Fouts Elects Not to Push His Luck, Retires : Relatively Healthy, He Leaves Football After 15-Year Career

Dan Fouts, wearing cuffed jeans, Nike tennis shoes and a dark blue lamb’s-wool sweater with rolled-up sleeves that revealed the telltale scar tissue of 15 NFL seasons, announced his retirement from football Thursday.

He sat in a chair next to his wife, Julianne, beside a swimming pool in the back yard of his impeccably decorated house on a hill and thanked everybody for coming. Then he thanked the Chargers and their fans.

He even said he respected Charger owner Alex Spanos as a “fighter,” even though the two haven’t spoken since December.

But, Fouts said, “after 15 years, this body has taken about as many hits as it can. It’s just time for me to move on to another phase of my life.”

Nobody from the organization was present. Fouts wanted it that way. But he insisted there was no animosity toward the team. “If I harbored ill feelings for all the things that have happened over the last 15 years, I’d be a wreck,” he said.

“Dan wanted this to be his thing,” said his father, Bay Area sportscaster Bob Fouts.

So for half an hour, Dan Fouts carefully fielded a wide range of questions. His voice did not quaver. Nobody cried.

Afterward there was a catered lunch for anybody who wanted to hang around.

“I’ll be here all day,” Fouts said.

He said he has no plans to play in or move to another city.

“This,” he said, looking around, “is as good as it gets.”

And that was about as emotional as Dan Fouts’ retirement party got.

There were stories about old teammates and coaches, big games and missed chances. His affection for the former and regrets about the latter were unmistakable.

The people who vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame almost certainly will cast their ballots for Fouts as soon as he is eligible. He holds 42 team and seven NFL records. He threw 254 touchdown passes during his career and completed passes for 300 yards or more in 51 games. No other quarterback has ever passed for 300 yards more than 26 times.

But the people who measure players for Super Bowl rings never needed to know Fouts’ size. He played in zero Super Bowls.

At least two teams have expressed interest in Fouts as a backup quarterback for 1988. But Fouts used the phrase “a few yet-unscrambled brain cells” to explain why he has no interest in any such role.

Besides, this is the first off-season in several years in which Fouts has not needed surgery. “It wouldn’t be very wise to push my luck,” he said. “I’m very at ease with this decision and very comfortable with it.”

For the record, two names--Don Coryell and John Jefferson--came up over and over in flattering references during the formal and informal portions of the news conference. The names of Al Saunders, Charger coach, and Steve Ortmayer, director of football operations, did not cross his lips.

Also for the record, the Chargers officially are without a starting quarterback for the first time in 15 years.

“It’s the passing of an era,” Ortmayer said of Fouts’ announcement. “It will be strange to look and see the San Diego Chargers without No. 14 in the lineup.”

“For 15 years, Dan Fouts has been the epitome of this organization as a player,” Saunders said. “There is a sadness. We will miss him a great deal. He was something special.”

Added Spanos: “We’ve been waiting for him to make his decision. I wish him all the luck. I hope he achieves his goals from here on as he did in his 15 years with the Chargers.”

Fouts’ announcement took no one by surprise. Last November the team negotiated a buyout of the final year of his contract, which freed them of any contractual obligations to him for 1988.

“My decision to retire is a mutual decision coming from me and the Chargers coincidentally,” he said.

Ortmayer said the Chargers will place Fouts, 36, on the “reserve-retired” list. That means they will own his rights indefinitely. And that means Fouts, in the unlikely event that he decides to un-retire, can’t shop his services as a free agent unless the Chargers subsequently waive him.

“I’d still like to play,” Fouts said. “Scoring touchdowns is about as much fun as you can have. But I came to the realization that physically I just don’t think I can play, and play to the caliber I would feel comfortable at. You just can’t realize how big and strong and fast these guys are and how slow and and puny and weak I am and what a mismatch it is.”

The Chargers have been talking for several months with several other NFL teams about obtaining a quarterback. They recently received permission from the Kansas City Chiefs to work out Todd Blackledge.

“Todd had a good workout,” Saunders said.

Ortmayer said talks are continuing with the Chiefs about Blackledge, 27. He also said Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham’s name has come up in discussions with the Eagles. Ortmayer will meet with Cunningham’s agent, Jim Steiner, Monday morning. But he insisted that Cunningham will not be the focus of that meeting.

Cunningham, 24, completed 54.9% of his passes last year with 23 touchdown passes against only 12 interceptions. His strong points are arm strength and mobility.

Ortmayer also said the Chargers will work out Steve Fuller, a former Bear, Chief and Ram quarterback. Fuller spent the entire 1987 season on the Bears’ “physically unable to perform” list after he underwent surgery on his (right) throwing shoulder last summer.

Fuller, 31, resumed practicing with the Bears near the end of the season. But the Bears released him after the playoffs, and he is a free agent.

Both Blackledge and Fuller are former No. 1 draft picks, and Cunningham was a second-rounder.

Without Fouts, the Chargers are left with three quarterbacks: Mark Herrmann, Mark Vlasic and Mike Kelley, a former USFL player who started one game during the 1987 strike.

Vlasic played sparingly as a rookie last year and didn’t complete a pass longer than 10 yards. Herrmann, 29, is a seven-year veteran who never has been able to establish himself as a front-line NFL starter.

“The guys we have now are capable,” Fouts said.

But, Ortmayer said, all three current Charger quarterbacks lack “on-the-field experience.” He said finding a quarterback with sufficient on-the-field experience will “become our quest.”

Said Saunders diplomatically: “I’m certain we’d fare well with any of those three (Vlasic, Herrmann or Kelley) as our regular quarterback next year. But certainly you’d like to upgrade yourself at every position possible.”

Fouts repeated his intention to become a sports broadcaster, and he hopes it will happen as early as next fall. A spokesman for Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports in New York, said negotiations between Fouts’ agent, Howard Slusher, and the network are under way. Slusher also has contacted the other major networks.

Another network spokesman said Slusher is asking for an inordinately large contract from CBS. But, the spokesman added, the two parties are close to a deal. CBS has historically paid higher salaries to former athletes with marketable value than NBC or ABC.

Fouts did an audition tape recently for CBS, but he said he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He worked as an analyst on the tape with play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton. The game used for the audition was last season’s NFC championship game in which the Redskins beat the Vikings, 17-10.

“A defensive struggle,” Fouts said, feigning a yawn.

But, when asked if he expected to be in a broadcast booth by next season, Fouts said, “I think that’s a reality.”

Throughout his playing career, Fouts was often a difficult interview. He did not suffer fools gladly, and he was often moody. But he also could be charming and incisive.

“I know that I’ve not always been the easiest guy to get along with after some of those ballgames,” Fouts told the assembled media, “but I realize and I appreciate the difficulties of your job. And I hope now that I’m no longer a player that I will be able to work with you in the future and get to learn from you.”

Fouts said he also will remain involved in Fouts Financial, a local commercial real estate business run by his brother, Bob.

The biggest single highlight of his career, Fouts said, was probably the 1982 playoff game against the Dolphins, in which Rolf Benirschke kicked a 27-yard field goal after 13 minutes 52 seconds of overtime to beat Miami, 41-38. Fouts threw for 433 yards and three touchdowns.

His biggest disappointment: the 1981 AFC championship game, in which the Raiders beat the Chargers, 34-27, in San Diego. “It was a wild and crazy game,” Fouts said. “And the electricity in the air before the game was something I had never felt before. I’d never seen two teams play as hard and with the emotion that there was that day.”

The last pass Fouts threw in the NFL wound up in the hands of Colt defensive back Eugene Daniel. An interception. It’s a distinction that puts Fouts in fast company. The last NFL pass thrown by Joe Namath wound up in the hands of Bear safety back Gary Fencik.

Fouts had better luck Thursday.

He completed his career.

FOUTS’ CAREER (Regular season)

Year G-S Att. Cmp Yds. Pct. TD Lng Int. Rtg 1973 10-6 194 87 1126 44.8 6 69t 13 46.0 1974 11-11 237 115 1732 48.5 8 75t 13 61.4 1975 10-9 195 106 1396 54.4 2 57 10 59.3 1976 14-13 359 208 2535 57.9 14 81t 15 75.3 1977 4-4 109 69 869 63.3 4 67t 6 77.5 1978 15-14 381 224 2999 58.8 24 55t 20 83.2 1979 16-16 530 332 4082 62.9 24 65t 24 82.6 1980 16-16 589 348 4715 59.1 30 65 24 84.6 1981 16-16 609 360 4802 59.1 33 67t 17 90.6 1982 9-9 330 204 2883 61.8 17 44t 11 93.6 1983 10-10 340 215 2975 63.2 20 59t 15 92.6 1984 13-13 507 317 3740 62.5 19 61t 17 83.1 1985 14-12 430 254 3638 59.1 27 75t 20 88.0 1986 12-12 430 252 3031 58.6 16 65t 22 71.4 1987 11-10 364 206 2517 56.6 10 46 15 70.0 Totals 181-171 5604 3297 43040 58.8 254 81t 242 80.2