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The Fearsome Foursome was the dominating defensive line of the Los Angeles Rams of the 1960s and 1970s. Before them, the term had occasionally been applied to other defensive lines in the National Football League.
In the 1957 season the New York Daily News , a major New York city tabloid, ran an article and sketches of the New York Giants' line consisting of ends Andy Robustelli and Jim Katcavage, and tackles Rosey Grier and Dick Modzelewski and a headline that read "A Fearsome Foursome."
Announcer Van Patrick applied the nickname "Fearsome Foursome" to the Lions front four as early as 1960, when the Lion defensive line consisted of ends Bill Glass and Darris McCord, and tackles Alex Karras and Roger Brown.
The term was also used for the Detroit Lions defensive line after Sam Williams replaced Glass, who was traded to the Browns after the 1961 season.
The nickname "Fearsome Foursome" was also used to describe the American Football League's San Diego Chargers' defensive front four, including starters DE Ron Nery, DT Bill Hudson, DT Ernie Ladd, and DE Earl Faison. The Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961, and Faison made overall AFL Rookie of the Year, a rare feat for a defensive player. Alternate members of the group included DE Bob Petrich, DT George Gross, and DE-DT Henry Schmidt. At the time Gross and Ladd were two of the largest and strongest men in professional football. The Chargers' Foursome helped them reach the first two American Football League Championship games and five altogether, winning the AFL Championship in 1963 with a 51-10 thumping of the Boston Patriots.
Still later, Rosey Grier was acquired from the New York Giants in 1963 to join Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones as the Los Angeles Rams starting defensive line. They also became known as the Fearsome Foursome, and the greater publicity garnered by the NFL leads many to assume they were the originals. Dick Butkus called them "the most dominant line in football history." [1] They gained fame as the Rams went from a perennial under .500 team to an NFL powerhouse under coach George Allen. Roger Brown replaced Grier in 1967, and Diron Talbert replaced Brown in 1970. Also in 1970 Coy Bacon replaced Lamar Lundy.
The line was ultimately broken up when George Allen became coach of the Washington Redskins in 1971; Talbert and Jones left in 1972, with Talbert following Allen to the Redskins, and Jones going to the Chargers for two years before eventually reuniting with Allen himself on the Redskins in 1974. Bacon left in 1973. After missing the playoffs from 1970 to 1972, the Rams won seven straight division titles from 1973 to 1979, which was an NFL record until 2016 when broken by the New England Patriots. Those Rams teams were led in part by a reconstituted Fearsome Foursome.
This line consisted of ends Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer, and tackles Olsen and Larry Brooks. Youngblood and Olsen are NFL Hall of Famers while Brooks made the Pro Bowl 5 times. Dryer, acquired from the Giants in 1972, also made the Pro Bowl once, and set an NFL record with 2 safeties in one game vs. the Packers. Olsen, who played with his brother Phil Olsen for 4 seasons from 1971 to 1974, retired after a 15-year career at the end of the 1976 season. He was replaced by Mike Fanning, who with Youngblood, Dryer and Brooks started in Super Bowl XIV following the 1979 season.
The line was documented in NFL Network's A Football Life, and was narrated by Josh Charles. [2]
Sidney Gillman was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or wide receivers at the sides of the line of scrimmage, was instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today. He was inducted as a coach into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989.
Earl Faison was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the American Football League (AFL) between 1960 and 1966. He spent most of his career with the San Diego Chargers.
Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier is an American former football player, bodyguard, actor, singer, Protestant minister, and motivational speaker.
David D. "Deacon" Jones was an American professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
George Herbert Allen was an American football coach. He served as the head coach for two teams in the National Football League (NFL), the Los Angeles Rams from 1966 to 1970 and the Washington Redskins from 1971 to 1977. Allen led his teams to winning records in all 12 of his seasons as an NFL head coach, compiling an overall regular-season record of 116–47–5. Seven of his teams qualified for the NFL playoffs, including the 1972 Washington Redskins, who reached Super Bowl VII, losing to Don Shula's Miami Dolphins. Allen made a brief return as head coach of the Rams in 1978, but was fired before the regular season commenced.
Merlin Jay Olsen was an American professional football player, announcer, and actor. For his entire 15-year professional football career he was a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected to play in the Pro Bowl 14 times — every year but his last. The only other football players to have matched or exceeded that number are the former offensive lineman Bruce Matthews, the former tight end Tony Gonzalez, the former quarterback Peyton Manning, and former quarterback Tom Brady, who is the only NFL player to have played more times in the Pro Bowl, with 15 selections.
Lander McCoy Bacon was an American professional football player who was a defensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Washington Redskins. He also was a member of the Washington Federals in the United States Football League (USFL). He was selected to three Pro Bowls during his 14-year career. While sacks were not an official statistic during his career, researchers credit Bacon with a career total of 130.5. He played college football for the Jackson State Tigers.
Lawrence Lee Brooks Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). Brooks played college football for the Virginia State Trojans and was selected in the 14th round of the 1972 NFL draft by the Rams. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Diron Vester Talbert is an American former professional football player who played defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, making the pro-bowl in 1975. He played four season with the Los Angeles Rams and 10 with the Washington Redskins, with whom we went to Super Bowl VII. He was later named one of the 70 greatest Redskin players of all time. As a freshman at the University of Texas he was part of the team that won the 1963 National Championship and he later made all-conference and pre-season All-American teams.
Roger Lee Brown was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions (1960–1966) and the Los Angeles Rams (1967–1969). He played college football for the Maryland State Hawks.
Lamar J. Lundy, Jr. was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 to 1969. Along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Rosey Grier, Lundy was a member of the Fearsome Foursome, often considered one of the best defensive lines in NFL history. All four also did some acting; Lundy portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the unaired pilot of Lost in Space.
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franchise played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now known as the Los Angeles Chargers.
The 1976 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 39th year with the National Football League (NFL) and the 31st season in Los Angeles. The Rams continued their dominance of the NFC West, winning their 4th straight division title as well as their 4th straight playoff berth. After a record setting 1975 season in which their defense was nearly untouchable, the Rams were picked by many to win the Super Bowl. Despite not improving on its 12-2 record from 1975, the team continued to be one of the best in the NFL. This Rams team is quite notable for setting many records during the season. One good notable record was breaking the franchise record for points scored in a game with 59 in a 59-0 winning against the Atlanta Falcons. The Rams would ultimately have another year of success, finishing 10-3-1. In the playoffs, they would beat Dallas 14-12 in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. However, the Rams would lose the NFC Championship game to the Minnesota Vikings 24-13.
The 1975 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 38th year with the National Football League, and the 30th season in Los Angeles.
William Alex Hudson was an American football defensive tackle and unheralded member of the original Fearsome Foursome of defensive linemen in pro football. He attended Clemson University, where he was a member of the track and football teams. He played professionally in the Canadian Football League with the Montreal Alouettes and in the American Football League with the San Diego Chargers and the Boston Patriots. He is a member of the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
The Over-the-Hill Gang was a nickname given to the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) in the 1970s under head coach George Allen, so named due to the large number of veteran players on the team. Many of those players also played for Allen when he previously coached the Los Angeles Rams in the late 1960s.
George Gross was an American football defensive tackle. He played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) for five seasons, from 1963 to 1967, with the San Diego Chargers. He joined the Chargers' outstanding defensive line, known as the "Fearsome Foursome", playing with defensive ends Bob Petrich and Earl Faison and defensive tackle Ernie Ladd. Gross was born in Vajola, Romania and died in Fairhope, Alabama.
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team that plays and competes in the National Football League (NFL). The Rams franchise was founded in 1936 as the Cleveland Rams in the short-lived second American Football League before joining the NFL the next year. In 1946, the franchise moved to Los Angeles. The Rams franchise remained in the metro area until 1994, when they moved to St. Louis, and were known as the St. Louis Rams from 1995 to 2015. The Rams franchise returned to Los Angeles in 2016. This article chronicles the franchise's history during their time in Los Angeles, from playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum between 1946 and 1979, to playing at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim from 1980 to 1994, and its return to Southern California beginning with the 2016 to 2019 seasons playing temporarily at their old home the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in 2020 alongside the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Bruise Brothers were a group of American football players who played on the defensive line for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL). The foursome, consisting of Fred Dean, Gary Johnson, Louie Kelcher, and Leroy Jones, formed one of the most dominant lines of their era. The Chargers selected Johnson, Kelcher, and Dean in the first two rounds of the 1975 NFL draft, and traded for Jones the following year. They helped San Diego lead the league in sacks in 1980.
Jack Earl Teele was an American football executive and sportswriter. He served as an executive for thirty-one seasons in the National Football League (NFL), including twenty-one with the Los Angeles Rams and ten with the San Diego Chargers, and two in the World League of American Football (WLAF) with the Barcelona Dragons.
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