WAITING GAME : After Sitting Out a Year, Stouffer Finds His Niche With the Seahawks

Rushville, Neb. (population 1,200), thought it had seen the last of favorite son Kelly Stouffer that fine April day in 1987. Off to the big city he would go, off to fame and fortune and the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League.

The Cardinals had made Stouffer their No. 1 pick in the draft, the 6th player chosen overall. If this was big news in St. Louis, which it was, just imagine how it went over in Rushville, a modest town tucked high in the state’s northwestern panhandle, about 30 miles from the South Dakota border.

This was bigger than the Rushville High School basketball player getting the appointment to the Air Force Academy a few years back. This was bigger than the two Rushville kids who played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, known fondly in the state as the Big Red. This was even bigger than Rushville’s previous claim to fame, which was its proximity--35 miles--to that fabled place, Wounded Knee, S.D.

Stouffer was the town’s brag. If ever there was a reason to think about placing a “Rushville, Home of Kelly Stouffer” sign at the city limits, this was it.

“Nothing like that’s ever happened to Rushville,” said Bill Engel, the high school athletic director, of Stouffer’s NFL selection. “That was pretty exciting.”

Here was Stouffer, a 3-sport letterman for the Rushville Longhorns--school enrollment, 130--a Western Athletic Conference first-team quarterback from Colorado State in 1986, the most valuable player of the East-West Shrine game and, now, a contract signature away from becoming a St. Louis Cardinal--the other Big Red.

But it never happened. Despite all the draft-day optimism, Stouffer never signed his name on a Cardinal contract.

Stouffer and Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill, who moved his team to Phoenix in time for the 1988 season, couldn’t come to financial terms.

So, what was supposed to be the nifty little story of a Nebraska kid, the son of a grocery store manager, making good in St. Louis or later Phoenix, died on the negotiating table. Bidwill wouldn’t budge. Stouffer wouldn’t budge. Result: An impasse so thick with bitterness and ill will that Stouffer sat out the entire 1987 NFL season in Rushville.

Along came the Seattle Seahawks. They needed an heir apparent to 9-year veteran Dave Krieg. Jeff Kemp, acquired from the San Francisco 49ers last year, wasn’t considered the answer. Would the Cardinals be interested in unloading Stouffer for, say, a first-round choice and two second-round selections?

Is the Arch curved? Is Phoenix hot? The Cardinals couldn’t say yes fast enough, which, oddly enough, is why Rushville threw a little party for its hero last April. It’s also why part of the populace gathers at the Twenty Bar, one of the few places in town with a satellite dish, to watch Stouffer and the Seahawks play each Sunday.

This time, it will be Stouffer against the Rams at Anaheim Stadium. It will be his fourth start of the season, a result of a shoulder injury to Krieg and the ineffectiveness of Kemp.

So far, Stouffer has called plays in the Seahawk huddle that don’t exist--and gained yards out of them. He has thrown just 1 interception, helped lead Seattle to 2 wins in 3 tries and, by doing so, sparked a quarterback controversy. No wonder Rushville is proud.

“At this point in time, I feel very comfortable,” he said.

It shows. Although the Seahawks lost to the New Orleans Saints, 20-19, last Sunday, Stouffer completed 26 of 47 passes for 370 yards and a touchdown. Some growing pains.

“He’s been impressive, very impressive,” Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox has said.

“Eye-opening,” is how Seahawk receiver Steve Largent described Stouffer’s play.

Even Krieg has called Stouffer’s performances exceptional.

To which Stouffer replied by saying thanks.

“When I came here, I didn’t foresee playing as quick as I did,” he said. “I wanted to be prepared for whatever situation came up. I didn’t really know what to expect.”

Stouffer is an expert at muddled expectations. That year’s worth of wondering and waiting taught him that much.

Stouffer said he believes the Cardinals used his selection as nothing more than a motivational tool for veteran quarterback Neil Lomax. And he said the Cardinals were more interested in dictating than negotiating.

“(Bidwill) flat-out told me they didn’t have to be fair, because I didn’t have any leverage,” Stouffer said.

Well, he did have one little option, which was to wait. Wait for a better offer. Or wait for another team. But he didn’t think it would take a year.

“I don’t think I ever did regret (the decision),” Stouffer said. “There were times that it was tough and I had a little doubt here or there. But it wasn’t ever a situation where I felt that I made a mistake. To me, it was a lot more than just turning down a lot of money. It was the fact that I didn’t think business was handled the way business is supposed to be.”

This is typical Stouffer--proud, stubborn, a sense of right and wrong--say those who know him.

Said Engel: “He’s got a real strong set of values of his own that he stuck by, a lot of personal values that he holds in high regard.”

Not everyone in Rushville agreed with his decision to hold out. Every Saturday morning in the fall, when some of the fellas got together for their coffee club and talked about the Longhorns’ game the night before, Stouffer’s name came up.

“Everyone knew Kelly,” Engel said. “And everyone was willing to give their own personal ideas. They’d say, ‘How can a young kid pass up X number of dollars?’ There were some people who really questioned if he was doing the right thing.”

Turns out he was, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the townspeople.

When Rushville had its annual Activities Banquet in April, the folks invited Stouffer, fresh from his trade to Seattle, back home. They asked him to make a speech and then thanked him by retiring his Longhorn jersey--good ol’ No. 12. Like his odyssey from holdout to starter, it was worth the wait.