life waiting for their next victory.
“`This was the first NFL championship game to be televised coast-to-coast and it was blacked out by the league in Southern California. The DuMont Network purchased the championship game television rights from the league. The Browns were favored to win this title game on the road by six points.
“`The underdog Rams upset the Browns 24–17 for their second championship before a then-record crowd for the title game of 59,475. Bob Waterfield, Tom Fears and Norm Van Brocklin all played for the Rams. Otto Graham played for Cleveland. The championship banner awarded to the Rams was given to Tom Bergin in gratitude for hosting the post-game dinner. As of 2016, it hangs in Bergin’s pub in Los Angeles, the one banner in private ownership. By the way, the Browns have never been in a Super Bowl game.
“`Until yesterday’s victory in Super Bowl LVI, this was the Rams’ singular NFL championship as a California squad. They won in 1999 as the St. Louis Rams. Over the next seventy years, my dad molded fans out of his brother, sister and his son (me!). Last October, my father and his brother passed away. They both had a front row seat in heaven in order to watch the big game I am quite sure.
“`I dedicate the Ram’s victory to my pop and my uncle… Manuel N. Pacheco and Johnny Parra. (above left with their sister Dolores Parra)
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2022 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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