Not Just a Passing Fancy : Flag football draws ex-athletes and others who want the fun without the bruises.

He looks like a stand-in for Rudy, the Notre Dame football walk-on who inspired the recent movie of the same name.

He stands all of 5 feet, 5 1/2 inches, this wisp of a fellow clad in headband, shorts, cleats and a blue jersey numbered “32,” with raggedy sleeves that look as if somebody had fed them to a document shredder.

What’s Dave Newman--family man, Mid-Valley YMCA senior program director and a 42-year-old --doing on Pierce College’s football field, duking it out most Saturdays with guys (some young enough to be his children) who could almost stuff him into their hip pockets?

Well, just watch him play for a flag team named Thunder & Lightning, swerving and slithering through his arrayed opponents--like a lightning bug, naturally!

See him snag footballs tossed by his quarterback, Al Cruz, and leave defenders often grasping at air and kicking (or cursing) themselves.

Hear one stripe-shirted official say admiringly of Newman’s foot speed: “Man, look at those wheels!”

And listen to Newman’s 7-year-old daughter, Tiffani, a wide-eyed face in a crowd so sparse it could fit into a minivan, scream excitedly at her playmate:

“That’s my daddy!”

You see, Dave Newman is a star in the rapidly thickening ranks of Fast Action four-man flag football, which consists mostly of ex-high school players and a few former collegians and pros on teams nicknamed Dirtbags, Wharf Rats, Barrio Dogs and New York Cynics, among others--the teams grouped competitively by skill level.

He became the premier offensive player last season in Southern California’s North Division (Woodland Hills), which in one year has doubled from a dozen teams to 24 and plays three seasons (spring, summer, fall), each lasting about 10 Saturdays (including playoffs with South Division leagues that play concurrently in Cerritos and Costa Mesa).

“You don’t have to be 6-foot-6 to play basketball,” Newman insists, “so why should size make any difference here?”

What Newman lacks in bulk he makes up in speed, savvy and finesse--qualities he honed years ago at Woodland Hills’ Taft High School.

His skills mesh perfectly with a sport that long ago began as “touch”--then “flag”--football on America’s streets and sandlots, where school kids eternally huddle up and scrawl pass plays in the dirt or whisper strategy such as “You run deep to the trash can, then cut right toward the ’79 Mustang.”

“It’s the average guy’s Super Bowl tournament, that’s for sure,” says Chuck Price, a onetime Cal State Northridge quarterback who serves as Fast Action’s North Division director (and a player, too). He officiated games initially, but now he plays because “it’s just too much fun.”

“This game,” adds Louie Smolkensky of Studio City, the league’s local commissioner, “is designed so players can go to work on Monday.”

When Price crafted Fast Action’s rules (see accompanying box), he insisted on no contact and on teams with fewer players than in adult seven-man leagues, which allow blocking.

(Defenders “tackle” by yanking loose either of two “flags,” or strips of synthetic yellow fabric, snapped to players’ plastic belts.)

Actually, the league is a modified spinoff of a program called Air-It-Out, organized two years ago with seed money put up by the National Football League--first in Southern California, then in other NFL markets.

It’s a response to “armchair quarterbacks” and “couch potatoes” who tired of just watching football and clamored for their own adult league--not unlike those in softball, bowling and basketball. (A 3-on-3 tournament named Hoop-It-Up, as well as the NFL’s Air-It-Out, are managed locally by Price).

Besides reducing the risk of injury by outlawing blocking and tackling, Fast Action encourages passing on almost every play (in keeping with the name Fast Action, passers must throw within 5 seconds after receiving the center snap), and everyone is an eligible receiver.

Moreover, Fast Action shrinks the field (to 50 by 25 yards), compresses each game (20-minute halves) and takes the foot out of football: Kicking is banned.

Most players are men in their 20s and 30s, although the league is open to both sexes, 16 and older, provided he or she signs a medical-liability waiver. Those younger than 18 must obtain written consent from parents, who also are required to sign the waiver.

And teams that sign up (limit: 10 players per squad) must pay a seasonal registration fee of $250 (with a $25 discount for those who pre-register for the next season), mainly to cover field rental, liability insurance and equipment, while per-game fees of $20 cash per team pay for commissioners, officials, scorekeeper and weekly statistics.

What used to be a sport confined mostly to picnics, beaches or schoolyards now boasts players who make fashion statements--bandannas, earrings, sun visors and even glasses--as well as thirtysomething ex-collegiate football stars such as Kevin Williams (USC) and Joe Adams (Tennessee State), who play on a team called the 888s.

But now, there are no more marching bands or dancing cheerleaders or roaring crowds to remind them of the way they were.

Here is an almost empty stadium save for a handful of players’ children, wives, girlfriends and other hangers-on, but no empty-headedness behind team nicknames such as Bayou Boys (many are descendants of Louisiana Cajuns) and Marlboro Men.

“Most of our players smoke--we light up at halftime,” says one Marlboro player, Tom Conway, 26, of Valencia, a free-lance electrician for TV shows including “Unsolved Mysteries.”

But smoke aside, there’s still fire in the eyes and feet of 36-year-old Kevin Williams, a USC wide receiver in the late 1970s. He showed flash and dash one recent Saturday morning even after working overnight as a Santa Fe Railway brakeman on the San Bernardino-to-Los Angeles line.

“This is a sport you can play in your 30s--it helps you stay in shape,” Williams says during a lopsided victory over the Quick 6, a team composed mostly of ex-L.A. Marshall High players who work as clerks in a Glendale department store.

It matters little to Williams, too, that this is a sport without sideline coaches.

“We’ve got Joe for that,” he says, nodding toward Joe Adams, a towering quarterback who throws footballs so hard it’s a wonder that nobody has to patch up the fences nearby.

Williams grins. “We let Joe do the yelling--that is, until we know he’s wrong,” he says. “Then we yell at him .”

On the field, Adams excels at keeping his voice at the decibel level of a Boeing 747.

“What the hell you doin’?” he shrieks at a receiver. “You should be turnin’ out . Why are you turnin’ in ?”

Not to be outdone on the sideline, Adams’ wife, Renee, adds to the cacophony when Joe plays defense:

“Rush ‘im, Joey! Take it away! Wheeeee-oooooo! Good hustle!”

*

Even as Fast Action catches on with players (if not yet spectators), the league grapples with rough edges. A recent game matched teams difficult to distinguish: Both the Ironmen and Cowboys wore black jerseys. Players often must ask officials how much time remains because there’s no scoreboard clock. And because not everyone yet fully grasps all the league’s unconventional rules, tempers sometimes flare.

“It took me three games before I got it down,” says one official, Earl Heath, who goes about his work good-naturedly, sometimes bantering and high-fiving with players. “One week we had to stop three or four times and look things up. But all the players are cool about it.”

All day long, Fast Action swirls like a two-ring circus, with games played side by side and teams leaving as others arrive.

At midday, the gray-jerseyed Bayou Boys--led by their quarterback, Scott Aaron--arrive by car from Lancaster, gearing up for a showdown with “Rudy”--a.k.a. Dave Newman--and his blue-shirted Thunder & Lightning teammates.

“Some teams need to carry their plays on cards,” says Aaron, an ex-Reseda High player, “but we keep ‘em in our heads.”

The Bayou Boys’ best play? “Fake right, go long,” Aaron says. “Every time we use it, it works.”

Nearby, Newman, too, gears up--headband in place, sleeves frayed and 42-year-old “game face” properly taut. It’s clear that this is no Elks Club picnic.

Among the spectators are Newman’s wife, Kelly, and children: Tyler, 6; Amberli, almost two months (“Born two days after the Northridge earthquake,” Newman says) and, of course, the irrepressible Tiffani.

Kelly has even brought the family’s video camera. And who needs a play-by-play broadcaster? After all, there’s Tiffani on the scene to make sure everybody knows who her daddy is.

But the Bayou Boys don’t follow the Newman family’s script. They fake right and go long. They fake left and go short. They run double- and triple-reverses.

Newman and Thunder & Lightning put up a gritty fight. They strike often, but too late. The Bayou Boys win, 30-21.

Worse yet, the Newmans’ video camera stays packed and unused. Kelly Newman says she was too busy bottle-feeding Amberli to shoot game-action footage of her husband.

Dave Newman’s “game face” now exudes disappointment. But days earlier in his YMCA office, he spoke philosophically about winning and losing.

“I try to tell my kids, ‘Don’t believe anyone who says winning isn’t important,’ ” he said. “But I also tell them it’s not the only thing that’s important.”

What matters most to Dave Newman on this game day, then, isn’t so much that his team finished No. 2, but that he went home No. 1 with Tiffani.

LIAISON: WHERE AND WHEN

What: Fast Action four-man flag football (North Division).

Location: Pierce College stadium, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through April 30 (spring season). Summer season starts June 4, fall season Oct. 3.

Price: Free admission for spectators. Team registration per season is $250 (a $25 discount for teams that pre-register for the next season). Game fees: $20 per team, paid in cash prior to each game.

Eligibility: Open to anyone of either gender, age 16 and older. All participants must sign a medical-liability waiver. Anyone younger than 18 must obtain written permission from parents, who must also sign the waiver.

Contact: Fast Action Football, P.O. Box 3366, San Clemente 92672. (310) 829-5226.

Fast Action Rule Book

1. Games are played in 20-minute halves.

2. Teams consist of a maximum of 10 rostered players, four of which are on the field at one time.

3. Touchdown scores 6 points. Safety: 2 points. Extra points: 1 point (from 5 yards out), 2 points (from 15 yards out).

4. Running with the ball is allowed after a handoff, except in the no-run zones (see graphic). No laterals, options or pitches of any kind are allowed.

5. All players are eligible to receive passes.

6. Defensive rushing: Players starting at least 7 yards from the line of scrimmage may rush. Rushers must reach for the quarterback’s flag and may not make contact.

7. No blocking allowed.

8. The quarterback must throw within 5 seconds of receiving the snap, if the defense chooses not to rush.

9. All drives and changes of possession (except interceptions) start at the offensive team’s own 5-yard line.

10. Offense has three plays to cross midfield or score.

11. Illegal contact penalties: 10 yards, plus a down.

12. Most other penalties: 5 yards, plus a down.

13. Any ball that hits the ground will be ruled down (including a bad snap). No fumble recoveries allowed.

14. Tie games are decided by yardage gained by each team, which is allowed two alternating plays.

15. Ball must be snapped between legs, not to one side, to start a play.

16. Rubber cleats only are allowed. No metal spikes.

17. Flagrant contact or fouls will not be tolerated. Non-contact rules will be strictly enforced.

Source: Fast Action Football (adopted from rules and format of Air-It-Out football tournament).