Tongue Tied: New Charger Punter Gets in Bind Over Shoelaces

Hank Ilesic hadn’t even wiped all the shaving cream off his face Sunday before a bunch of reporters wanted to know what all this fuss was about his right shoe.

Ilesic was called in by the Chargers from Canada last week to take over the punting duties from Lewis Colbert, who had a dismal 33.3-yard average in the first two games. Ilesic, a 13-year veteran of the Canadian Football League, has been in town only long enough to figure out it’s a good deal warmer here than in Toronto, where he averaged 44.0 yards a punt last season with the Argonauts.

So he has been practicing his punting with this funny-sized American football for a few days. He was all set to give it a go against the Kansas City Chiefs before 40,128 spectators at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium when, just a few minutes before kickoff, Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer beckoned the officiating crew and informed them that Ilesic’s shoe was illegal.

Huh?

Yeah, it seems this brand of shoe has a leather tongue that covers the laces. One of the officials ended up on the phone to Art McNally, supervisor of officials for the National Football League, and asked him if it was OK for Ilesic to kick. McNally’s answer was something to the effect of: “Not unless the laces are showing.”

Well, Sid Brooks, the Charger equipment manager, solved the problem easily enough, cutting away enough leather so the laces were exposed. Ilesic kicked. The Chargers defeated the Chiefs, 21-6. And everything was dandy.

In fact, Ilesic really couldn’t understand what all the commotion was about.

“It’s no big deal,” he said. “We have a game to play. If you’re upset about it, it’s going to affect your performance.”

It seems that when Charger Coach Dan Henning told Ilesic he couldn’t use the shoe as is, Ilesic shrugged, put on the makeshift version and punted five times for an average of 44.8 yards.

“It probably disturbed me a lot more than it did Hank,” said Henning, who made the announcement about the shoe problem as if he was breaking the biggest news since the Jim McMahon trade. Yet Henning also gave his new punter a vote of confidence, saying: “Under the conditions I think he had a pretty good day.”

Remember, this guy Ilesic has been around for a few years. His punting career in the CFL survived 13 seasons and 1,573 kicks. So it was no surprise to Joe Madden, the Charger special teams coach, that he was able to jump into this strange shoe and do the job.

“He’s a professional,” Madden said. “He’ll improve on that, I promise.”

Which is saying a lot, considering Ilesic gave the fans their first opportunity this season to applaud a punt. That happened midway through the second quarter when he sent Chief returner Naz Worthen retreating at a sprinter’s pace for a ball that traveled 60 yards.

The next episode of the “Hank’s Punting Shoe” will begin today, when Brooks stuffs the thing in a Federal Express package and sends it to the league office with a photo of an American-made shoe that looks just like it. Brooks isn’t convinced there’s anything wrong with Canada’s version.

“They said the shoe was made in Canada,” said Brooks of the protest. “I said, ‘Yeah, rain shoes are made in Canada, too, and we use them.’ ”

Ilesic doesn’t plan to spend a lot of time worrying about the whole thing. He’s taking an attitude of, “Hey, if the shoe fits, wear it.” To him, the Chiefs’ ploy was all just part of the game.

“Sure,” he said. “The new kid on the street. If you can distract the opposition in any way, try it.”

If not distracted, Ilesic certainly noted a few differences punting in an NFL game than in Canada.

“Everything is so much quicker here,” he said. “The incoming rush, the punt returners. You have to get the ball off a lot quicker.”

Ilesic says he has waited for this opportunity for years and plans to make the most of it. He says he doesn’t know a whole lot about the Chargers or their history, and he hasn’t seen much more of San Diego than the stadium and his hotel. But he has a good feeling about this place.

“I don’t feel like a stranger, an outsider,” he said. “In due time, I’ll settle down and get accustomed to the surroundings.”

It’s bound to get easier than the first game. Then again, he may not get this much attention again for a long time.

“Nothing like breaking into the league with some controversy,” he said.