January 28, 1971: The Day I became a Redskins Fan

Authors Note - With NFL camps opening for the 2018 season, I look back at the day I adopted the Washington Redskins as my team.

With apologies to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, January 28, 1971 is a day that will live in infamy, at least for me. First some background. I became a pro football fan at the beginning of the 1966 season. The Super Bowl, as we know it today, hadn’t yet been invented. It was called the AFC-NFC Championship, and the inaugural game was played in my hometown at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The game didn’t sell out, and since my father wasn’t a big football fan, I failed to convince him that the event was important enough to attend (being 10 years-old I had no other means to get downtown). The game was blacked out locally so I spent that Sunday afternoon with a transistor radio pressed against my ear. By today’s standards, it’s hard to image the game not selling out and being blacked out anywhere in the world. Of course, the tickets were horribly expensive, priced at the unheard of $15.00 per seat. But those were simpler times, and I’m getting off the subject.  Growing up in LA, I became a devotee of the Rams. I went to my first game during that 1966 season, a 55 – 14 thrashing of the hapless New York Giants. From that point on I was hooked on the NFL. Glued to the TV every Sunday morning and afternoon during the season. My favorite Rams were two of their starting linebackers, Maxie Baughan and Jack Pardee, and my favorite non-Rams were quarterbacks Bart Starr and Sonny Jurgensen. In 1969 Richie Petitbon was traded from the Chicago Bears to the Rams and he instantly was added to the list of my favorite players.

 I went to several Rams games a year, including some epic classics I've had the pleasure to relive on NFL Films. In those days, Montgomery Wards had a promotion during Football season - a Ram would appear at each store in LA on Monday evenings, so I'd drag my parents regardless of who was at the Valley location. I’d be among a handful of kids staring at the likes of Pat Studstill, Doug Woodleif, Don Chuy, and other lesser known players. Why wasn’t Roman Gabriel or Merlin Olsen at any of these appearances? At age 13 I took a bus journey up Ventura Boulevard, walked into the showroom of Gabriel/Olsen Porsche-Audi (yes, that Gabriel and Olsen) and expected them to actually be there. A salesman informed me that Roman and Merlin, while never actually at the dealership, did have a “small investment” in the business. And of course, I thought George Allen was a football god! George lived in Palos Verdes, in the same neighborhood as my closest cousin, so when I'd visit we'd spend a ridiculous amount of time stalking his front yard on bicycles hoping to see and talk to him. We never did, however, Ray Prohaska, a Rams assistant coach at the time, lived two houses down from my cousin and he was a super nice guy.

 Fast forward to January 28, 1971. That morning I was still a Rams fan, but hugely disappointed that George Allen had recently been fired. Although Allen’s five season winning percentage was over .700 (49-17-4), it was not good enough for Dan Reeves, who owned the team at the time. The Rams finished a game behind the 49ers that season and didn't make the playoffs. Needless to say, Allen’s dismissal was extremely unpopular with the fans and the press. Allen, of course, is then hired by the Redskins to be Coach and General Manager. Washington and Los Angeles fans will remember that on that fateful day, George Allen makes his first major trade and, in a word, it’s BIG. He sends Marlin McKeever back to the Rams with Washington's # 1 and # 3 pick in '71, plus # 3 - # 7 in '72 (7 total picks) for Maxie Baughan, Jack Pardee, Myron Pottios, Diron Talbert, John Wilbur, Jeff Jordan, and LA's #5 pick in '71.

That late afternoon as I tuned in to watch the local news, the anchor’s pre-commercial teaser said something about a blockbuster Ram trade. My eyes and ears instantly perked up. When the sports segment came on I listened in amazement that the Rams had reacquired Marlin McKeever and a slew of draft picks from the Washington Redskins. I’m thinking, “Great. I was a McKeever fan during his first stint with the Rams, and a bunch of draft picks would be interesting. Who’d we give up?” When I heard the list of the afore-mentioned players, I let out a loud expletive that got my mother’s attention in the kitchen. Thankfully, she let my juvenile verbal transgression slip. Let’s not forget, this was crushing news.

This trade was the beginning of the end of my devotion to the Rams, and the beginning of the beginning of my new favorite expression, “Hail to the Redskins.” Allen acquired Richie Petitbon in a separate deal that off-season. Within the next few months he brought Tommy Mason and George Burman to the Skins. So, in one off-season, my three favorite Rams leave. All-in-All the Redskins had 9 ex-Rams on their ‘71 pre-season roster. After the initial shock of the trade wore down, my most pressing concern was whether or not Chris Hanburger would be gracious enough to give up his number 55 to Baughan. Baughan had worn 55 in College at Georgia Tech, with the Philadelphia Eagles, and with the Rams. I have no way of knowing whether that conversation took place, but Baughan took number 50 with the Redskins. This was, of course, a major concern for my then-14-year old mind.

The day following the trade, I walked around my junior high school in a funk. My friends who cared about the Rams were disappointed, but nowhere near to the degree as me. I think the word “devastation” would cover it. I kept repeating to anyone who’d listen, “I can’t believe they traded their entire starting linebacking corp.” To my amazement, one of the most despised teacher in the school commiserated with me, as he was a Rams fan and had recognized the greatness that was the triumvirate of Baughan, Pardee, and Pottios.

 The press in both Washington and LA referred to the group of guys going to the Skins as the "Over-the-Hill Gang" and the “Ramskins.”  Talbert, Wilbur, Burman and Jordan were relatively young, but Baughan, Pardee, Pottios, Petitbon, and Mason all had over 10 years each in the league and were well into their 30s. Looking back today, it amazes me that Allen actually gave up the Redskins 1974 #1 draft choice for an aging Richie Petitbon.

 Maxie Baughan had announced his retirement in early January, but a week later rescinded it. Baughan never suited up for the Skins in ‘71, retiring during training camp from knee problems. Allen purportedly talked Pardee out of retirement prior to making the trade, as he no doubt also did for Baughan. Maxie did attempt a comeback with the Redskins for the 1974 season, however he appeared in only two games, and then quietly retired.

I never did warm up to the Tommy Prothro-led Rams, but still followed them out of convenience. I ceremoniously purchased a Washington pennant at a Rams-Packers game I attended in ‘71. I'll not forget the look on my Dad's face when he took the dollar out of his pocket at the souvenir stand as I said, "Redskins pennant, please." Had to explain that one on the way home in great detail. Forty-seven years later, that Redskins pennant -  representing the ’70-’71 “R” helmet logo - worn and tattered, is still in my possession.

As hard as I tried, I was never able to get to D.C. during football season to see a Skins game at RFK. I do, however, have a commemorative ticket from the last game played, which is more of a concocted souvenir than an actual ticket stub (paid $5.00 for it on EBay). My personal shrine to the Redskins include mini-helmet replicas of the ’59-‘64, ’65-’69, ’70-’71, and current configurations. The ’65-’69 model is autographed by Sonny. And I own two Redskin jerseys, paying homage to my favorite Redskin, JURGENSEN 9, and honoring my favorite “Ramskin,” BAUGHAN 50. I’m certain I’m the only person it the world, shy of Maxie himself, who owns a Baughan Redskins jersey. He only played in two games as a Skin, but to this day I believe that if he had been on the field during Super Bowl VII, the Skins would have beaten Miami. He could’ve made the difference, right?

I’ve been a die-hard Redskins fan now for 47 seasons. I’ve witnessing five Super Bowl teams. Although it’s difficult being a fan outside the home region of the country, I wear the burgundy and gold proud. And I finally made my maiden voyage to Fed Ex Field. It felt wonderfully strange rooting for the Skins at home as opposed to on the road, where I’ve heard every “hog” reference in the book. So, if a Redskins fan claims to have seen the strangest thing on the concourse at Fed Ex Field – a guy in a Maxie Baughan Redskins jersey – you’ll know it was me.

Hail to the Redskins? Well, yes, but to be honest the NFL no longer has a grip on my sports fandom the way it did in my younger years. I follow it closely, but it doesn’t consume my fall Sundays (and Mondays, and Thursdays…). As a kid, any NFL game being broadcast was worthy of my attention. Today, not so. And while my love for the Redskins can never be questioned, over the past decade or so I’ve become a bit of a fan free agent, getting interested in a particular team and following them closer than usual during a given season. In seasons past I’ve danced with the likes of the Texans, Chiefs, and Falcons. This season I’ll likely pay special attention to Arizona as Josh Rosen will likely soon take the helm at QB. Oh, and those Rams, like an old girlfriend moving back to the neighborhood, are back in LA and slowly putting together an interesting, deep team.

Hail to the Redskins? For probably a few more seasons, then I’ll consider unrestricted free agency, whereby I can leave the Skins for a better deal or re-sign for the rest of my life. Stay tuned.