Fouts Retires, Says It’s Time to Move On

Quarterback Dan Fouts, who directed San Diego’s record-setting offense of the late 1970s and early ‘80s, retired Thursday, saying his body could not take the battering of another football season.

“After 15 years, this body has taken about as many hits as it can,” Fouts said in a news conference at his home here, about 20 miles north of San Diego. “It’s just time for me to move on to a new phase in my life.

“I feel fortunate that I have my health intact, that I have all my teeth and that I have a few yet-unscrambled brain cells. Really, that’s the way I want to go through the rest of my life. I want to enjoy it and I believe I will.”

Fouts said his decision to retire was a mutual one by him and club officials. At no time was he pressured into leaving, he said, adding that he did not consider going to another team.

Fouts acknowledged that there had been differences at times between him and some club officials, including owner Alex Spanos. Asked if he held any grudges, Fouts said: “No, there really aren’t any. If I harbored ill feelings over everything that happened in the last 15 years, I’d be a wreck.

“I’m very happy with the decision and looking forward to moving on.”

The club reportedly reached a contract buyout agreement with Fouts last November in which the six-time Pro Bowl quarterback gave up all contractual guarantees beyond 1987 in return for an undisclosed bonus, last year’s full $750,000 salary despite the strike-interrupted season, and $375,000 for 1988, when the contract expired.