Football History

December 16, 1945 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium: With temperatures near zero and the field covered with snow, the Cleveland Rams played their last game before moving out to Los Angeles. It happened to be the 1945 NFL Championship game against the Washington Redskins. In preparation for the weather before the game, Cleveland brass had nearly 9000 bales of straw covering the field to protect it from the weather, per an LA Times archived article. With an army of volunteers, the Cleveland faithful removed the straw covered in ice and snow from the frozen turf. Washington had an exciting predicament before the game started as the NFL’s leading passer on the season. Sammy Baugh suffered a nagging rib injury in a prior game, but as a backup at QB, they had Frank Filchock, the passing leader the year earlier. Baugh fumbled the first offensive play for the Redskins and threw an errant pass from his endzone in desperation, which was ruled a safety for committing the foul from behind his goal line. The Rams gave their fans a great memory as they edged out the Washington Redskins, 15-14. What a way for a franchise to leave a city! It almost makes one think, is it better to leave Cleveland as they did, or how Art Modell moved the Browns away to Baltimore when they won a Super Bowl within five seasons of being removed from Cleveland?