The Streak Continues

Thursday, January 17, 2008

By Brett Grassmuck

Staff Writer

Hawaii native Ron Jacobs might not know exactly where he�ll end up, but you can rest assured that each and every Sunday he will be somewhere that will allow him to follow the Rams as he has for the past 40 years.

�I was born in Waikiki ,� Jacobs said. �How do I relate to a team that started in Cleveland, moves to Los Angeles, goes to Anaheim (Calif.), comes to St. Louis, and I�m from Hawaii?�

Jacobs has done more than relate to the Rams. He has eat, slept and breathed Rams since first taking in a game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the 1960�s while working in radio in Los Angeles. Since that time over 40 years ago, Jacobs has not missed a single Rams game.

�I�ve either seen it or heard it on the radio,� Jacobs said.

He began a career in radio in Hawaii during the 1950�s where he took several small Hawaii radio stations to the top of the ratings. This lead Jacobs to California and RKO General, where he was the program director of the nationally acclaimed �KHJ Boss Radio,� an extremely influential Top 40 radio station in pop music in the 1960�s.

Being from Hawaii , Jacobs had not had much exposure to the game of football, aside from a couple of high school teams that were battling in what he referred to as �the barefoot league.�

Jacobs was quick to accept when he was offered tickets to Los Angeles Rams home games, one of the perks of his job in radio.

�We had five seats, and we�d leave the sixth one open for whoever wanted to go,� Jacobs said. �It was like a wild card. So, I get these tickets, and I got attached to (the Rams) because (former Rams coach) George Allen showed up and all of a sudden it became very cool in L.A. They were wearing the blue and white uniforms, and you had Merlin Olsen, and Deacon Jones and all these guys.�

And his lifetime-love for the Rams was born. Jacobs went on to do some big things in radio, including the creation of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, which remains on the air and is currently being hosted by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

No matter where his career took him, Jacobs made time to follow his beloved Rams. He never missed a home game the entire time he was in southern California , even after he moved to San Diego , roughly a 120-mile drive.

�I think I traveled something like 10,000 miles to see them, I calculated once,� Jacobs said.

Jacobs� whole life began to revolve around his favorite team, even his time off.

�I�m in L.A. , and I planned my vacations to come back to Hawaii when I know I could see one of the away games,� Jacobs said.

Jacobs returned to Hawaii in 1976, and needed to find a way to listen to the Rams games. He found one through a friend at Rams Radio in Los Angeles .

�I�ve gone places and done things that are unbelievable to keep this thing going,� Jacobs said. When I first got back here in �76, a friend of mine was working at KMPC, the Rams Radio station. They have a thing in radio called a coupler, where somebody in another town could call in to a special dedicated line and listen. There was no internet or anything like that. So my friend got me the backup coupler number. I would sit there in Waikiki when I got back and make these long distance calls and listen on a speaker phone while I�m watching the infernal Chicago Bears game with the sound off.�

Jacobs was spending as much or more money on each call than he would have spent for a ticket to the game. Eventually, the company caught on to Jacobs listening in. They thought he was broadcasting the games through his radio station in Hawaii , and nearly sued him. It took some convincing for them to believe he was that big of a fan.

Jacobs returned to LA in the early 1990�s to do a follow up to American Top 40, and from the time he arrived until the time the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, Jacobs was taking in games in Anaheim, and the streak continued.

�I can remember sitting there watching No. 80, which is Henry Ellard�s old number, Isaac Bruce,� Jacobs said. �The guy looks exactly like he did when he was a rookie.�

Jacobs has since returned to Hawaii and continues to follow the Rams. He became close to former Rams equipment manager, Don Hewitt, while he was in Los Angeles , and remains close to his son, Todd, the Rams current equipment manager.

�When I met Todd�s father, Todd was 12,� Jacobs said. �Now, I�m like Todd Hewitt west,� referring to all the clothing and other memorabilia that he has collected over the years.

Jacobs� latest venture, a website streaming Hawaiian music (www.whodaguyhawaii.com ), has led him to meet and chat with local community leaders in Kaneohe, Hawaii. This lead him to become involved with the marines at Kaneohe Marine Base, or Marine Base Pacific, the largest Marine base outside of North America.

�It�s a tradition in my family,� Jacobs said. �During World War II, my folks would always entertain sailors and stuff like that. I was living seven miles from Pearl Harbor when it was bombed.�

Many Sundays, Jacobs will head to the Marine base to watch the Rams games with Brandon Miller, a marine from St. Louis who is in Kaneohe after a tour of duty in Iraq . Jacobs has become close to Miller, 21, and has provided him with various Rams shirts as well as countless stories, stats and Rams history lessons.

Jacobs also allowed Miller, who had never been to a Rams game, to see former Ram Marshall Faulk up close as Jacobs got in contact with Rams vice president of public relations, Rick Smith, and arranged for Miller to watch his hometown team take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2007 home finale. Faulk�s No. 28 jersey was retired during a halftime ceremony.

Jacobs and Miller may be a lifetime apart, but they have connected through their favorite football team, the St. Louis Rams.

No matter the circumstances, Jacobs will find a way to watch his beloved Rams play on Sunday.

The streak continues�