Rams Insider Magazine

By Marshall Klein
The first time I saw Georgia
she was kneeling in prayer
in a Catholic Church
in Huntington Beach,
California. The occasion
was a re-stating of wedding
vows between her football
coach, Ray Malavasi, and
his wife, Mary. I was struck
with how serene she looked,
almost angelic.
The second time I saw Georgia
was at a black-tie banquet
honoring inductees into the
Orange County (Ca.) Sports
Hall of Fame. Maybe 1,500
people were there and I was
roving through the crowd doing
interviews. When I spotted
Georgia, I thrust a microphone
toward her and said, “How lovely
you look tonight….” She took
the mic from my hand, looked
up, smiled and said, “And how
handsome you are, sir.”
Interview over.
The third time I saw
Georgia, she was hiring
me away from a major
metropolitan newspaper.
“You’re going to
be my Director of
Community Relations.
We’re going to do
great things.” Some
in her organization
questioned that
decision. “What’s
a community
relations director?
And why do we
need one?” one member of her
inner-circle asked me. I didn’t
know. Twenty years later, I still
hadn’t seen a job description and
we did remarkable things.
Georgia F
ro
ntiere &
Marshall K
lein
During
those years, Georgia
touched thousands of people’s
lives and uplifted dozens of
communities. She would bring
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Community Ou
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her team and her resources
wherever needed to improve
the lives of others, but all the
publicity they generated was
never her objective. It was all
about enriching and improving the
human condition.
knew the potential reach of the game, and
how it could affect the lives of countless
millions. Georgia wanted to do good things,
but she often exceeded herself. In fact, she
did great things.
Throwing out the first pitch
Georgia was an American original. She
looked like one and acted like one. To
her, life was theatre and she was the
star performer. And what an ensemble
cast—from captains of industry to political
giants to sporting legends. Georgia moved
seamlessly among these headliners, leading
with her smile and graciousness, always
well-mannered and well-bred.
And very, very determined. Her greatest
assets were her vision and endurance. It
almost seemed, at times, as if she could
see into the future. As the owner of a
professional football team, she understood
the value of international play years before
the NFL chose to have overseas games. She
Her generosity is legendary. As
a humanitarian and international
philanthropist, her charity knew no
geographical boundary. A list of her
beneficiaries would fill volumes. To her,
almost every cause was a good one. But the
word that best describes this force of nature
is “influential.”
Everyone Georgia met, she influenced.
Once you met her, you never forgot her.
You walked away knowing exactly what
she thought and what she believed. She
didn’t pull punches, and her honesty won
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By Lucia Rodriguez and Chip Rosenbloom
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t happen…but, it doesn’t happen if it
doesn’t matter.
You can be tough, smart and feminine—all at the same time.
You can do everything you want to do in life…just not all at
the same time!
Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
What do you do when you lose your best friend and your mother at the
same time? What if they are the same person?
Giving feels better than taking.
Never hold a grudge.
We miss our mother terribly. We realize there is so much we won’t
share together. Her first grandchild’s wedding (which took place
in the church where she was baptized). Her becoming a greatgrandmother.
We learned so much from her about life, love, trust, giving back and
always doing your best. She is with us in every breath we take and
everything we do. We’re so grateful for what we did share and all the
experiences we had as her children. Stories, stories and more
stories. Mom had a million of them and we’d like to share these
Georgia-isms with you:
Don’t read the sports section of the L.A. Times…EVER!
Remember where you came from and be proud of your history
(she provided a suite at the home games for her elementary school
classmates).
It’s OK to let the boys win, or let them think they did!
Make sure you are better than any man at what you do…just don’t let
them know it.
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Georgia & M
her the admiration of those
who agreed with her, and
those who didn’t.
St. Lou
is
Georgia was deeply religious and found
great comfort in her faith. It got her through
difficult times and carried her through her
final months. To those who knew her, she
was a role model for how faith works.
Georgia had faith in many things, and
paramount was her belief that she would
accomplish her goals, however challenging.
The world saw this in play when she
chose to bring her beloved Rams back to
her St. Louis birthplace and proceeded to
overcome countless obstacles placed before
her to prevent that from happening.
When her business partners tried to
block her from moving the team to St.
Louis, Georgia held a press conference
Stay out of the sun.
Never wear pointed shoes.
Variety
Club
and the Rams did relocate to St. Louis,
just as their owner promised. That move
has since been hailed as one of the most
seamless relocations in professional sports
history. It was well-planned and brilliantly
executed and the team has become a vital
part of the community it serves.
announcing
that she certainly
intended to move, and that
stopping it from happening was not
an option. Think “trying to prevent a
tidal wave,” and you get the idea. When
her mind was made up, Georgia was
unstoppable.
But Georgia’s most enduring legacy goes
beyond football and lands squarely on her
family. Her children, Chip Rosenbloom
and Lucia Rodriguez and grandchildren,
William, Stuart, Andrew, Lauren, Alexander
and Olivia are all inheritors of a life welllived and a job well done.
In fact, she announced to the world that
“the Los Angeles Rams will be the St.
Louis Rams,” standing just a few feet from
where the NFL leaders had told her, in no
uncertain terms, ‘Hell, no…you can’t go.’
History will note that hell did freeze over
Marshall Klein is a former Los Angeles
Times sports editor who served many years
as a close advisor to Georgia and the Rams
as vice president, media and
community relations.
as a Disney princess (which is what we
thought she was during our early years)
and as strong as a warrior (which our mom
certainly was for all the days of her life).”
Don’t let anyone see you cry.
Experience life…do everything you
want to do.
You don’t have to have a bachelor’s degree
to have a Ph.D in life!
There is not much in life that a long, hot
bath can’t make better.
Don’t smother or overprotect your
children…let them live their lives. They will
come back to you.
Smile through the pain. Nothing made her
happier than knowing that the three of us
were friends and that we love and respect
each other. She beamed when she talked
about this–and she talked about it all the
time.
She was especially proud of all her
grandchildren. One treasured note from
her simply says, “Darling, thank you for
giving me such wonderful children. Love,
Mommy.” With mom, little things went a
long, long way.
Probably our favorite mom quote came after
the Super Bowl in New Orleans. You know,
the one we lost. The two of us went to the
locker room after the game to console her.
We were concerned she would be upset.
She approached with arms outstretched to
embrace us both and said, “It’s OK, kids,
we’re still alive.”
Just like you will always be in our hearts
and souls.
Being our mom’s children taught us so
much about life and living as well as the
ability to appreciate all the beautiful things
that surround us. “You can be as pretty
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