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Show SQBJS ROMAN GABRIEL A f ')' 1 From Benchwarmer to Stardom What makes a great pro quarterback? Brains, a powerful arm, patience, and Juck By JOSEPH N. BELL live Your life... Relieved of Menstrual Distress In the modern life you lead, there come the calm time, too. Strolling hand in hand. Reading together. Talking together. Thete are the precious moments. And you let nothing Interfere. Not even functional menstrual distress. How? With Midou Because Miool contains: a An exclusive that helps Stop Cramps . . . Medically-approveingredients that Relieve Headache, low Backache. ..Calm Jumpy Nerves. . . a Plus a special that gives you a real lift . . . gets you through the trying period feeling calm and comfortable. Enjoy life. Any day. With Midoli d km COLD SORES Prevent Painful Cracking and Heal Them Up Fast Dry Don't wait until fever blisters ind cold sores crack and hurt so badly they brine tears to your eyes. Apply Campho-Pheniqu- e at once. For this soothing, helling liquid antiseptic softens and lubricates fever blisters and cold sores, so prevents painful cracking. And Campho-Pheniqupenetrates deep so that fever blisters and cold sores dry and heal from undtrmulk quickly and painlessly. Campho-Phenique is just like having a First Aid Kit in a bottle. Stops pain instantly, promotes rapid healing in cuts, minor burns, scratches. And when a cold clogs your nose, put a few on drops of Campho-Pheniquyour handkerchief and inhale medicated You'll the vapor. breathe easier FAS1 f&JL asnoinnia players were A few straggling about still the I locker room when a perspiring Number 18 came clattering down the dugout steps of Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif., sank down on a bench in front of his locker, and tugged pensively at a sweat-stuc- k jersey. There was no one left to play catch with, so Roman Gabriel, quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams, had decided to call it a day. Gabriel had been on hand at Blair Field since nine that morning, long before the other players made the scene. He had dissected films of the Cleveland Browns the Rams' opponent for the following Sunday. Then there had been a team meeting that broke up into special units for practice. The coaches were working on the defense .this day, and Gabriel had run intricate pass patterns against two sets of defensive specialists. That done, Gabriel had taken two laps around the field, then looked for a volunteer to catch some passes. After six years in professional football, Roman Gabriel has it made. Such patience and hard work moved him from benchwarmer to pro stardom those qualities, plus luck. "Three things helped me," Gabriel says. "First, the opportunity given me when George Allen came in as head coach two years ago. Also, the whole Ram club matured. And, finally, I got a chance to play regularly." Gabe only glimpsed stardom from the time he joined the Rams in 19(12 until Allen arrived in 1966. A native of Wilmington, N.C., Gabriel is unusually large for a quarterback, and weighing 220 standing Until 1966, he divided quarpounds. terback duties with Bill Munson (since traded to Detroit). Both hated benchwarming. "Two things kept me going," Ga- - Family Weekly, November 17, 1S0S i i Roman Gabriel rufiJt anainftt a the St. Louis Cardinals. He' 8 almost as pow- erful afoot as with his passing arm. briel says. "When I did play, I knew I was capable of being a quarterback in this league. I never doubted that at all, but I was bringing my football troubles home and taking out my disappointments on my family. I suppose my wife Suzanne was as responsible for my staying in pro ball as anyone. She knew I had to find out if I could do it." Suzanne is small, blonde, and She met her husband in high school in Wilmington and suffered through every disappointment with him during the bad days. "Generally, I'm pretty unemotional," she says, "but I still get a nervous stomach during the crucial games. But it was so much worse when he wasn't playing!" In 1965 Gabe decided he wanted a shot at running a professional team by himself, so he played out his option and looked around for new opportunities. The Oakland Raiders of the rival American Football League offered him a bonus to join them, and he had signed a contract with Oakland when George Allen left the Chicago Bears for the Rams. Allen didn't want to let Gabriel get away. "He phoned me," recalls Gabe, "the first time a professional coach ever called me. He gave me no assurance except an equal opportunity to win the job. That was all I wanted." Gabe has been winning quarter blue-eye- d. the 32 games he has started since late in the 1965 sea- back in 22 of son, when Munson injured his knee. "Physically, he's the strongest quarterback ever to play the game," says a Ram staff member. "He can and take a lineman's rush head-o- n push his nose in the dirt. Under ideal conditions, he can throw a football the length of the field." For the first time this year, some? of the fringe benefits of athletic sue cess are coming Gabe's way. Hi has just opened a travel agency witli his best friend, Merlin Olsen. He' also suddenly in demand for endorsements, which he screens carefully, "I turn down all the liquor, beer. cigarette endorsements, he say si "because I won't do something don't believe in." A few months ago, the Gabriels- -f with their three sons, Roman III, Ram Alan. fi. and Rorv Jav. si months moved into a large ne stone-and-fra- house. Roma spends most of his evenings durin the season studying films of th teams he'll be playing against. "A bad game or a bad sequen doesn't bother me the way it usi to." Gabriel savs. "because I kno I won't be benched just at the sn of a finger. I have some security a confidence now. "If I enjoy what I'm doing, 111 be that much better for the tea And I'm eniovinir mvself now. |