It’s depressing when the heroes of your youth begin to die. Willie Davis and now Merlin Olsen, only two days apart is … sad. Each was 69. Too young.

As noted two days ago, Willie Davis ultimately was something of a sad story, after a career considered something less than it could have been, and a descent into drug addiction.

Merlin Olsen, however, went from one achievement to another. He will be remembered best for his days with the Los Angeles Rams, 1962-76. But he also had a long run as an NFL analyst as well as an acting career that led to starring roles in several television series.

He also is remembered — and this is no small thing — for being a good man.

Kids of the 1970 and 1980s might remember him best for his role on the relentlessly wholesome Michael Landon production “Little House on the Prairie,” but those of us a bit older will always recall him as the guy wearing No. 74 in Rams blue-and-white.

Merlin Olsen was good. Very, very good. Arguably the best player at his position, defensive tackle, throughout his career. So good that he won the Bert Bell Award in 1974, a version of the NFL MVP. And defensive players almost never win MVP awards in the NFL.

Olsen was an impact player from the moment he arrived in Los Angeles from Utah State,  but he gained national recognition a few years later when the Rams put together perhaps the greatest defensive front four ever to play the game.

They were known as the Fearsome Foursome, and under coach George Allen, the front four was the core of the Rams’ run of playoffs teams.

From left to right, Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy comprised the Fearsome Foursome, a nickname that remains perhaps the best-known ever applied to part of an offense or defense. (With the Washington Redskins’ “Hogs” perhaps a distant second.)

All four were outstanding players, but David “Deacon” Jones and Olsen stood out.  Jones had more peak value, but Olsen was a better player for a longer time. Both are in the NFL Hall of Fame.

I began covering the Rams in 1977, so I missed Merlin Olsen by one season. Which I always regretted. He was the face of the franchise as much as any quarterback or running back, and as a Rams fan I felt badly that he never got to play in a Super Bowl.

He played for three Rams teams that fell one victory short of the Big Game. And they came in succession, 1974-76. More than a few people thought that coming so close and falling short (twice in the Arctic conditions of Bloomington, Minn.) dampened Olsen’s passion for the game. Certainly, he could have played longer, and the Rams wanted him to.

If he had continued to play, I assume he still would have been a starter for the 1979 Rams, who did get to the Super Bowl. Sigh.

He rarely missed a game, and his commitment to playing fair was well-known. In the middle 1970s, he was appalled at the dirty tactics employed by a particular opponent, St. Louis Cardinals guard Conrad Dobler. Dobler had mastered the leg whip and the chop block and even was thought to bite opponents, from time to time. Olsen was his loudest critic. He was amazed, outraged that a player could embark on playing in a less than honorable fashion. But that was Merlin Olsen.

One melancholy aspect of his career came after him, and had nothing to do with what he did on the field, but diminished his reputation — the Rams’ move from Southern California to St. Louis, after the 1994 season.

When a franchise jumps, it loses touch with the greats from before. It just happens. The new “home” fans don’t really like being reminded of stars from the days before the team arrived, and that marginalized, a bit, the greats from the 35 years the club spent in the Los Angeles market.

I know it’s difficult to believe, now, but the Rams were huge in SoCal, for most of their stay there. Particularly, though, from 1966 into the early 1980s, when they were championship contenders nearly every year. They were bigger than the Lakers for most of that time. Bigger than the Dodgers. Bigger than USC football. They were the biggest sports story in town, and Merlin Olsen was one of their greatest players.

So, gauge your sense of his impact accordingly.

Here is his wikipedia entry, if you want a bit more detailed information. Siblings and children, etc.

I didn’t know he was sick; I missed that because I’ve been living on the other side of the world since October. But, clearly, he had a virulent form of cancer (mesothelioma), and both the St. Louis Rams and Utah State realized he didn’t have much time left when they honored him, late last year.

His death came as a shock to me. And left me thinking of No. 74 commanding double teams for 15 years, playing all out, leaving the game while he was still a great player, and making positive contributions to society for another three-plus decades. The fans from my generation today feel a sense of loss.