Don’t Strike Up Band, Just Give Charlie Joiner a Hand

Life is a whisper to Charlie Joiner. He is a handshake rather than a high-five, a low-cal beer rather than a bucket of champagne, a comfortable sedan from Detroit rather than a luxurious import, a human being rather than a star.

Leave the flash and flair to others. Joiner is happiest with either home and hearth or a modest opening on the back side of a zone defense.

Indeed, Joiner has made a living catching footballs for 18 years because he has managed to remain so low-profile and inconspicuous.

Fanfare is not his forte.

Joiner has set National Football League career records for receptions and reception yardage, and each game in which the record was set was stopped briefly to retire the football. In each case, Joiner seemed more restless and embarrassed than honored . . . particularly since the Chargers were losing (and did lose) both games.

This is a man who defies both stereotypes and time.

You expect that the most prolific receiver in NFL history will be a guy who stands 6-foot-3, weighs 198 and runs the 100 meters in 10 flat. Not Charlie. He is 5-11, weighs 183 and runs 12 yards in whatever time it takes him to get open for a first down.

In Joiner’s career, he has caught 747 passes. He has probably been thrown 750. The record shows that 58 of those receptions were for touchdowns. I wouldn’t be surprised if 600 of the other 689 were for first downs.

That is Joiner’s forte.

Charlie has spent 18 years slipping into enemy secondaries like a CIA operative penetrating the Iron Curtain. He should forget his uniform and wear a beret and overcoat. No one seems to know where he is except Dan Fouts.

In reality, Joiner wears No. 18. He would be appalled at such a suggestion, but the Chargers will retire that number when he does.

What really appalls him is the suggestion that he may someday have to retire. I was not about to make such a suggestion, but I did want to ask him about it. I arranged to meet him at a quiet restaurant in our Tierrasanta neighborhood.

Understand that the first time I asked Charlie Joiner how much longer he hoped to play football was in 1978. He has since caught 498 passes.

I don’t think I was totally out of line asking such a question so long ago. In his book, “First Down and a Billion,” former owner Gene Klein described the 1976 acquisition of Joiner as a trade for an “aging and happy wide receiver.” That was 10 years ago, for heaven’s sake.

Charlie Joiner is 39 now. He has a broken right hand and a broken nose. These are not career-threatening injuries, to be sure, but . . .

These are not even season -threatening injuries, at least to a Joiner. This man has never missed a game since he came to the Chargers in 1976.

However, it occurred to me that Sunday’s game against Seattle could be Joiner’s last home game.

“I suppose it’s in the back of my mind,” Joiner admitted, “but I block that out. Guys who think old start to act old and they end up playing old. I don’t want that to happen. I’m not thinking about retirement.”

Not at all?

“My thoughts aren’t on retirement,” he said. “We have two more games to play, and I want us to finish on a good note. I want to conclude the season, have a good time with my family during the holidays and then think about next year in January.”

Joiner goes through life the way he runs pass routes . . . one step at a time with a destination firmly in mind.

That was the way it was when he came out of Grambling as a No. 4 draft choice of the Houston Oilers in 1969.

“My ambition,” he said, “was to play football long enough to get a good start in life, qualify for the NFL pension and work toward my CPA certificate.”

Is there any doubt that Charlie Joiner has played football long enough to get a good start in life?

None at all.

“If it was left up to me,” he said, “I’d play 10 more years. I know it’s not possible, but that’s how I feel.”

What, I asked, is Charlie Joiner’s secret to longevity?

“One way,” he said, “is not sustaining major injuries. You also must keep up with modern ideas, not get behind in offensive or defensive philosophy, and adapt your talents to changing philosophies. You have to stay in condition in the off-season. Being under Coach (Don) Coryell lengthened my career, and that should be a focal point. And playing with Dan Fouts obviously had a lot to do with it.”

You might note that Charlie Joiner did not say anything about Charlie Joiner’s skill or Charlie Joiner’s courage or Charlie Joiner’s intelligence or . . .

You get the idea.

He was astounded that Coryell recalled the 17-7 victory over Denver for the 1979 AFC West championship as The Charlie Joiner Game.

“He said that?” Joiner said. “That was a big game for the entire city. That was a big game for everybody. Dan Fouts had a big game and so did the defense. Forty-five guys played their hearts out.”

OK, so what if Joiner came out of that game with stitches over his right eye, a thigh contusion, a hip-pointer, a concussion and the winning touchdown reception? It should be noted that he made the winning catch after twice going to the locker room to have injuries patched.

That game was a 60-minute microcosm of 18 years.

Is this era ending? I suspect it is, though Joiner said nothing to encourage such a notion. Such an announcement would create quite a fuss, and Charlie doesn’t like to have anyone fussing on his behalf.

When it comes time to retire, the Chargers will probably ask him how he wants to handle it.

“Handle what?” he will probably say. “If anyone notices I’m not there when training camp starts, go ahead and tell ‘em I’ve retired.”