DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — When he saw a group of Soviet soldiers on the street in East Berlin, Los Angeles Rams offensive lineman Irv Pankey had an idea.

He wanted a fur hat, and offered an NFL-branded cap in return.

“The guy, he was cool about that, and the rest of it is history,” Pankey said.

Pankey has still got the hat and chunks of the Berlin Wall that are “all dust now,” he told The Associated Press ahead of the NFL’s first regular-season game in Berlin next Sunday.

Pankey was there in 1990 for a preseason game between his Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs toward the end of the Cold War that remains one of the strangest and most significant exhibition games in league history.

It was the NFL’s first game of any sort in continental Europe and a notable success for Roger Goodell,

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