He’ll Have the Record Book in His Hands : Seahawks: Sunday against the Chargers, Steve Largent could add the NFL career touchdown catch mark to his collection.

It’s the Triple Crown of career pass receiving, and a most unlikely candidate is on the verge of winning it.

Ring Lardner, a legendary New York sportswriter with a remarkable flair for humor, had a pet line that would have been a perfect fit for Steve Largent: “Although he was small, he was also slow.”

Largent is so small and so slow that 116 players were picked ahead of him in the National Football League’s 1976 draft. He is so small and so slow that, after taking him in the fourth round, the Houston Oilers considered themselves lucky to get an eighth-round choice from the Seattle Seahawks when they decided to cut him.

All Largent can do is catch every pass thrown in his vicinity, and he has done this so often in the past 14 seasons that he is closing in on one of the great achievements in the history of football.

Largent already has won two legs of the Triple Crown, in each case taking records away from the Chargers’ Charlie Joiner. He has caught 792 passes and amassed 13,709 yards.

Now Largent is poised to complete the grand slam by breaking Hall of Famer Don Hutson’s record of 99 touchdown passes caught, and he could do it Sunday against the Chargers in Seattle. He has 98, having reached that total on the only catch he made in the season opener before suffering a broken left elbow that has kept him out since.

This is the week for which Largent has waited patiently, the week he comes off injured reserve and takes his first shot at the pass-catching trifecta. He is recovered and ready for full-time duty.

Largent turned 35 a month ago. He has announced that this will be his final season, so there is a sense of urgency about scoring the two touchdowns he needs to reach 100. Still, he doesn’t think the full impact of such an achievement will hit him until he has retired.

“I imagine I’ll be more emotional about it later on,” Largent said by telephone. “When I’m on the field, I get so caught up in the game and the team aspect of it that I don’t feel the true perspective on the whole thing.

“That was crystallized for me when I was out for six weeks. Being out of the game, I was able to step back and get a broader view.”

This is not to say that the significance of the record within his grasp has been lost on the University of Tulsa alumnus. The record is one of the oldest on the NFL books, having stood 44 years, and is held by the man generally considered the greatest receiver of all time.

Hutson, now 76 and living in retirement in Rancho Mirage, was an All-American end opposite the late Paul (Bear) Bryant at Alabama in 1934. While Bryant went into coaching, Hutson joined the Green Bay Packers, and from 1935 through 1945 there wasn’t a man in the league who could stop him.

Hutson was the first player to win receiving’s Triple Crown and still stands as the only one. When he retired with 488 catches (for 7,991 yards), the runner-up was 298 behind him.

In 11 NFL seasons, Hutson was an all-pro nine times. He led the league in catches eight times, in reception yardage six times and in touchdown passes nine times. He also intercepted 30 passes as a safety--players went 60 minutes in those days--and even kicked extra points and field goals. All told, he scored 823 points, including 105 touchdowns.

“I haven’t really studied Hutson, but I’ve heard about him,” Largent said. “I’ve heard he was a great player, and most of all, a great person.”

Largent also has the utmost respect--in this case first-hand--for Joiner, who now coaches the Charger receivers. He broke Joiner’s records of 750 catches in 1987 and 12,146 yards in 1988.

“I really admired Charlie,” Largent said. “He was a gifted athlete, but he worked hard, too. I remember a quote by Earl Weaver (former Baltimore Orioles manager): ‘The most important thing is what you learn after you think you know it all.’ Joiner is that type of person.”

Hutson was far ahead of his time. It is said he invented many of the moves that wide receivers use today.

The late Charlie Brock, who played center in the last seven of Hutson’s 11 seasons with the Packers, recalled Hutson as an incomparable performer in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.

“Hutson revolutionized pass receiving,” Brock said. “Of all the players from our era, the one most likely to be able to play today would be Hutson. He faked linebackers right onto their backs, and he could stop and go so quickly that the defenders were always off balance. There was nobody close to him.”

True, Hutson made his moves against players who were not the specialists that defensive backs are today. Because free substitution was still in the future, they spent half their time playing offense.

Nevertheless, there are those who insist that such a technicality didn’t make any difference. One is another Packer Hall of Famer, halfback Paul Hornung of Vince Lombardi’s glory teams of the ‘60s.

Once, Hornung and several teammates were watching old Packer films and saw Hutson shake off triple coverage to catch a pass.

“I’m a believer, am I a believer,” Hornung said. “You know what Hutson would do in this league today? The same things he did when he played.”

To grasp the magnitude of what Hutson accomplished, consider that he played in only 117 games, compared to Largent’s current total of 191. Also there was a lot less passing then than there is now; in 1942, Hutson caught 74 passes, more than four NFL teams completed.

“We played 10 or 11 games a year,” Hutson said. “Now they play 16. And a team today is liable to throw 50 passes in one game. We might have thrown only 50 in one season.”

Hutson was two inches taller than Largent at 6-feet-1, but 10 pounds lighter, at 180. He also was considerably faster.

Asked how he felt about having Largent close in on his last big record, Hutson said, “I’m happy for him. I see Chuck Knox (the Seahawks’ coach) down here in the off-season, and at a dinner we went to one time, Chuck talked for 15 minutes about this guy Largent. He really gave me a lecture, telling me not only about Largent’s football ability but his fine family life and the good things he does in the community. He went on and on.

“I’m tickled to hear Largent is that kind of guy. If somebody is going to break my record, I’m glad it’s Steve Largent.”

Hutson said it would be impossible to compare his style with Largent’s, but added that the art of catching passes hadn’t changed much over the years.

“I would say that the receivers today use pretty much the same moves that we had,” Hutson said. “There’s no question that we started a lot of that stuff.

“I’ve seen Largent on TV, and I see things that are similar. He catches anything anywhere near him. He’s a great receiver. I don’t think he’s fast as receivers go, but his moves are as good as any.”

Hutson scoffs at the opinion held by many old-timers that athletes are not as good as they used to be.

“I have the greatest respect in the world for the players of today,” he said. “They’re far better at everything than we were in the old days. They’re such specialists at their positions. I was one of the first to say that.

“Free substitution is one of the greatest things that ever happened to football. They play five minutes or so, then they rest. They don’t take all those hits that we used to take. That makes a big difference.”

Knox, 57, recalled that when he was growing up in Sewickley, Pa., Hutson was as famous as baseball’s Joe DiMaggio. Asked about the belief that Hutson pioneered the art of receiving, Knox said, “I think that’s true.”

And Largent? As Hutson noted, mere mention of his name inspires the normally reserved Knox to search for superlatives.

“Steve is a unique player, a unique person,” Knox said. “He epitomizes what people mean when they talk about professional athletes as role models.

“He watches everything that goes on in practice, he studies at night, and he’s productive every Sunday. That’s why he’ll be in the Hall of Fame.”

Knox pointed out how diligently Largent worked during the rehabilitation period that followed his opening-game injury.

“He went onto the field by himself and ran all the pass patterns,” Knox said. “He even put pads on. You just don’t see players on injured reserve with pads on, but Steve is a different type of person.

“I’ve seen only two players in my 36 years in coaching work that hard in rehab. The other was Merlin Olsen, and he’s in the Hall of Fame.”

Told of Knox’s remarks, Largent said, “There was method to my madness. I wanted to come off IR and be back in midseason form. Staying used to wearing pads and a helmet, seeing the football and running routes were things I could do while I was on IR. I caught one-handed after a couple of weeks, and within four weeks I was catching normally.”

Largent said he hadn’t patterned his style after any one receiver.

“I watch the others and the things they do,” he said. “If I see a good route that’s new to me, I may use it. I try to borrow from a lot of different players.”

At this point, Largent owns five NFL records. Besides those for receptions and yardage, he holds records of 10 seasons with 50 or more catches, eight seasons of 1,000 or more yards and a current streak of 168 games with at least one catch.

Which record means the most to him?

“The one for career receptions,” he said. “That’s the one everybody looks at. Of course, the ultimate would be to get the reception, yardage and touchdown records, but I haven’t broken the third one yet.”

Although Largent hasn’t shown any signs of going downhill--his average yardage per catch of 16.5 last year tied the third best of his career--he is adamant about retiring at the end of the season.

“It will be hard to leave, but I’ve got to move on,” he said. “Coaching is not in my future because I wouldn’t enjoy being forced to move my family all over the country.

“I have business interests in Tulsa and Seattle, and I’ve talked to a couple of network people about doing TV work after my career is over. At this point, I don’t have any particular direction.”

As Knox said, one direction Largent is sure to take is toward the Hall of Fame, and he was asked if he had given this much thought.

“That’s a difficult question to answer,” he said. “It presumes so much, and I just don’t want to do that. But it brings a smile to my face every time I look in the record book and see my name with the likes of Hutson and Lance Alworth and Raymond Berry, some of the fabled receivers of the NFL.

“It’s all like a dream to me. I can’t believe it’s true.”