The 1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Tripleheader

1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Football Program (Personal collection)

We're approaching Week 8 of the CFL's 21-week season, college football teams will soon start camp, and the first NFL preseason game arrives on August 1. Nowadays, CFL teams play only CFL teams, colleges play other colleges, and NFL teams play one another, but that was not always the case. Pro teams occasionally crossed the border and periodically faced amateur teams, particularly those representing the U.S. military.

Previous stories on games involving teams from different levels include:

• The 1920 Canton Bulldogs versus the Washington Glee Club

• 1938 Chicago Bears vs. Negro All-Stars

• Fort Ord's 1954 games with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers

• NFL and Canadian exhibition games in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s

Each story involves matchups that seem bizarre today despite no one batting an eye at the time. Newspaper accounts then acknowledged the talent mismatches while covering the games matter-of-factly, seldom mentioning the oddity of the matchups.

The newest example of such a game involves the 1951 Los Angeles Rams. They lost in the 1950 NFL Championship game and won the 1951 NFL Championship at the season's end, so they were a good ball club. Their roster included the likes of Bob Waterfield, Tom Fears, Elroy Hirsch, Norm Van Brocklin, Tank Younger, Glenn Davis, and a rookie, Andy Robustelli. Despite having an all-star roster, their first exhibition game played for the benefit of the Naval Relief Society before 20,000 fans in San Diego's Balboa Stadium came on August 3, 1951. Nevertheless, the Rams had to replace several offensive linemen in 1951, so there was trepidation leading up to the game.

(Manning, Jack, 'Rams Hope This Suits Him To A T, Daily News (Los Angeles), August 3, 1951.)