On April 11, 1936 a new professional American football franchise was founded in Cleveland, Ohio under the name Cleveland Rams. The club was established by attorney-businessman Homer Marshman together with player-coach Damon Wetzel.
The name Rams was chosen because Wetzel admired the collegiate team Fordham Rams and Marshman agreed the name was suitably compact for newspaper headlines. The team began play that first season in the then-new second iteration of the American Football League. In its inaugural year the Rams finished with a 5–2–2 record, placing second in the league.
After the 1936 season the club left the American Football League and on February 13, 1937 secured a franchise in the National Football League. The transition marked the start of what would become a long NFL history. The early Cleveland Rams experienced mixed success, but their founding laid the groundwork for the franchise’s future relocations and eventual renaming.
The franchise that began on April 11, 1936 would later move across the country, eventually becoming known as the Los Angeles Rams. That founding date remains a key origin point for a team that would grow into one of professional football’s enduring franchises.
