Kenny Stabler Gives Youngsters Some Advice : There’s More to Playing Quarterback Than Just Throwing the Ball, He Says

It may have been the Battle of the Quarterbacks in Denver last week. But out here on the Western Slope, there is at least one gray-haired old pro with gimp knees who is not ready to proclaim either John Elway or Dan Marino as The New Terry Bradshaw.

Ken Stabler is enthusiastic about the future of both Elway and Marino, but, frankly, he does not rate them up there with the best because both of them are still puppies. The man with the long gray hair and beard would like to see a little gray hair on the heads of Marino and Elway before he passes judgment.

“It’s hard to rate both kids,” Stabler said. “They’re only in their third season. I didn’t even start playing until my fourth season.”

The intangibles that go into the greatness of a quarterback are not always readily identifiable. Those things surface later. Being able to throw or run the ball, said Stabler, is only a small part of what makes a quarterback.

“You have to take a bunch of guys who are bigger and stronger than you are and make them work at their jobs. How you do your job makes a difference in whether they have bigger houses or two-car garages. It’s not a con game and you’d better be a legit mother. Because they know it if you’re not,” Stabler said.

He likes the size and strength of Elway, and the fact that he was willing to play hurt against Pittsburgh. He he thinks Marino is in a winning system with a great coach, Don Shula. But Stabler’s favorite quarterback still is Terry Bradshaw.

“I’m big fan of Bradshaw’s,” Stabler said, pointing down to the Super Bowl ring on his right hand, “because Bradshaw has more of these than anybody.”

You are thinking that Stabler won several Super Bowls, right? It only seems that way. While Stabler was quarterback of the Raiders, the Steelers dynasty was in its prime. Oakland interrupted that string of two straight Pittsburgh titles. The Raiders beat Minnesota in Super Bowl XI, 32-14. That is how ‘The Snake’ got his ring.

Recently, when he was playing a practice round for the Coors-Tamarron Golf Classic benefit for handicapped athletes, Stabler was asked by a half dozen people to remove the ring so that they could admire it, and he gladly accommodated them. He not only signed every autograph, but at one tee while waiting to hit, he walked over to the porch of a condominium and initiated a conversation with a woman.

The day before, Stabler visited Durango High School’s football team, where he gave a pep talk and even tossed a few passes to the players.

Stabler seemed to relish the attention.

“I have more time for people,” he said. “I’ll sign anything anybody puts in front of me. I enjoy them. If people like what I did, it just blows me away.

“One day when some guys are sitting around a table drinking beer and talking about quarterbacks of the ‘70s, I hope somebody brings my name up. I’d like that. My shoe size is still 10-D and I take a size 7 3/8 helmet and cowboy hat. That’s never going to change. I’m the same person I always was.”

Well, not exactly. In his last few years at Oakland, Stabler clammed up to the press. He had a running feud with one sports writer that got nasty, and the national media picked up on it.

Now here is Kenny Stabler, years later, yukking it up with a sports writer, talking to little old ladies, throwing passes to high school kids, about to write a book on his funny experiences and, next year, lending his name to the golf tournament as the Kenny Stabler Coors-Tamarron Classic.

He talked about the press feud. “It was the year after we had won the Super Bowl and we were the No. 1-rated team. I started throwing some interceptions. Threw 30 of them. Half the balls bounced off my receivers, the other half were bad throws. I’ll stand behind them, because I threw them all, and I won’t try to alibi.

“But some people in the press wanted me to point fingers and criticize my teammates, and I just wasn’t going to do that. So I quit talking to them.”

I thought perhaps Stabler might settle the score in his book. But he says he has learned about the media from his friend, Richard Petty, the stock car driver who once told his son, Kyle: “When you blow an engine, spin out and hit the wall, your job is over. But, remember son, when that writer comes in and asks you ‘What happened?’ his job is just starting.”

So Stabler is not even going to dwell on the bad times in his book, “The Snake,” which will be published next August.