TOGETHER AGAIN YOUNGBLOOD JOINS SLATER IN HALL.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

People didn't always get it. Plenty of their teammates struggled to understand, too, but then it wasn't the kind of thing you saw every day.

Here they were, two of the greatest linemen in Rams history, and they went after the other in practice as if a life sentence on the New Orleans Saints awaited the loser.

Jackie Slater wasn't going to back off. Jack Youngblood wouldn't know how to. Marv Goux's ultimate ``big man on big man.''

``It made for some real classic battles in practice,'' Slater said. ``They would probably rival any that anyone ever had at this level.''

That was some pair of classy Jacks the Rams had. Youngblood, their legendary defensive end, battling Slater, one of the greatest offensive tackles in NFL history.

``He didn't want to get beat in practice and neither did I,'' Slater said. ``It made for a very combustible practice environment. He was intense and competitive and so was I. We really got after each other.

``It made it difficult to be friends. I wouldn't say through the better part of our careers that we were friends.''

Yet in Rams folklore, they are almost inseparable. Players who spent their entire careers with the Rams. Who brought the same quiet-warrior approach to the game - a top talent who was a workhorse, prideful, dependable, desiring to be the best. Each other's shadow from the opposite side of the line.

So it can't help but seem fitting that they will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame together on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. They are part of a seven-member contingent - including USC's Lynn Swann and Ron Yary (Youngblood's long-time nemesis) - in the 2001 class.

Their careers crossed for nine years, some of the best years in Rams history, back before they went the carpetbagger route. The two played a pair of memorable games in the Los Angeles Rams' only Super Bowl appearance.

Slater, then in his fourth year of a staggering 20-year career, had only become a starter in that 1979 season yet shined in the biggest game of his life.

``I don't know if I played a better game than I played in that Super Bowl in my entire career,'' Slater said.

Youngblood's storied game has become the stuff of legend. In a divisional playoff game against Dallas, Youngblood fractured his left fibula when he fell over Cowboys tackle Rayfield Wright.

``It was extremely painful,'' Youngblood has recalled. ``But being in the playoffs, which are so hard to get to, there was a fear I would never have that opportunity again.''

Youngblood finished the game, and fitted with a brace, continued to play in the conference title game and in the Super Bowl against the Steelers at the Rose Bowl.

Then summer camp came and they went back to their personal war.

Slater can smile about it now, feel good that those intense battles on the practice field has led them both to Canton.

Said Slater: ``I hope it confirms in his mind, the way it does in mine, that when people were looking at us and saying, 'Why in the hell are these guys working like this in practice? Don't they know they're on the same team? Don't they know they should be taking care of each other?'

``When guys were thinking that and looking at us that way, it wasn't always the best feeling. Now I hope Jack feels like I do, that we were doing the right thing.''

Canton didn't call Youngblood until the 12th year he was eligible, almost like he was waiting for Slater's first year of eligibility. Seventeen years after Youngblood retired and he's still linked with his shadow.

They are two of the most honored linemen in team history. The chiseled 6-foot-4, 245-pound Youngblood played in the Pro Bowl seven times, was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1975 and the Rams' MVP three times. He was the first Ram to play in 200 consecutive games.

``The John Wayne of pro football,'' Cardinals coach Jim Hanifan once said.

Slater was a mainstay of the Rams offensive line for two decades. No other player in NFL history played 20 years with one team, although Slater had to follow the Rams to St. Louis for his final season to reach 20 years.

``I wanted to get my 20th season in, so I went to St. Louis,'' he said. ``There are so few things an offensive lineman can hang his hat on.''

Slater has more than a few. At the time he retired in 1996, his 259 regular-season games were the most ever played by an offensive lineman and fourth overall. He played in seven Pro Bowls, was the 1988 NFC Offensive Lineman of the Year and the team MVP in 1992.

Two fierce competitors, two proud bonds to an era when the NFL meant more in Southern California than someone else's highlights.

And although Slater said he and Youngblood never became particularly close, they did form a strong friendship based upon respect. Slater learned that in '81 when when he had to leave practice at Rams Park because of a hamstring injury.

``When practice was over, the first people in the training room to see how I was doing were the defensive line led by Jack Youngblood,'' he said. ``That really made me feel special.''

On Saturday, they'll feel special again. Together again.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Former Rams Jack Youngblood (85) and Jackie Slater (78) will be among seven individuals inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday.

Associated Press

(3 -- color) New inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame from left: Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh Steelers; former Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy; offensive lineman Jackie slater; defensive end Jack Youngblood and oltimers nominee Nick Buoniconti.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Box: HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES