Fouts Expected to Announce Retirement : Charger Quarterback Threw for 43,040 Yards, 254 Touchdowns

Quarterback Dan Fouts of the San Diego Chargers has called a press conference for this morning, when he is expected to announce his retirement from football.

Fouts, 36, was unavailable for comment Wednesday but sources in the Charger organization were unanimous in their anticipation of Fouts’ retirement.

Alex Spanos, the Chargers’ owner, hasn’t talked to Fouts since the end of the 1987 season. Coach Al Saunders said Wednesday that the last time he talked to Fouts was “a couple of weeks ago.”

Word of the press conference came through the Chargers’ public relations office, but only after Bob Fouts, Dan’s father and spokesman, contacted Rick Smith, the Charger public relations director, to discuss the logistics of the conference, which will be held at Fouts’ Rancho Santa Fe home.

Dan Fouts, has thrown for 43,040 yards and 254 touchdowns in his 15 seasons with the Chargers.

As early as last summer, however, the team began sending signals that it didn’t want him to return in 1988. In recent days there were published reports, never publicly confirmed by Fouts or the Chargers, that the team bought out the final year of Fouts’ contract, thus freeing itself from any contractual obligation to Fouts for 1988.

Fouts was unhappy when details of his alleged contract settlement leaked Tuesday. And he has never been happy with the Chargers’ repeated insistence that they need a new quarterback for 1988.

Fouts is also expected to talk about his career plans today and those plans will almost certainly include sports broadcasting.

CBS-TV said that Fouts has done an audition tape for the network in hopes of receiving an offer to become an NFL analyst. NBC-TV said it is also interested in Fouts.

If Fouts retires, the Chargers will be left with quarterbacks Mark Vlasic and Mark Herrmann. Vlasic is a second-year player from Iowa. Herrmann, 29, has never been able to establish himself as a starter.