Very few rookies quarterbacks have led their team to the NFL championship. But Bob was no mere rookie signal-caller. In addition to passing the Rams to victory, he was a standout defensive back and kicker. A jack of all trades perfect for the team that was soon to be known as the Los Angeles Rams. This is his story.
The Early Years
Bob Waterfield was born in Elmira, New York on July 26, 1920. After his family moved to Los Angeles, he starred at nearby Van Nuys High School garnering the attention of UCLA. After leading the Bruin to a 5-5-1 mark in 1941, Waterfield proved to be a jack of all trades in 1942.
Not only did he lead the conference in passing, but he also averaged 40 yards a punt while setting a school record by playing in 557 of 600 possible minutes for the year. For good measure, by the time his time as a Bruin came to an end in 1944, he had also intercepted 20 passes over the course of his career.
After leading UCLA to its first Rose Bowl, a 9-0 loss to Georgia, Bob Waterfield's future in the game looked bright. But change was in the air. With the world embroiled in war, Waterfield took a break from college to join the 176th Infantry but soon hurt his knee while playing football with his unit.
He returned to Westwood in 1944 and led the football team toa a 4-5-1 record. After graduation, Bob Waterfield was taken in the fifth round of the 1944 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Rams. Little did he know just how much his life would change or how quickly it would boomerang back to his hometown.
A Magical Rookie Season
Change is always in the air whenever a young quarterback gets his first opportunity to start. Bob Waterfield made the most of this unique opportunity in Week 1 of the 1945 NFL season. Sure, he only completed four of 13 passes for 55 yards while coughing up two interceptions, but he accounted for two touchdowns against the Chicago Cardinals to lead his team to a 21-0 victory.
In an era where even the greatest quarterbacks routinely completed less than half of their passes, Bob Waterfield struggled in the early going, completing just 11 of 29 passes over the next two weeks. Still, he was surrounded by talented veterans and had the full support of his coach, Adam Walsh. Also, he kept winning.
After beating the powerful Bears 41-21 by passing for 253 yards and completing 16 of 23 passes, Waterfield started to feel comfortable in the pro game. But his mettle would be tested in a 28-14 loss to Philadelphia the following week. The lone bright spot in that game was that he never lost his composure, completing just under half of his passes for 127 yards and a touchdown.
The Rams never lost again. From then on, the Rams became a cohesive unit that was unrelenting in the rough and tumble ways of the old NFL. Wins over the Giants (21017), Packers (20-7), Cardinals (35-21) Lions (28-21) and the Redskins (20-7) were all won with their precocious rookie, Bob Waterfield, at the helm. At regular season's end, he had completed 52% of his passes for 1,609 yards and a league leading 14 touchdowns against 17 interceptions. It was enough to lead his team past the regular season and into a showdown with the Washington Redskins for the world championship.
With just over 32,000 filling its 80,000 seats, Cleveland Municipal Stadium was practically barren on that cold December afternoon. The Redskins' Sammy Baugh got the scoring started in an odd manner when his passes was deflected off the goal post for a safety. In the second quarter, Washington's Frank Filchock found Steve Bagarus for a 38-yard touchdown to give the Redskins a 7-2 lead.
Bob Waterfield wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through his fingers and connected with Jim Benton for a 37-yard touchdown to close out the half. The Rams led 9-7.
Waterfield began the second half by finding Jim Gillett for a 44-yard touchdown to extend the Rams lead to 15-7. Although Filchock threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Bob Seymour, it was too little too late. The Rams won the NFL championship 15-14.
For the afternoon, Bob Waterfield connected on 14 out of his 27 passes for 192 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions with a 68.7 passer rating. During the offseason, it was announced that Bob Waterfield had been named the NFL MVP. It was the cherry on top of one of the NFL's all-time rookie seasons.
But despite all the harmony that a championship season brings, change was again in the air.
Los Angeles
Just a month after winning the world championship, Rams owner Dan Reeves decided to move the team to Los Angeles. With the AAFC's Browns coming together for their inaugural season in 1946, Reeves knew that his team couldn't compete with Paul Brown, a growing legend in the state of Ohio.
Bob Waterfield adjusted well to his "new" surroundings, completing more than half of his passes for 1,747 yards and again leading the league with 17 touchdown passes. While the Rams didn't make it back to the NFL Championship Game, Waterfield was still named a first-team All-Pro.
Waterfield spent the next two years meandering between "average" and "good", completing less than half of his passes while tossing 18 interceptions in each season yet throwing for more than 1,200 yards. By 1949, the Rams front office decided to spice up the quarterback competition and brought in another Hall of Fame-bound quarterback: Norm Van Brocklin.
Like any great competitor, Bob Waterfield used the added threat to his job as inspiration to play better than ever. Having thrown for just 1,254 yards the year before, he threw for a career-best 2,168 yards while earning the first of three straight Pro Bowl invitations in 1949. Unfortunately, he ended the year by losing 14-0 to the Eagles in the NFL championship.
He was sizzling in 1950, leading the league by completing 57.3% of his passes for 1,540 yards. The Rams made it back to the NFL Championship Game that year where they ironically faced off against the very team that forced them to move all the way to the Golden State just four years earlier: the Cleveland Browns.
Waterfield started the game well, lobbing an 82-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Davis to put Los Angeles on the board first in the first quarter. It was his only touchdown of the day as the two teams traded body blows throughout the afternoon. In the end, Bob Waterfield's 312 passing yards did little to stifle the Browns hopes but his four interceptions virtually sealed his teammate's fates in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Rams lost 30-28.
Later Career and Life
Having just lost in the championship game to one of the newest members of the NFL, the Rams were both embarrassed and determined to win it all before their quarterback "controversy" lost its quotation marks and bubbled to the surface, suffocating any chances that they might have to win it all. While they managed to lose four games in 1951, the Rams were a cohesive team in every sense of the word.
There was hardly a controversy as Bob Waterfield started 10 of the team's 12 regular season games, passing for 1,566 yards and 13 touchdowns against just 10 interceptions. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Norm Van Brocklin started twice while passing for 1,725 yards and 13 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions. Amazingly, both quarterbacks made the Pro Bowl that year.
All year long, it seemed that they and the Rams were on a collision course and at season's end, the pundits were proved correct. At the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the Rams' stars shined brighter than their contemporaries. While Waterfield didn't account for any touchdowns, his kicked prowess was on full display, making three PAT's and a 17-yarder to help his team win 24-17.
After retiring from as a player in 1952, the Rams swiftly retired his jersey number (7) and Bob Waterfield stuck around the game for the rest of his life. He was a regular at Rams practices for years as a kicking coach, a quarterbacks coach and even as a head coach from 1960-1962.
Despite his wide array of skills as a player, he was never much of a head coach, finishing wit ha 9-24-1 record in three years and finishing at the bottom of the NFL West Division each time. However, he did prove to be a valuable position coach, tutoring a young Bill Wade until he became one of the league's better quarterbacks. Years later, Wade was a key component to the Chicago Bears winning it all in 1963.
While he was busy coaching and scouting for the Rams, Bob Waterfield found the time to go into business with his wife, Jane Russell. Having married the up-and-coming actress while still in college back in 1943, Waterfield watched as she rose to prominence as one of Hollywood's premier starlets of that era. With his playing days behind him, Waterfield and Russell teamed up to produce 1956's Run for the Sun and the King and Four Queens.
Bob Waterfield's accomplishments on the gridiron were officially recognized when he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965, its third class. He died from respiratory failure on March 25, 1983, not even a month and a half before Norm Van Brocklin perished.
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