Then there’s the School the Ram’s were named after.

Oct. 21

Article Launched: 07/16/2007 10:49:19 PM PDT

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Time is a silent enemy that leaves a swath of pathos in its infinite path. It can’t be bought off by money, fame and power. It is indomitable in its impact, omnipresent in its reach, indiscriminate in its destruction.

Time wilts flowers, razes buildings, ravages athletic skills, defaces beauty, unravels romantic attachments, exterminates species, dismantles political dynasties, tramples dignity, destroys organs, brings down despots and causes frightening sorrow in its relentless march of annihilation.

Time is unflinching, unbowed and unbiased in its inexorable advance on everything in this world, and it oftentimes affects sad tableaus like the one at the All-Star game last week when 76-year-old Willie Mays trudged feebly on the ball diamond where he once routinely performed with the elegance and grace of a distinguished ballet dancer.

Time left me in a state of deep melancholy late Saturday afternoon when I attended what was billed as a 70th Ram anniversary reunion at the peristyle end of the Coliseum for an NFL franchise that began in Cleveland in 1937, came to L.A. in 1946, moved to Anaheim in 1980 and departed for St. Louis in 1995.

I try not to live in the past because I realize it’s an

irretrievable relic, and I realize that the years conspire to create a litany of changes that causes a maddening amalgam of glee, anguish, satisfaction, disappointment, serenity and suffering.

I witnessed all such phenomena at the little get-together that brought back so many poignant remembrances of those days when my job was to chronicle the goings-on of the Rams for the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner throughout the 1970s.

I saw Chuck Knox being pushed around in a wheelchair by his wife Shirley, and I remember a fiery Knox on the field just below on the Ram sidelines berating officials and cajoling his troops to five straight NFC Western Division titles.

“I can walk, but it’s tough standing because I have a pretty bad back,” said Knox.

“Chuck hates this, but it’s best for him,” said Shirley Knox.

I saw Merlin Olsen ambling around on his two artificial knees, and he spoke emotionally how it was those 15 seasons playing for the Rams as a defensive tackle alongside Deacon Jones, Roosevelt Grier, the late Lamar Lundy – the original Fearsome Foursome – and later alongside Larry Brooks, Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer.

“I’ll never forget how you got mad at me one season, and never mentioned my name in one of your stories,” he said to me, and I vehemently denied such a snub.

But Merlin Olsen kept shaking his head.

“Really, an entire season went by without my name appearing in one of your stories,” said Olsen, who would become even more famous after football for his television work as an actor (he was a regular on “Little House on the Prairie” and “Father Murphy”) and an NBC analyst with Dick Enberg on NFL games.

Olsen, 66, now lives in Park City, Utah in semi-retirement, giving occasional speeches and attending occasional functions like the one Saturday.

I saw Rosey Grier, and he was walking with the aid of a cane, as were several other of the old football players.

I saw the gentleman, Roger Brown, who replaced Grier in 1967 after Grier suffered a torn Achilles tendon that ended his career.

Brown in those days was a hulking 310 pounder, but now the 6-5 Brown looks to be no more than 230.

“The doctor gave me two choices – either give up eating or give up walking,” he said. “So I gave up eating.”

I saw still another defensive lineman of great renown who also looked about half his former size, and Deacon Jones now weighs a threadbare 220.

“I played at about 280,” said the 68-year-old Jones. “Why did I lose the weight? Simple. The ol’ doc told me heavy people don’t live long. I wanna live. So off came the weight.”

I saw John Shaw, now president of the Rams who orchestrated the team’s move to St. Louis after the 1994 season.

“Does it ever bother you thinking about all the pain you caused Ram fans in Southern California?” I said.

“Let’s don’t get into that now,” he replied.

I saw Steve Rosenbloom, who was pegged by his late father, Carroll Rosenbloom, to run the Rams after his death but who wound up being kicked out by the person who inherited the team, Georgia Rosenbloom, who was Carroll’s wife and Steve’s stepmother.

“We’d still be in Southern California had I been in charge,” said Rosenbloom, whose hair is now totally gray.

I saw old Ram team doctors and flight attendants and secretaries, and one giddily reminded me how she and I spent an evening together partying it up around Long Beach some 30 years ago. Sadly, I didn’t even recognize her and had no recollection of what she was talking about albeit I’m sure it occurred because so much of what happened in those long ago nights have been lost to me in the mist of the years.

I saw Dennis Harrah and his wife Teresa, and both are fitness devotees who look terrific and are living joyfully these days in Temecula where they have raised two sons.

I saw Fred Dryer and Jack Youngblood, and the two old defensive ends have remained trim and well-preserved.

I saw Wendell Tyler, and uttered fee-fi-foe-fumble to him, and the one-time Rams and San Francisco 49er running back star who was prone to fumble smiled affably.

“That was a nickname you gave me that I didn’t appreciate,” he said. “But maybe I deserved it.”

I saw Jack Teele, and the old Poly High-Long Beach State graduate/Press-Telegram sportswriter/Ram PR director/Ram general manager/Seal Beach Leisure World resident probably knew more people present than anyone else because of his lengthy affiliation with the team.

I saw the old Rams radio broadcaster Dick Enberg, and he introduced various players and local politicians, who droned on with their insufferable banalties about what the Rams meant to L.A. even though these same politicians haven’t done anything significant to bring the NFL back to this community.

I saw 78-year-old Ollie Matson seated in a wheelchair surrounded by well-wishers, and I remember when the Rams once traded 10 players to the Chicago Cardinals to get him in 1958 and how he was at the time the fastest running back in the NFL.

And, of course, I saw Isiah Robertson, who once chased me across Blair Field with evil intentions, and he immediately considered me with a feigned scowl that dissolved into a broad smile, as we warmly embraced and spoke briefly about our past differences as well as nocturnal adventures (Robertson was actually a pal of mine before our unfortunate falling out).

He had a leather briefcase, and looked like a schmoozing salesman as he made the rounds talking to old teammates like Bill Bain and Lawrence McCutcheon and Pat Haden and Bill Simpson and Tom Mack and so many others.

The group later gathered on the Coliseum field for dinner, but I departed, no longer able to be a spectator at a glad event, alas, shrouded in a veil of sadness caused by the passage of time.

Doug Krikorian can be reached at doug.krikorian@presstelegram.com

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by zn.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by zn.

Your take on this is the same as mine. I could see the NFL theme park coming and of course the value of the Rams will be off the charts. I see a whole new incredible era of Rams football on the horizon. Man, I can hardly wait.

I should clarify my point of view. By “Theme Park” I’m thinking a strong NFL identity but the venue will be as noted before. Shops, restaurants, hotel, NFL offices, NFL television studio..I could see ESPN, FOX, NBC & CBS coming from there on game day as well. There’s a large park planned and the tail gate thing could be state of the art too.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Crazylegs.

Now What?

I like the Tyree catch as the best!

Me…I’m breathing a deep sigh of relief. With what we’ve had to deal with at that position and from what he looked like in preseason vs. now, I think we are very fortunate indeed! I think he gets better too!

IMO…… What Zooey wrote. That’s what I would do & the e-mail starts a written record vs. the “he said” or I never said that” type of oral discourse.

Wish we had this guy.

“And now……Introducing our own Los Angeles Rams” I will be in the stands! Nothing like seeing a real Rams vs. Niners rivalry game again.