Fred Gehrke with an original Rams helmet
September 22, 1948: The Los Angeles Rams beat the Detroit Lions, 44-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Rams take the field wearing blue leather helmets with yellow ram horns. Tom Fears has an offensive touchdown, catching a pass from Bob Waterfield; and a "defensive touchdown," returning an interception for a touchdown.
Fred Gehrke was a back, both offensive and defensive, for the Rams. They were the 4th different professional football team he had played for in Los Angeles alone: He had also played for the Pacific Coast Professional Football League's Hollywood Bears in 1942 and Los Angeles Bulldogs in 1943, and the Los Angeles Wildcats of a failed American Football League in 1944.
Having suffered a knee injury at the University of Utah, he was classified 4-F, and was able to play through World War II, including helping the Rams, in their last season in Cleveland before moving to Los Angeles, win the 1945 NFL Championship.
He was also a graphic artist, and contributed to the war effort by designing planes for Northrop Grumman. During the team's 1948 preseason training camp, he presented his horned helmet design to Rams owner Dan Reeves. He liked the idea, and contacted the NFL to see if it was legal. Commissioner Bert Bell told him, "You're the owner. Do what you want." Reeves paid Gehrke a dollar a helmet to paint 75 helmets. Quarterback Waterfield, the team's highest-profile player, loved it, and that was that.
The Rams went 6-5-1 that season, then switched to a plastic helmet that incorporated Gehrke's design, and won the NFL Western Division title the next 3 years, winning the NFL Championship in 1951. By that point, Gehrke was no longer with the team. But their bright yellow jerseys and horned helmets made them the most distinctive team in the League.
It took some time for the rest of the NFL to catch up. In 1954, the Philadelphia Eagles put silver wings on their green helmets, and the Baltimore Colts put a pair of horseshoes on the back of their helmet. The following season, the Colts switched to a single horseshoe on each side.
In 1959, the Washington Redskins had a pair of feathers going up the back of their helmets, replacing it with an arrow on each side in 1964, an "R" monogram on a yellow helmet in 1971, and the more familiar Indian Head on a red helmet in 1972, finally replaced with a "W" for "Washington" when the "Redskins" name was dropped in 2020, eventually for "Commanders" in 2022. In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys debuted with stars on their helmets.
The 1961 season made the difference: The New York Giants adopted the lower-case "ny," the Chicago Bears took on the "wishbone C," the Green Bay Packers began using the "G" monogram, the San Francisco 49ers used the "SF" monogram, the Detroit Lions began using a charging lion, the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals took on the bird-head logo, and the Minnesota Vikings began play with the horned helmets that people incorrectly associate with the medieval Vikings.
In 1962, the Pittsburgh Steelers adopted the "Steelmark" logo, but put it only on the right side of their helmets, just in case it proved unpopular. It proved very popular, but, to this day, they still keep it only on the right side. The Cleveland Browns have never adopted a helmet logo, only briefly using uniform numbers on the side.
Gehrke later became the general manager of the Denver Broncos, building the team that won the 1977 AFC Championship. He died in 2002, at the age of 83.
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September 22, 1948 was a Wednesday. The NFL would not play another Wednesday night regular-season game until 2012. And the rival All-American Football Conference also did not schedule any games for that day.
Basketball and hockey were out of season. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Tommy Byrne went the distance for the win. Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra each went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The New York Giants were swept by the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 11-7 at the Polo Grounds.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Ebbets Field. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-3, but drew a walk.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Braves, 8-2 at Braves Field in Boston. Stan Musial went 5-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Bob Feller went the distance for the win. Ken Keltner went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Ted Williams went 0-for-4. The Indians would beat the Red Sox in a 1-game Playoff for the American League Pennant 12 days later.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.
* And the Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Three walks in the top of the 10th inning, including by Sherry Robertson to force Sammy Meeks home, gave the Senators the win.
Also, Mark Phillips, the British Army officer who was the 1st husband of Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, was born on this day.
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