1987 Draft : Rapid City Gets Even Quicker as Stouffer Chosen

As dawn broke over Mt. Rushmore Tuesday, Kelly Stouffer would have been only a little more surprised to look up and see his likeness alongside those of Manny, Moe and Jack.

It was enough to hear Pete Rozelle read his name and see his face on television as the sixth player selected in the National Football League draft and the hope of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Colorado State quarterback had escaped the urban pressures of his hometown of Rushville, Neb. (pop. 1,217) and driven two hours east to Rapid City, S.D., to follow the draft with his fiancee, Barbara Thies, a nursing student. When the Cardinals chose him, Stouffer’s first reaction was shock.

He wasn’t alone. Thies could have applied cold compresses all around the country, especially in Portland, Ore., where Neil Lomax lives.

Lomax, the Cardinals’ veteran quarterback, was quoted as saying: “It’s looking more and more like the Cardinals don’t need my services anymore.”

Stouffer wasn’t projected as a high first-round selection in anybody’s crystal ball. In 2 1/2 seasons as a starter, he threw 41 touchdown passes, but only 7 in his senior year, when he had his only winning season, 6-5. Besides, he is no Fred Astaire on his feet.

Low first round, maybe. More likely second round.

But Stouffer’s career statistics--7,141 yards passing and 57.8% completions, despite 37 interceptions--were good enough to get him into the East-West Shrine Game, where he completed 11 of 15 for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was honored as offensive player of the game and the performance carved his image in granite for the scouts.

“If they had a question mark about me, I was able to play well against some of the best players in the nation,” Stouffer said.

Then, when Colorado State Coach Leon Fuller said that the Miami Dolphins’ Dan Marino was “the closest guy I could compare him to,” people listened.

“He’s an excellent drop-back passer with a quick release, like somebody throwing a dart, and one of the best deep passers I’ve ever seen,” Fuller said.

The Raiders came around, the Chargers came around, the Falcons, the Oilers and others--about a dozen NFL teams in all.

As far as Stouffer knew, though, the Cardinals never came around.

“They never contacted me,” Stouffer said by phone after returning to Rushville Tuesday afternoon. “I know they scouted me. A lot of teams work that way. That’s why the draft sometimes surprises people.”

George Boone, the Cardinals’ personnel director, said: “I’m not real big on personal interviews with players. We’ve watched him work. We’ve talked to the people that live with him.”

Cardinal Coach Gene Stallings was an assistant coach under Paul (Bear) Bryant at Alabama when Fuller was a running back there in 1961.

“I talked with Leon Fuller,” Stallings said. “One of the things I asked him was, ‘What kind of competitive spirit does (Stouffer) possess?’ He said he was a great competitor (and) that it would be a privilege to coach him.”

That was enough for Stallings. Otherwise, Stouffer was his prototype: a big--he’s 6-3 and 214--smart, drop-back quarterback with an NFL arm. If he’s not real nimble--well, this is the NFL, not the Bolshoi.

Boone said the Cardinals were not gambling with their premium pick at all.

“I think he has a chance to play right away,” he said. “Quarterbacks do have more to learn, but there are people that have lined up and performed right away. It all depends on how he takes mental and physical heat.”

Stallings and Stouffer are less eager.

“I’m not going to rush him,” Stallings said. “I’m not going to put him out there before he’s ready to play.”

Stouffer said: “I’m not saying I’m going in there and winning the starting job, but I’m prepared to work hard and see what happens.”

The Cardinals had hoped to clear the way by trading Lomax no later than draft day, possibly to the Raiders. It could still happen.

“We are always open for deals,” Boone said. “But that was not part of the decision. We’re not locked into having to trade Lomax.”

Stouffer indicated he’d like to see Lomax stick around. For a little while.

“I would like to have the opportunity to play a year behind somebody else,” he said.

Larry Kennan, the Raiders’ quarterback coach, checked out Stouffer at Fort Collins in early March, then returned with head coach Tom Flores two weeks later.

“They said they thought I could fit in well, but they made no promises,” Stouffer said.

Nobody knows if the Raiders would have picked Stouffer if he had still been available on the 15th turn, and they weren’t saying Tuesday. Anyway, as the day wore on, Stouffer got used to being a Cardinal.

“I was prepared to go in the middle of the first round, just from the fact that I didn’t think any team was gonna take a quarterback (early),” he said. “Initially, I was surprised. But I’m very happy to be a part of the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Stouffer’s agent, Frank Bauer of Stockton, said that the Cardinals drove the quarterback’s stock up significantly by drafting him so much higher than expected.

“They showed need,” Bauer said. “If they trade Lomax, there’s a bigger need. See what I’m saying? The leverage is there.”

Stouffer, 22, said a few days ago: “For a quarterback in the first round, a conservative figure would be a contract worth $1.5 million for four years. (It’s) money I can’t imagine. You’re talking to a guy whose best life work has been a $367-a-month scholarship.”

Two years ago, Bauer and associate Mike Blatt represented another first-round choice by the Cardinals: Linebacker Freddie Joe Nunn from Mississippi.

“St. Louis has been fair,” Bauer said. “They treated Freddie Joe very well. We don’t expect real big problems. They need to get a quarterback in there. It’s in their best advantage to speed it up and get it done.”

Signing first-round choices has been difficult the last two years, but Stouffer said: “I intend to be there when training camp starts. It’s my duty to be there. I owe it to the team and to the organization, and I will be there. You’ve gotta be there from Day 1, especially being a rookie quarterback.”