It was 22 years in the making but it finally
happened. Saint Louis Rams head
coach Dick
Vermeil was enshrined into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame yesterday afternoon.
Vermeil coached the Rams to their only Super Bowl Championship in St.
Louis in the fall of 1999 and won the big game in late January 2000.
Vermeil came to the Rams and had losing records in
1997 and 1998 winning just nine games over those two years. But, then in 1999 a pre-season injury to starter
Trent Green led to Kurt Warner taking the reins of a very talented team that
came to be known as "The Greatest Show on Turf".
Under Vermeil's direction and tutelage that 1999
Rams team turned it around posting a 13-3 record. It then beat the Vikings in the playoffs and
the Buccaneers to win the NFC Championship.
On Sunday January 30, 2000 the St. Louis Rams became world champions
beating the Tennessee Titans 23-17 in Super
Bowl 34. I remember watching the
NFL's highlight film a few months later and Vermeils only audible reaction to
the win was simply "Super Bowl Champions".
Vermeil won his gold jacket to the Hall of Fame by
coaching 15 seasons in the NFL and winning 120 games. He also took the Philadelphia Eagles to Super
Bowl 15 in 1980 where the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders and John
Madden 27-10. Vermeil also coached the Kansas City Chiefs for five years taking
them to the playoffs one time. All
together Vermeil's NFL teams appeared in the post season six times.
A total of eight men were elected to the Hall in Canton,
Ohio. In addition to Vermeil, Tony
Boselli, Cliff Branch, Leroy Butler, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour,
and Bryant Young were enshrined in a nationally broadcast ceremony.
Congratulations to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Class of 2022!
