Cleveland Rams (1936–45)
| Founded | 1936 |
|---|---|
| Based in | Cleveland, Ohio |
| League |
American Football League (1936) National Football League (1937–45) |
| Team history |
Cleveland Rams (1936–1942) Suspended operations (1943) Cleveland Rams (1944–1945) Los Angeles Rams (1946–1994, 2016–present) St. Louis Rams (1995–2015) |
| Team colors | Red, Black (1936–37) Royal Blue, Gold (1938–45) |
| Home field(s) |
League Park Shaw Stadium Cleveland Stadium |
The professional American football team now known as the Los Angeles Rams was established in Cleveland, and played there from 1936 to 1945. This article chronicles the team's history during their time as the Cleveland Rams. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937–1945, winning the NFL championship in 1945, before moving to Los Angeles in 1946 to become the only NFL champion ever to play the following season in another city. The move of the team to Los Angeles helped to jump-start the reintegration of pro football by African-American players and opened up the West Coast to professional sports. After being based in Los Angeles for 49 years, the Rams franchise moved again after the 1994 NFL season to St. Louis. In 2016, the team moved back to Los Angeles after 21 seasons in St. Louis.
The Rams franchise, founded in 1936 by attorney/businessman Homer Marshman and player-coach Damon "Buzz" Wetzel, was named for the then-powerhouse Fordham Rams and because the name was short and would fit easily into a newspaper headline.
Coached by Wetzel, and featuring future Hall-of-Fame coach Sid Gillman as a receiver, the team finished 5-2-2 in its first season in 1936, good for second place behind the Boston Shamrocks. The team might have hosted an AFL championship game at Cleveland's League Park; however, the Boston team canceled because its unpaid players refused to participate. The Rams then moved from the poorly managed AFL to the National Football League in February 1937. Marshman and the other Rams stockholders paid $10,000 for an NFL franchise, then put up $55,000 to capitalize the new club, and Wetzel became general manager.
Under head coach Hugo Bezdek and with sole star Johnny Drake, the team's first-round draft pick, the Rams struggled in an era of little league parity to a 1-10 record in 1937 under heavy competition from the NFL's "big four": the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and the Washington Redskins. After the team dropped its first three games of 1938, Wetzel was fired, then Bezdek. Art Lewis became coach, and guided the team to four victories in its last eight games and a 4-7 record.
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