For 49 years St. Louis was home to two NFL football franchises comprising many colorful and even great players, but ever since the Rams moved back to Los Angeles in 2016, the Gateway City has secured a solid reputation as an NFL ghost town. In Football Town:The Rough and Tumble Gridiron History of St. Louis, the first scholarly treatment of the history of all professional football in St. Louis, Mark Pierce challenges the standard narrative, chronicling the city’s rich yet largely forgotten history of pro football, celebrating its more successful moments on the gridiron, and proving that St. Louis has long been and still is far more than a “Baseball Town.”

Pierce begins with St. Louis’s efforts to compete in the burgeoning NFL in 1923 and 1934-1936, yet the city’s pro football history begins in earnest with the arrival of the Cardinals from Chicago in 1960. The author chronicles the team’s entire 28-season stay in St. Louis, including its most successful period under head coach Don Coryell, from 1973 to 1977, and the inconsistency that prevailed after his tenure. Eventually, revenue concerns, failed stadium negotiations, and other issues culminated in the owner of the franchise’s decision to move the team to Phoenix after the 1987 season, despite offers of better terms at Busch Stadium and the promise of the construction of a new downtown stadium by city and state government leaders. 

Even after the loss of the Cardinals, a craving for pro football persisted in St. Louis, and the search for a new team commenced almost immediately thereafter. Pierce documents the tumultuous process of securing the Rams’ 1995 move from their native Los Angeles to St. Louis, a deal concluded through high-stakes negotiations despite efforts by NFL insiders to prevent the move entirely. Nevertheless, by April that year, St. Louis fans could once again emotionally invest in the NFL—and they did so in earnest. In addition to detailing the ups and downs of the Ram’s subsequent twenty years in the city, Pierce closely examines the “poison pill” made in its original lease agreement with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which would ultimately lead to disaster.

Football Town is built on a foundation of 25 interviews the author personally conducted with former players, coaches, and broadcasters, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Dick Vermeil and Jackie Smith; Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Buck; Cardinals greats Jim Hart, Mel Gray, O.J. Anderson, and Roy Green; and Rams’ Super Bowl champions Mike Martz, Trent Green, Adam Timmerman, Keith Lyle, and Adam Timmerman. 

Accompanied by dozens of photos not seen in decades, Football Town allows those who played the game in St. Louis to tell their stories and share their thoughts on the city’s rich and colorful football history.

Mark Pierce has been a sports journalist and corporate communications leader in the St. Louis area for more than 30 years. Having reported on sports for a number of Midwest media outlets, including The Centralia Sentinel, Alton Telegraph, and WBGZ Alton radio (sportscaster) he currently works for the Nestle Purina PetCare Company in St. Louis as a Senior Director, Corporate Affairs. He is the author of When the Stars Came Out: The Story of the Mississippi River Festival. He lives in Glen Carbon, Illinois.