According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Los Angeles Rams played their inaugural regular season games as “The Los Angeles Rams” on this date, Sept. 29, 1946.
Their matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles was a tough 25-14 loss at the LA Coliseum, marking the first defeat in the franchise’s history, as it is known today.
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Check out the short video commemorating the occasion that was put together by the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
#OTD in 1946, @RamsNFL played their first regular-season game as the LA Rams, against @Eagles at the LA Coliseum.
The game also was the start of the NFL careers of Woody Strode & Kenny Washington, two of the “Forgotten Four,” who were responsible for reintegrating pro football. pic.twitter.com/0adbSdcM9L
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) September 29, 2022
This game’s historical significance cannot be understated. As mentioned in the clip posted to Twitter, two pioneers of modern football were included in the starting lineup for Los Angeles. Woody Strode and Kenny Washington were key figures in the re-integration of professional football, which had been racially segregated from 1933 until the 1946 season.
Both players were born in Los Angeles, California, and attended UCLA where they were teammates in a defensive secondary that also featured MLB trailblazer Jackie Robinson. The unit came to be known as the “Gold Dust Gang,” and helped the Bruins to a Rose Bowl tie with the USC Trojans in 1940. Washington was an All-American selection in 1939, and his number 13 jersey is retired by UCLA’s football program.
Strode had his own share of success in his football career, eventually playing for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, winning a Gray Cup championship, which is equivalent to a Super Bowl.
Strode would continue playing professional football through the 1949 season, while Washington retired a year earlier in 1948. Their legacies live on, and the impact of their storied careers continue to influence the shape of the game of football.
Without their help, the game wouldn’t be what it is today. It was their determination and character that opened the door for countless athletes to make the jump to the NFL, and without the foundation they laid back in the 1940’s, the league, let alone the Rams, may not exist as they do today.
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