Neither Shoulder Injury Nor Short Stature Prevents Bonds From Paying Big Dividends

Tom Bonds could have danced around the question of his shortcomings the same way he maneuvers around an onrushing defensive lineman.

But why bother?

Bonds, the starting quarterback for the Cal Lutheran football team, says he’s 5-11. His coach says he is 5-9 or 5-10. But what’s an inch or two?

Bonds doesn’t worry about people who think he’s too small to be a quarterback.

“I’ve been dealing with it since I’ve been in high school,” Bonds said. “It doesn’t really bother me.”

Bonds, a junior who weighs 185 pounds, isn’t one to get hung up on numbers. Ask him about his individual goals for the season and he replies, “I want to be 11-0. Anything else is gravy.”

But numbers tell a big part of the Tom Bonds story. Barring injury, Bonds should become the No. 1 quarterback in school history in nearly every passing category sometime this season.

In two seasons, Bonds has passed for 3,381 yards and 22 touchdowns, completing 243 of 463 passes. Bill Wilson, who played for the Kingsmen from 1972 to 1975, holds the school record for yards (4,424), completions (319), attempts (574) and touchdowns (35).

As a sophomore last year, Bonds completed 178 passes in 319 attempts for 2,427 yards and 17 touchdowns. Russ Jensen (1982) and Dan Hartwig (1979) hold the season mark for touchdowns with 21. Jensen’s 2,818 yards in 1982 is the high mark for a season.

Bonds could have broken the season records last year had he not suffered a slight shoulder separation in a game against St. Mary’s. However, Cal Lutheran won that game to improve its record to 4-1.

Bonds was not at full strength for the next four games. The Kingsmen lost all four. He felt healthy again against Azusa Pacific and Cal Lutheran ended its losing streak. Coincidence?

“The first couple of weeks the injury made me change some of the things I can do,” Bonds said Thursday after practice. “I had to rely on more short passes.”

Bonds also had trouble when he rolled out, plays on which he is usually especially effective. Despite the injury, Bonds was an honorable mention NAIA Division I All-American.

The shoulder, Bonds reports, is fine.

“I went through 2 1/2 months of rehabilitation after the season,” he said. “At the end of it, my right shoulder was 5% to 10% stronger than my left shoulder. It feels great. I threw all summer, four or five times a week.”

That’s good news to Coach Bob Shoup.

“Tom is an unusual athlete in that he is not only gifted, but he is a charismatic leader,” Shoup said, “He makes other people play better. The team listens better, concentrates more.”

Bonds, 20, has merited respect since he became the starting quarterback midway through his freshman season. He was the first player in the 25-year history of Cal Lutheran football to start at quarterback as a freshman.

“It was scary at first,” Bonds said. “I was 18 years old playing with 21- and 22-year-olds.”

Bonds played in nine games his first year, completing 65 passes in 144 attempts for 954 yards and five touchdowns.

Cal Lutheran was 5-4-1 in 1984 and 6-5 last season, records that are disappointing by the school’s standards.

As a senior at Hart High, Bonds led the Indians to the Coastal Conference championship, a moment he still savors.

“No one can ever take that away from a person,” he said. “It was like we were the Super Bowl team. And once you get that championship feeling, it’s contagious. You want it all the time.”

Hart High could have another Southern Section title this year. With Jim Bonds, Tom’s younger brother, at quarterback, the Indians are ranked No. 1 in the Northwestern Conference in a preseason poll. Jim Bonds led Hart to the Coastal Conference title game last year as a junior.

Jim Bonds, considered the top high school quarterback in the area, is being heavily recruited.

“I’m thrilled with that,” Tom said. “That was one of my goals coming out of high school to be recruited, but it never came through. It’s great. I call home and find out he’s gotten six, seven letters that day. I’m probably more excited about it than he is.”

Tom Bonds said some Pacific 10 schools told him he could try to make their teams as a walk-on. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo told him the same thing.

“It was frustrating,” Bonds said. “What was frustrating the most was that nobody gave me a chance. Everyone looked at my height and said I was too short.”

Everyone but Shoup.

“Coach Shoup was the first one to come out and say that they needed me,” Bonds said.

Cal Lutheran and Bonds have no regrets.

“The offense is moving the ball and the defense is hitting people,” Bonds said. “I think we’re going to be exciting.”

Especially if the guy thought to be too small can reach the heights he has attained in the past.