The Miami Dolphins were popular with a lot of his friends in the early 1970s, but there was something about the Rams' uniforms, especially that spiraling white horn on their helmet, that a 6-year-old Scott Christenson really liked.
And. when he saw quarterback Roman Gabriel toss a bomb to his favorite player, wide receiver Jack Snow, he was hooked for life. Christenson began collecting a few Rams items as a young fan that he kept around through the years.
Then eBay came on the scene in the mid-1990s.
Things went to another level at Christenson's home near Spokane, Washington, which is adorned with Rams memorabilia -- uniforms, flags, posters, photos, footballs and those distinctive horn helmets. In 1948, the Rams were the first NFL team to display a logo on their helmets.
"My wife realized she couldn't control it, so she decided she might as well support me and converted from a Seahawks fan in 1999 when Kurt Warner came on the scene," Christenson said in an email to NBC4.
There are a few extra-special items in all that blue and gold treasure.
Rewind back to that lasting image of Gabriel connecting with Snow, a former Notre Dame star and Heisman trophy candidate in college who was selected in the first round of the 1965 NFL draft. There's a plaque in Christenson's Ram cave with collector cards of Snow -- one for each season he played in LA until he retired in 1975.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
Snow, a Long Beach native and NFL radio analyst for the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams, died in 2006 at age 62. He also served as Rams receviers coach following his on-field career, which included one Pro Bowl appearance.
Christenson made a similar plaque for his hero and gave it to a team manager at a game he attended with his father in 2000 -- just to let a long-time Ram know that he had a life-long fan. After the game, Snow personally thanked Christenson. They couldn't fit their hands through the chain-link fence between them, so they ended up shaking fingers.
Some say you shouldn't meet your heroes, but not Christenson.
He'll be among the legions or Rams fans cheering Feb. 3 when Los Angeles takes on New England in Atlanta.
