CSUN Exports Make Trans-Atlantic Rush : Football: Former Matador coach, players, help integrate American pastime to Europe.

A former Cal State Northridge football coach and three former Matador players are participating in the newest attempt to export American sports to Europe.

Jack Elway, who coached at CSUN from 1976-78, has been hired as a coach in the International League of American Football, an eight-team circuit scheduled to begin play April 14. Mike Kane, Chris Parker and Ron Foster are among 140 players who participated in the league’s mini-camp in Dallas last week.

The ILAF plans to integrate American players with Europeans and gradually expand football in an area where the sport is in its infancy. Each team will have 12 Americans on its roster, and they must play the so-called skill positions of quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive back and linebacker. The remaining 24 players on each team will be recruited from each franchise’s home nation.

The league’s long-term plan is to phase out the Americans, a goal Commissioner Carroll Huntress believes is attainable in seven to eight years.

Elway, Parker and Kane already are veterans of European football. Earlier this year, Kane played running back for the Elway-coached Milano Seamen, who finished 13-2 and reached the Italian Super Bowl. In 1988, Kane led the Helsinki Roosters to the Eurobowl title.

Parker, a quarterback, helped the London Capitals to the semifinals of the European Football League’s postseason tournament in 1988. Parker spent most of last summer with the Rams, but was released during the final week of training camp.

Foster, Kane and Parker were invited to the Dallas mini-camp after a tryout at St. Bernard High last month.

“The night before the tryout my mother got a call from one of the coaches (Ray Willsey) asking me to come to the tryout,” Parker said. “I didn’t know who he was or how he got her number.”

The league held tryouts in seven U. S. cities, and evaluated more than 4,000 players.

“The coaches gathered us together on the first day and told us we should feel special that we’re here,” Parker said. “Each coach thinks the level of play is at a high level, and it doesn’t matter if we came from Northridge or Notre Dame. We’re all in the same place now.”

The mini-camp roster includes many veterans of Arena Football and the 1987 NFL replacement games. Among the best-known players are Ben Bennett, formerly college football’s all-time leading passer at Duke and Arena Football’s Most Valuable Player in 1988, and Willie Totten, Jerry Rice’s quarterback at Mississippi Valley State.

The league’s other head coaches include former Raider assistants Bob Mischak and Willsey, coach of Arena Football’s L. A. Cobras in 1988.

Kane, 24, was a Division II first team All-American in 1986, after rushing for a school record 1,565 yards. He also holds CSUN career records for rushing (3,572 yards), touchdowns (39) and points (234).

Parker, 25, established school records for completions (232) and passes (424) in a season, operating the Matadors’ run-and-shoot offense in 1985.

Foster, 26, anchored CSUN’s secondary from his safety position in 1983. He started two games for the Raiders replacement team, but was released when the strike ended.

Elway guided the Matadors to a 22-11-1 record in his three seasons before departing for San Jose State. With the Spartans, Elway was twice selected as Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. Coach of the Year and he compiled a 35-20-1 record from 1979-83. Elway spent the 1984-88 seasons at Stanford, guiding the Cardinal to a 25-29-2 mark.

ILAF franchises are set for Barcelona, Helsinki, Munich, Milan, Rome, London, Amsterdam and Birmingham, England. The league has secured exclusive, multi-year contracts with some of Europe’s largest stadiums, a departure from current European football.

“Our home stadium in Milan had seats on just one side and it probably held 1,500 people,” Kane said. “Our biggest crowd was about 800.”

Milan’s ILAF entry is slated to play in 32,000-seat Arena Stadium in 1990, before moving in 1991 to the 85,000-seat San Siro, which will be used for soccer’s 1990 World Cup. Four ILAF stadiums have been main venues for the Olympics, while Montjuic Olympic Stadium will be the main venue for the 1992 Olympics.

Football in Europe attracts crowds of up to about 10,000. Both the level of play and organization have been compared to American semi-pro leagues.

The league plans to select its 96 American players by the end of the month.

The ILAF may not be Europe’s only football league for long. The NFL-sponsored World League of American Football plans on beginning play in the spring of 1991, with franchises in the U. S., Canada, Mexico and Europe.