Mr. Backup Is Back In Again : Raiders: With Hostetler out, Evans will start Sunday against the Chiefs, his first non-strike NFL start since 1983.

“Vince Evans’ Unending Fight to Be No. 1. ‘It’s Always Going to Be Like This for Me.’ ” A headline in yesterday’s Times? Hardly. Would you believe 1976?

And how right he was.

Evans’ battle in those days was for the starting job at USC.

His uniform has changed many times since then, but not his struggle.

“The Long Wait. It’s Frustrating, Vince Evans Says, to Sit and Watch Your Skills Erode.” That was 1978. Evans was fighting for a starting job with the Chicago Bears.

“Bears’ Evans Is Back to Backup.” That was 1980.

“After a Long Wait, Evans Will Finally Be a Headliner in Denver.” That was 1985.

“Raiders’ New Motto: Commitment to Evans.”

That was yesterday.

Evans, the quintessential backup, is about to see his unending dream of being a starting quarterback come true.

Once again.

With Jeff Hostetler hobbled by a sprained ankle, Raider Coach Art Shell has listed Evans as his starter for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs in Kansas City.

If that happens, Evans, at 38, will be starting his first non-strike NFL game since Oct. 30, 1983, when he played for the Bears in a 38-17 loss to the Detroit Lions.

He has always won the starting job wherever he has been. It has just taken longer in some places.

Evans won the No. 1 job at USC in his second season and was the Rose Bowl’s most valuable player after leading the Trojans to victory over Michigan in the 1977 game.

Taken in the sixth round of the 1977 draft by Chicago, the 140th player taken overall, Evans eventually became a starter for the Bears in 32 of the 62 games he played for them over a seven-year span.

And Evans was not only a starter, but a star in the now-defunct United States Football League, playing for the Chicago Blitz in 1984 and the Denver Gold in 1985. He led USFL quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns in 1984 and 1985.

But that was the USFL.

Evans still hungered to be a starter again in the NFL.

He got his wish in 1987. Sort of.

Signed by the Raiders for the replacement games in the midst of an NFL strike, he started all three.

But when the regulars returned to work, Evans returned to the sidelines.

And there he has stood, patiently waiting his turn through seven seasons, three coaches and an endless stream of quarterbacks. Six times he was released, then re-signed, by the Raiders.

Jim Plunkett got old. Steve Beuerlein got benched. Jay Schroeder got beaten. Todd Marinovich got in trouble. Hostetler got signed. Billy Joe Hobert got drafted.

And Evans got older. And still, he waited.

Finally, last December, in the final game of the regular season, he got noticed.

Really noticed.

With Schroeder injured, Evans came off the bench to lead the Raiders to a comeback victory over the Redskins in Washington with a memorable, victory-clinching drive at the end of the game.

It would have been easy for the Raiders, finishing a 7-9 season with no hope of a playoff spot, to go through the motions on that frigid, unpleasant evening. But even if that thought crossed a few minds, Evans wouldn’t allow it.

“He was even bringing God into the huddle,” receiver Tim Brown recalled. “He would say, ‘God is with us.’ We were thinking, ‘Whoa, Vince.’ But that’s what Vince is all about.”

Indeed, Evans’ deep faith is what has sustained him.

“I think the lesson is perseverance,” Evans said. “You never lose sight of where you want to be, despite what others may say. For me, it’s been my faith.”

That might have given Evans new life on the football field, but he embraced his faith when he was struggling just to keep his life.

It was 1979. Evans, still playing for the Bears, got a simple cut on the arm.

But the simple turned complex. And nearly deadly. He got an infection and his temperature soared to 105.4 degrees.

Doctors at Illinois’ Lake Forest Hospital finally pulled him out of danger.

“While I was laying in the hospital, I did some inner searching,” he said in a 1985 interview with The Times. “I changed my life around. I realized my life had become a contradiction of the way I was raised. I got caught up in the fast lane. The problem is, everybody is your buddy and you do not know who is for real. You’ve got the cash, you are at the parties and around the women and the cocaine. It’s all such a superficial and temporary excitement. After a while, it’s not even exciting.”

That was 14 years ago. Evans got religion, got married and kept his football dreams.

“I’ve always believed in myself and my abilities,” he said Wednesday. “And I never really felt like the chapter was over.”

On Sunday, he hopes to write a happy ending.

Or is it just the beginning?