Book Description

National Football League commissioner Bert Bell worked and dreamed that one day the NFL would have the same status as major league baseball. With the move of owner Daniel Reeves' Cleveland Rams to Los Angeles in 1946, that dream was set in motion. Reeves took risks and broke barriers that no other NFL owner ever did. He set up a scouting system, not just of big-time colleges, but one that would scout players from small colleges and all Black schools. By the mid-1950s other NFL teams copied the Rams' scouting system. In 1949, Reeves also hired an offensive genius, coach Clark Shaughnessy, to bring in his revamped T-Formation that passed on any down with three receivers or more on every play and made the 1949-1955 Rams the most exciting team in the NFL. Reeves was the first owner to sign a television contract to televise all home games and not lose money, which opened up television to other NFL teams leading to today's multi-million dollar TV contracts. He was the first owner to give the okay to team logos on helmets, with the Ram horns. He set up a free football for kids program. He set up a Rams product merchandise line consisting of T-shirts, drinking glasses, Rams caps, bobble-head dolls and more with the Rams logo. The Rams of Dan Reeves went to the NFL championship game in 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1955, and just missed in 1952. The stage was set for the other NFL teams to follow what the Rams did on and off the field or be left in the dust. Commissioner Bert Bell's dream came true. Thanks to Dan Reeves and his Rams, Bert Bell and others saw the National Football League pull even with baseball as America's number one and most popular sport. Before he died, Dan Reeves was voted into the NFL Hall of Fame.