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
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
.
New York Giants
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
Andrew Richard Robustelli (December 6, 1925 – May 31, 2011) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants. He played college football at Arnold College and was d ...
and
Jim Katcavage, and tackles
Rosey Grier
Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...
and
Dick Modzelewski
Richard Blair Modzelewski (February 16, 1931 – October 19, 2018) was an American football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and the Cleveland Browns. He al ...
and a headline that read "A Fearsome Foursome."
Detroit Lions
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
Darris Paul McCord (January 4, 1933 – October 9, 2013) was an American football player. He played college football for the University of Tennessee where he was selected by the Football Writers Association of America as a first-team All-America ...
, 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.
San Diego Chargers
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
Ronald Duane Nery (December 30, 1934April 2, 2002) was a professional American football defensive end in the American Football League (AFL). He played four seasons for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers (1960–1962), the Denver Broncos (1963) ...
,
DT Bill Hudson,
DT Ernie Ladd
Ernest Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball sc ...
, and
DE Earl Faison
Earl Faison (January 31, 1939 – June 12, 2016) 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.
Career
D ...
. 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
For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...
in 1963 with a 51-10 thumping of the
Boston Patriots.
Los Angeles Rams
Still later,
Rosey Grier
Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...
was acquired from the
New York Giants in 1963 to join
Lamar Lundy
Lamar J. Lundy, Jr. (April 17, 1935 – February 24, 2007) was an American defensive end with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League for 13 seasons, from 1957 to 1969. Along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Rosey Grier, Lundy w ...
,
Merlin Olsen
Merlin Jay Olsen (; September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010) was an American 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 Le ...
and
Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones (December 9, 1938 – June 3, 2013) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. H ...
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." They gained fame as the Rams went from a perennial under .500 team to an NFL powerhouse under coach
George Allen George Allen may refer to:
Politics and law
* George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team
* George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...
.
Roger Brown replaced Grier in 1967, and
Diron Talbert replaced Brown in 1970. Also in 1970
Coy Bacon
Lander McCoy Bacon (August 30, 1942 – December 22, 2008) was a professional American football defensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Wash ...
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
Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
and
Fred Dryer
John Frederick Dryer (born July 6, 1946) is an American actor, radio host, screenwriter and former professional football player.
He was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL)
for 13 years, participating in 176 games starting in ...
, 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
NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...
's ''
A Football Life,'' and was narrated by
Josh Charles.
See also
*
List of American Football League players
The following is a list of men who played for the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969).
Players
A
B
C
D
Elbert Dubenion
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
Notes
Player notes
1,398 ...
References
External links
NFL Films about the LA Rams Fearsome Foursome
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fearsome Foursome (Football)
Nicknamed groups of American football players
Los Angeles Rams
San Diego Chargers