The Man Who Integrated the Rams

COLOR BARRIER:  When the Rams moved to L.A. the first time in 1946 (they’re coming back again this year), they integrated the NFL, which had banned black players since 1933.

A year before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, the Rams, having exited Cleveland, signed two of Robinson’s UCLA football teammates, running star Kenny Washington and end Woody Strode.

But the man behind integration of the Rams was a Los Angeles journalist named Halley Harding. The Rams, having decamped from Cleveland because of low attendance, needed a place to play in L.A., and the giant Coliseum fit the bill.