St. Louis Rams

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St Louis Rams

Year founded: 1936
Helmet Logo
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Team colors	New Century Gold, Millennium Blue, and White
Head Coach	Scott Linehan
Owner	Georgia Frontiere and E. Stanley Kroenke
General manager	Charlie Armey
League/Conference affiliations
National Football League (1937–present) Western Division (1937-1949) National Conference (1950-1952) Western Conference (1953-1969) Coastal Division (1967-1969) National Football Conference (1970-present) NFC West (1970-present)
Team history
Cleveland Rams (1936-1945) Los Angeles Rams (1946-1994) St Louis Rams (1995–present)
Championships
League Championships (3) NFL Championships (2) 1945, 1951 Super Bowl Championships (1) 1999 (XXXIV)
Conference Championships (6) NFL National: 1950, 1951 NFL Western: 1955 NFC: 1979, 1999, 2001
Division Championships (15) NFL West: 1945, 1949 NFL Coastal: 1967, 1969 NFC West: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1999, 2001, 2003
Home fields
In Cleveland Cleveland Municipal Stadium (1937, 1939-1941, 1945) League Park (1937, 1942, 1944-1945) Shaw Stadium (1938) In Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1946-1979) Anaheim Stadium (1980-1994) In St. Louis Busch Memorial Stadium (First half of 1995 season) Edward Jones Dome (Second half of the 1995 season-present) a.k.a. Trans World Dome (1995-2000) a.k.a. Dome at America's Center (2001)

The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team has won two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl.

The Rams began playing in 1937 in Cleveland, Ohio as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the 1936-37 American Football League. Although the NFL granted membership to the same owner, this new NFL franchise technically became a separate entity since only four of the players (William "Bud" Cooper, Harry "The Horse" Mattos, Stan Pincura, Mike Sebastian) and none of the team's personnel joined the new NFL team.<ref>Braunwart, Bob. ALL THOSE A.F.L.'S: N.F.L. COMPETITORS, 1935-41. Professional Football Researchers Association. Retrieved on 2006-11-13. “In 1937 the N.F.L. admitted the Cleveland Rams. Four of the players (according to Treat) were the same.” </ref>

The team then became known as the Los Angeles Rams after the club moved to Los Angeles, California in 1946. The Rams then played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California in 1980, keeping the Los Angeles name. The club relocated to St. Louis in 1995.<ref>St. Louis Rams History: Chronology. Official Website of the St. Louis Rams. Retrieved 13 September 2006</ref>

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] Cleveland Rams (1936-1945)

The Cleveland Rams were founded by attorney Homer Marshman in 1936. They were part of the newly formed American Football League. The following year they joined the National Football League and were placed in the Western division to replace the St. Louis Gunners, who disbanded after the 1934 season.^{[citation needed]} From the beginning, they were a team marked by frequent moves playing in three stadiums over several losing seasons. The franchise suspended operations and sat out the 1943 season because of a shortage of players during World War II and resumed playing in 1944.<ref>St. Louis Rams History: Chronology. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.</ref> The team finally achieved success in 1945, which proved to be their last season in Ohio, achieving a 9-1 record and winning their first NFL Championship, a 15-14 home field victory over the Washington Redskins on December 16.<ref>NFL History, 1945. Official Site of the NFL. Retrieved 13 September 2006</ref>

[edit] Los Angeles Rams (1946-1994)

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In 1980, owner Carol Rosenbloom moved the team to Anaheim from LA. One of the main reasons being that the coliseum did not have box seats. Rosenbloom was petitioned by Orange County Supervisor, Ralph Clark. Clark got California Angels owner, Gene Autry to Ok the remodel of Anaheim Stadium to accommodate the Rams. Ralph Clark also was the founder of the Los Angeles Rams Booster Club.

[edit] St Louis Rams (1995-present)

For details about the current season, see 2006 St. Louis Rams season.

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Logo and uniforms

The Rams became the first professional American football team to have a logo on their helmets. Ever since halfback Fred Gehrke painted ram horns on the team's helmets in 1948, the logo has been the club's trademark.

When the team debuted in 1937, the Rams' colors were red and black, featuring red helmets and black uniforms with red shoulders and sleeves. One year later they would switch their team colors to yellow and blue, with yellow helmets, white pants and blue uniforms. The Rams switched to yellow uniforms in the mid 1940s. When Gehrke introduced the horns, they were painted yellow on blue helmets. During the late 1950s, the team wore blue jerseys again.

In 1965, the colors were changed to blue and white. The helmets became blue with white rams horns, the uniform design was changed to white pants and either blue or white jerseys. When George Allen was named head coach in 1966, he had the Rams wear their white jerseys at home, a tradition that continued through the 1971 season under Tommy Prothro. Prothro switched the Rams to the blue jerseys at home in 1972, the final season of the blue and white combination.

The colors reverted to yellow and blue in 1973. The new uniform design consisted of yellow pants and curling rams horns on the sleeves – yellow horns on the blue jerseys and blue horns on the white jerseys. The white jerseys had yellow sleeves.

The team's colors where changed from yellow and blue to New Century Gold (gold) and Millenium (navy) blue in 2000 following the Super Bowl win. A new logo of a ram head was added to the sleeves and gold stripes were added to the sides of the jerseys. The new gold pants no longer featured any stripes. The helmet design essentially remains the same as it was in 1948, except for updates to the coloring, navy blue field with gold horns.

In 2003, the Rams wore blue pants with their white jerseys for a pair of early-season games, but after losses to the New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks, the Rams reverted to gold pants with their white jerseys. In 2005, the Rams wore an all-blue combination for games against the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. In November 2006, the Rams introduced white pants with a gold stripe in a game at the Carolina Panthers to feature an all-white combination.

Los Angeles Rams helmet logo used from 1964-1972; note the white and blue

Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams helmet logo used from 1973-1999; note the yellow and blue

St. Louis Rams helmet logo used from 2000-present; note the gold and navy blue

Cleveland Rams Logo.

Los Angeles Rams Logo.

St. Louis Rams script logo used from 1995-1999; note the representation of St. Louis' Gateway Arch.

[edit] Players

See also: List of St. Louis Rams players

[edit] Current players

[edit] Pro Football Hall of Famers

These Rams, and St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Famers Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Larry Wilson, are honored in the Ring of Honor at the Edward Jones Dome. Only Slater, however, played for the Rams in St. Louis, and then only for the inaugural 1995 season.

Ollie Matson (33), Andy Robustelli (81), Dick "Night Train" Lane (also 81), coach Dutch Clark, general manager Tex Schramm, GM and later NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, and coach Sid Gillman are also members of the Hall of Fame, but were elected on the basis of their performances with other teams or (in the case of Rozelle) NFL administration. Dick Vermeil has become the first and still only St. Louis Rams figure inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Cardinals inducted into it include Dierdorf, Smith, Wilson, Conrad Dobler, Jim Hart and coach Jim Hanifan.

[edit] Retired numbers

• 7 Bob Waterfield
• 29 Eric Dickerson
• 74 Merlin Olsen
• 78 Jackie Slater
• 85 Jack Youngblood

[edit] Staff

[edit] Head coaches

[edit] Current Staff

• Head Coach - Scott Linehan
• Offensive Coordinator - Greg Olson
• Defensive Coordinator - Jim Haslett
• Special Teams Coach - Bob Ligashesky
• Quarterbacks Coach - Doug Nussmeier
• Running Backs Coach - Wayne Moses
• Wide Receivers Coach - Henry Ellard
• Tight Ends Coach - Judd Garrett
• Offensive Line Coach - Paul Boudreau
• Offensive Assistant - Jeff Horton
• Defensive Line Coach - Brian Baker
• Linebackers Coach - Rick Venturi
• Defensive Backs Coach - Willie Robinson
• Defensive Assistant - Todd Downing
• Strength and Conditioning - Dana LeDuc

[edit] See also

• The Greatest Show on Turf
• NFL in Los Angeles

[edit] External links

• St. Louis Rams official web site
• Los Angeles Rams
• Pro Football Reference Rams index
• the Georgia Frontiere story
• Planet Rams
• Rams Re-Locate
• the "Greatest Show on Turf" ends
• Sports E-Cyclopedia.com
• RamsFootball.com

[edit] Notes and references

de:St. Louis Rams fr:Rams de Saint-Louis it:Saint Louis Rams hu:St. Louis Rams ja:セントルイス・ラムズ pt:St. Louis Rams fi:St. Louis Rams sv:St. Louis Rams