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This was a book published last year. I finished reading it recently. There are a couple other books out there on the 1950s Rams, but I think this is the best one. Packed with information and little known stories about the Rams back then that you can't find anywhere on the Internet. They picked the Rams to write about because they consider the 1950s Rams to be among the greatest teams ever assembled.
There are way too many anecdotes to include in this thread but I'll just list some that I found interesting.
1951 Rams had an all rookie offensive line. That's the only time in NFL history a team had that and won a championship. And they allowed the fewest sacks in the league while finishing first in both yards per pass attempt and rush attempt.
This book highlights Eddie Kotal's career, who was a Hall of Fame semifinalist last year. He was the first full time scout in the NFL, at a time when no other NFL team had one. So the Rams were pioneers in scouting college talent as well. They say this is how the Rams were able to stockpile so much talent. In 1951, the league had a 33 man roster, and 18 of the Rams 33 players would be selected to at least one Pro Bowl in their careers. Eddie Kotal is credited with finding Andy Robustelli, Tank Younger, Deacon Dan Towler, Larry Brink, Eddie Meador, Deacon Jones, Big Daddy Lipscomb, among many others. The Rams would scout small colleges and black colleges at a time when no other NFL team was willing to.
All that talent is a big reason why they could make some lopsided trades. 11 players for Les Richter in 1954 and nine players for Ollie Matson in 1959.
Their advance scouting is also why they landed Norm Van Brocklin. They knew he would graduate college a year early and took him in 1949. No other team knew he was available to draft that year.
The Rams were so renowned for their scouting that when the Dodgers moved to LA they asked the Rams owner, Dan Reeves, for advice on how they could set up scouting like that for their baseball team.
It is also emphasized the Rams were the ones to reintegrate black players into the NFL. Tank Younger was the first black college athlete to sign with an NFL team.
When the Rams top running backs are mentioned, Deacon Dan Towler doesn't seem to come up much. But it seems like he should be way up the list too. His career didn't last that long and his numbers might look modest. But it is clear he was a superstar in the Bull Elephant backfield.
About half this book is biographies on all the members of the 1951 Rams, including the coaching staff, and their lives both with the Rams and after they left football. I really liked that. Stood out to me that 12 players ended up coaching for either the Rams or other teams in the NFL. Four became head coaches. Others were assistant coaches for 1972-73 Dolphins, John Madden's Raiders and Vince Lombardi's Packers. Norb Hecker was a part of the most championship teams, eight, as a player, assistant coach and front office executive. He won with the 1951 Rams, three with Lombardi's Packers and then four more with Bill Walsh's 49ers.
All kinds of interesting facts like this. The Pro Football Researchers Association is really among the best when it comes to preserving NFL history, especially in the game's first few decades.
