Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers (Hong Kong late 60’s)
When Tudor began making NFL electric football games, the Rams and 49ers were one of first pairings sold. Although they weren’t part of the original group of NFL games Tudor released in 1967, the Rams-49ers were paired together the very next year. The game they appeared on was the 1968 Montgomery Ward-exclusive No. 619 model.
The 1968 Ward Christmas Book.
When the real-life Rams and 49ers play this week in San Francisco it will the 126th meeting between the two teams. It’s a rivalry that stretches all the way back to 1950 when 49ers were absorbed into the NFL from the All-America Football Conference.
From there, the rivalry between the Rams and 49ers developed into one of the most intense of all of pro football, stoked by the circumstance that they were the only two pro football teams west of the Mississippi River until 1960. With both teams still in the NFC West the rivalry is definitely alive, although it doesn’t have quite the same edge that it had before the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995.
49ers QB Y.A. Tittle drops back against the Rams in 1955. Photo by Larry Sharkey; LA Times/Look Magazine.
Even in 2012 some of us still have to stop and think when in conversation about the NFL. When hearing “St Louis,” my brain automatically finds the “Cardinals” neuron. It also happens when working backwards. If someone says “Rams,” my well-trained “Los Angeles” neuron fires before any other city gets a chance to be roused.
Rams’ QB Roman Gabriel
And it will probably always be that way. For those of us of a certain vintage, the Rams-49ers will always be a late afternoon television game bathed in California sunshine, helping to ward off the chill of a day that, at least on the home front, has already gone dark and cold. The Rams will always wear white (with white pants and horns) and the QB’s will always be numbered “18” and “12.”
That game may never come on television again, but I’ll always have my Hong Kong Rams and 49ers to keep that memory alive. And I know there are thousands of sets of Hong Kong Rams and 49ers out there that have been numbered just as carefully as mine.
Earl
SF QB John Brodie (no. 12) and the Rams’ Deacon Jones
Great photos! I still have hope that the Rams will be the team that the NFL places back in Los Angeles. How great was it to see those great Rams teams playing in the Coliseum? And there always was a celebrity buzz (excuse the pun) around the team because you never knew what Hollywood star would show up on the sidelines or in the stands. The Rams belong in L.A.!!