The Fearsome Foursome

The famed quartet played together for only four seasons, from
1963 through '66, and during that time the Los Angeles Rams had
one winning season. At first glance the individual statistics of
the Fearsome Foursome are hardly overwhelming either. Though
Deacon Jones is credited with adding "sack" to the football
lexicon in the mid-'60s, the NFL didn't start counting the stat
until 1982. So what is the legacy of pro football's best-known
defensive front four? "We taught the NFL the beauty of playing
defense," says Jones.

Big (the group averaged a then gargantuan 6'5 1/2", 273 pounds)
and absurdly quick for their size, the Foursome pummeled
opponents with a ferocity and ease that can't be measured in
numbers. You had to be there. "What made us special," Lamar
Lundy says of the clan that still gets together at least once a
year, "was how we worked together. There always was a deep
understanding among the four of us, something that keeps us so
close today."

--Albert Chen

B/W PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE RAMS TOUGH GUYS Says Jones of the Foursome (in same order as at right), "We kicked some righteous ass."

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY WALTER IOOSS JR. [See caption above]

Lamar Lundy
Right end, 66

Over the past 43 years Lundy has fought Graves' disease,
diabetes, myasthenia gravis (a neuromuscular disorder), prostate
cancer and an irregular heartbeat. When Lundy had trouble paying
his medical bills, his linemates raised the money to cover them.
Says Lundy, who is divorced and lives in Richmond, Ind., with
his son Lamar III's family, "I don't know where I'd be without
them."

Rosey Grier
Right tackle, 68

He was once a noted needlepointer and a spiritual singer who was
good enough to perform at Carnegie Hall, and in 1968 he was the
man who disarmed Bobby Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. Grier
now works as a spokesman for the Milken Family Foundation, which
has raised millions for prostate cancer research. "My life hasn't
really been laid out in front of me," says Grier, who lives in
Los Angeles with his wife, Margie, with whom he has one grown
child, "but I'm loving each day."

Merlin Olsen
Left tackle, 60

Olsen was the youngest, brainiest (Phi Beta Kappa at Utah St.)
and, some say, the most talented (he was a 14-time Pro Bowl
pick) of the Foursome. After his playing days he embarked on a
successful TV career, which famously included his role as
Johnathan Garvey on Little House on the Prairie. Since he
retired from broadcasting with CBS, Olsen and his wife, Susan,
have settled into a less taxing lifestyle in their Park City,
Utah, home. "I'm trying to work less and play more," he says.

Deacon Jones
Left end, 62

After all these years Jones is still the king of hyperbole. "I
have one of the busiest schedules known to man," says Jones, who
lives in Anaheim Hills, Calif., with wife Elizabeth and has one
stepson. "But I'm having a hell of a time." In addition to being
a panelist on an upcoming Fox sports talk show, Jones will
continue his work as a spokesman for Atacand, a drug that treats
hypertension, and doing promotions for NFL Properties. He also
runs the Deacon Jones Foundation, which provides mentoring and
employment opportunities for inner-city high school students in
the greater Los Angeles area.