Los Angeles Rams fans have been waiting eagerly for the franchise to drop a new uniform. There is plenty of speculation about what coming next. The team’s Twitter.com account teased what looks like a throwback jersey circa 1946-48. But watching the video till the end reveals a greater historical significance than the next Rams jersey.
Los Angeles Rams Jersey Reveal? Unlikely.
It certainly doesn’t look like anything that could be worn in a modern game and if one watches till the end a tag is revealed with the name Kenny Washington, 1946-’48. Washington wore number #13 and # 39 while he played for the Rams from 1946 to 1948. Three seasons were the entirety of his professional football career. The tag looks like the one used by Ebbets Field Flannels on their Durene Football Jerseys, seen below.
The Greater Historical Significance of Kenny Washington
Kenny Washington is the first African-American football player to sign a contract with a National Football League team in the modern era. He is considered to be the Jackie Robinson of the NFL and according to Walking Alone: The Untold Journey of Football Pioneer Kenny Washington, Washington was the far better athlete of the two at both football and baseball.
Like Robinson, Washington played baseball and football for the UCLA Bruins. Washington grew up in northeast LA in the neighborhood of Lincoln Heights, eight miles from Robinson’s youth haunts of Pasadena, CA.
The Rams should consider doing more to honor one of its greatest to play the game. A statue at SoFi stadium? Retiring the numbers 13 and 39? Yes to both!
That said an all-yellow ‘color rush’ throwback to this era would be phenomenal!
A screenshot of the Los Angeles Rams Elroy Hirsch Durene Jersey Made By Ebbets Field Flannels