TO SOME, SNOW WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

LONG BEACH - Los Angeles Rams loyalists remembered Jack Snow on Saturday. They sported a little gray in their beards, their hair, their horns. They seemed sad for more than the passing of a hero, a friend, a teammate.

Larry Hicks was leaving the house in the morning when a neighbor in his 20s asked where he was off to.

``I'm going to a memorial service,'' Hicks said, recalling the conversation as he stood graveside at a cemetery on Cherry Avenue.

``For who?'' the neighbor said.

``A fella named Jack Snow,'' said Hicks, a retired teacher and coach who played with Snow at St. Anthony High in Long Beach and followed the receiver's career with Notre Dame and the Rams.

``Who's that?'' the neighbor asked.

It's sad enough that Jack Snow is dead at age 62, losing his fight two weeks ago against a staph infection that began in the sinuses.

Compounding the sorrow is the realization that Southern Californians under a certain age have no idea how great L.A. Rams stars like Snow were and how important that team was to generations of kids.

When the Rams skipped out on us, moving first from the Coliseum to Anaheim in 1979 and then from Anaheim to St. Louis in 1994, one of the things we lost was that historic thread.

Snow was a brave and sure-handed All-Pro wide receiver, an L.A. Ram for all 11 of his pro seasons. He was the favorite L.A. Rams target of Roman Gabriel, an NFL Most Valuable Player, after being the favorite Notre Dame target of John Huarte, a Heisman Trophy winner.

Yet because L.A. Rams are no more, because his name wasn't in the newspapers here every time a horned pass-catcher moved up the franchise statistical rankings, because old-timers have no occasion to watch a ball bounce off a split end's fingertips and say, 'Snow would've had it,' Jack Snow might as well have played for the Buffalo Bills.

Those of us who grew up idolizing Snow and Gabriel, and Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen - and everybody who wore the plain white-and-blue uniforms of the 1960s and '70s - have to explain who they were when we talk football with younger fans.

``I have to explain myself,'' said Deacon Jones, a Hall of Famer and the greatest defensive end of all time.

Jones was leaving the memorial for Snow and preparing to go to one for former Rams receiver Ron Jessie later Saturday.

Deacon was an L.A. Ram from 1961 to 1971 and, at age 67, lives here. He finds himself a man without a team these days.

``My name should be up in the Coliseum - along with Merlin Olsen and all these other great players - not in St. Louis (in the stadium Ring of Fame that honors Rams and St. Louis Cardinals greats),'' Jones said.

``All the commitment you made for all that time has disappeared. Yeah, ithurts. It hurts like a ... . Our whole careers are in St. Louis - a place where we kicked royal (butt) (against the Cardinals before they moved to Arizona).''

The only solution Jones can think of is bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles. It would be a different franchise, but the history of pro football in the city would have to be honored.

``It's been a long time since we had a team,'' Jones said. ``Everybody seems to think that's cool. I think it sucks. A franchise brings a lot to a community. More than a Sunday game.

``The Lakers? The Rams meant more - without a championship.''

The Rams played 49 seasons in Southern California. The Dodgers have to go two more seasons, the Lakers four more, to match that.

``It's hard to explain it to my kids and grandkids,'' said Jim Palomino, 57, a Rams fan for 20 years before they moved. ``They say, 'Haven't you changed to another team?' I say it's not like that.''

On Saturday, on the grass at All Souls Cemetery and Mausoleum, there were thick-necked ex-Rams like Jones, Fred Dryer, Marlin McKeever, Les Josephson and Pat Curran. There were fans like the gray-haired man in the L.A. Rams windbreaker and the gray-bearded man in the L.A. Rams sweatshirt. And there was the Snow family, headed by J.T. Snow and his sisters Stephanie and Michelle.

A service had been held a week earlier in St. Louis, where Jack Snow had been the Rams' radio analyst. The service Saturday was for the friends and teammates back home.

``It's good to see you all here,'' J.T., the major-league first baseman, told the gathering of about 150 after the 10-minute Catholic service. ``We know our dad touched a lot of lives.''

J.T. and his sisters all live out of town now.

``This (Long Beach) is still home to us,'' he said. ``This is where my mom and dad wanted to be. Please come back and leave flowers. We won't be able to get here as often as we'd like.''

It's up to us old Rams fans to keep memories of men like Jack Snow in bloom.

Hicks, Snow's St. Anthony High teammate, recalled continuing the conversation with the twentysomething neighbor by talking about Snow exploits with Notre Dame and the Rams. The younger man seemed vaguely aware that the Rams had once played in the Coliseum.

``He wanted to know more,'' Hicks said. ''I told him I had some old yearbooks and clips. I'm going to show them to him sometime soon.''

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) A circa 1970s card of Jack Snow.

Courtesy of st.louisrams.com

(2) LUC ROBITAILLE

(3) ANTONIO DAVIS

(4) PEYTON MANNING

(5) - Marvell Wynne, soccer player and son of the former major-league outfielder of the same name, on his youth-baseball days.

Box:

SUNDAY PUNCH

BY TOM HOFFARTH