THE NFL / BILL PLASCHKE : Oldest Player, 95, Remembers When It Was a Game

The oldest living NFL player is telling another story.

This one is about driving to Tampa Stadium to be honored before an NFL exhibition game. First field he had stepped on in more than 60 years.

“I was amazed,” says Arda Bowser, 95, a linebacker for the Canton Bulldogs, one of the charter NFL teams, in 1922. “They put me on the 50-yard line, I put my feet on that grass, so soft I couldn’t believe it.

“Then I looked up and it seemed like the stands and the skyboxes went right into the clouds. It was all so mammoth. I had no idea. It was quite a shocking moment.”

The oldest living NFL player pauses.

“Seems to me people in this country have become pretty lopsided about sports,” he says.

The more Arda Bowser talks, the more it makes one wonder.

Not about what happened in the NFL in the 1920s.

About what has happened since.

The people in charge of pro football’s 75th anniversary celebration this year--the pro game began in earnest in 1919, two years before the NFL was formed--hope that fellows like Bowser can lend insight into the birth of a sport that has since done everything right.

But the oldest living player makes one wonder, where did it all go wrong?

Unlike baseball, which has always seemed to attract large crowds and fanatical interest, pro football truly used to be a game.

A weekend game.

A nice hobby, as long as it didn’t interfere with the rest of your life.

On halftimes in Arda Bowser’s days, he would participate in kicking contests against Jim Thorpe. They would stand back to back at midfield, with Bowser placekicking in one direction and Thorpe drop-kicking in the other.

Today, football commissioners use halftimes to make announcements about coercing debt-ridden cities like Los Angeles into building new stadiums.

In Arda Bowser’s day, it was understood that you didn’t play during the week because you had to spend time with your family. In some places you didn’t play on Sunday because of church.

Today, a coach like Barry Switzer of the Dallas Cowboys is criticized for leaving his team on the eve of a game to watch his son in a college game.

“I’m amazed at what has happened to football today,” Bowser said from his home in Winter Park, Fla. “Amazed.”

Bowser, at 6-feet-3 and 210 pounds, replaced Thorpe as a fullback and linebacker for eventual champion Canton in 1922. His salary was $250 a game.

Bowser moved to the Akron Indians in 1923, played well against Thorpe in a big game, and his future looked bright.

But the next year, when he was transferred to Pittsburgh by the trucking company that employed him as a salesman, he had to make a choice.

Because it was against the law to play football on Sundays in Pennsylvania, Bowser asked his boss if he could miss work to play for a local team on Saturdays.

“He looked me straight in the face and said, ‘Bowser, did you come down here from Cleveland to play football or sell trucks?’ ” Bowser recalled. “I naturally told them I came to work and make a living.”

Bowser never played in the NFL again. His only contact with football was through local semipro teams, for whom he played under an assumed name.

A weekend game. A hobby.

He raised five children, who knew very little about his athletic past. He instead steered them toward music, education and the ministry.

“My father never once threw a football with me,” said Bob Bowser, a teacher from Irvine. “He wanted me to be a pianist.”

Bowser never showed his children mementos, because he never saved any. Today he has a Canton Bulldog jacket, but only because some memorabilia nut recently uncovered it and gave it to him.

“If anybody ever asked me about football, I would be civil with them but . . . it wasn’t a big deal,” Bowser said.

He still relishes the memories of playing a full 60 minutes of every game, though.

In Bowser’s day, if they left a game because of an injury, they couldn’t return in that half.

And he still relishes the memory of trying to stop Thorpe,

“He’d pull his knees up, try to get you to tackle him high, then push you in the face,” Bowser said. “You had to get him in the belly. There were times I would get him in the belly.”

It was such fun then, Bowser remembers. He occasionally watches games on television these days, and notices how few players look as if they are having fun.

“I don’t watch a lot, because every game pretty much looks like the same set thing,” Bowser said.

More people attend one NFL game then saw Arda Bowser play during his entire career. More money is bet on that game than Arda Bowser made in his entire life.

During the ensuing week, people will analyze that game more than anybody ever talked about the Canton Bulldogs.

Bowser isn’t so sure this is a good thing.

He is asked what he would tell youngsters who want to be football players today.

“I would tell them to take up golf,” he said. “Golf is something you can do forever. Golf is a good game.”

The oldest living NFL player is telling another story.

This one is about walking off the field at Tampa Stadium after being honored.

“A lot of people came up to me and wanted me to sign things,” he said. “I wasn’t used to that. I had never really seen that.”

What Arda Bowser is trying to say is that on that day, he signed more autographs than in his previous 95 years combined.

And he still isn’t quite sure why.

HOT HOMEMADE STATISTICS

ARIZONA--The Cardinals have scored all of five touchdowns this season--or as many as Buddy Ryan’s old team in Philadelphia scored last week. They die this week in Dallas.

ATLANTA--Jeff George threw six touchdown passes in the Falcons’ first two games but only three in their three games since. We still like the NFC West’s other first-place quarterback a tad better.

BUFFALO--Only two of 66 NFL games this season haven’t had a touchdown pass. The Bills’ Jim Kelly was involved in one of them--against the New York Jets. Kelly has thrown for 200 yards once in five games.

CHICAGO--The Bears have trailed in four of five games, yet have won three. More proof that Dave Wannstedt is one of the top five coaches around.

CINCINNATI--The worst player in the game? Our vote goes to running back Harold Green, who will make about $1.35 million this year. He is averaging 2.4 yards a carry and, at his current pace, will finish with 173 yards rushing.

CLEVELAND--In the Browns’ 300 minutes of game action, they have trailed for only 40:22. Of course, their four victories have been over opponents with a combined record of 5-14.

DALLAS--Could it be that Troy Aikman is getting tired of Michael Irvin’s constant complaints that he is not seeing enough balls? Irvin caught 139 yards’ worth of passes in his first game, and only 131 yards’ worth in the last three games combined.

DENVER--Only once in four games has John Elway thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions. Perhaps we should stop blaming only Wade Phillips for this Rocky Mountain nightmare.

DETROIT--Scott Mitchell threw three touchdown passes in the Lions’ opener . . . and two in their four games since. A free-agent bust.

GREEN BAY--Not all of the Packers’ problems involve Brett Favre or a running back. Only one wide receiver--Sterling Sharpe--has caught any of Favre’s eight touchdown passes. This is in direct contrast to the improving team that beat them last week. . . .

NEW ENGLAND--Drew Bledsoe has found three wide receivers for touchdown passes. Individually, Michael Timpson, Vincent Brisby and Ray Crittenden don’t scare anybody. But collectively, they could take the Patriots to the playoffs.

PHILADELPHIA--In two of their four games, the Eagles have had leads of 30-0.

HOUSTON--Home of the garbage receiver of the year, Haywood Jeffires. He has made all three of his touchdown receptions in the final six minutes of games in which his team trailed by at least 23 points.

INDIANAPOLIS--Roosevelt Potts, a 258-pound fullback, has caught as many touchdown passes as wide receiver Sean Dawkins, the 1993 first-round pick from Cal. One each.

PITTSBURGH--Bam Morris, the Steelers’ backup running back, has scored as many touchdowns rushing as the Bills’ Thurman Thomas. Two each.

KANSAS CITY--In four games, the Chiefs have given up one touchdown rushing, on a one-yard run.

RAIDERS--In games that Jeff Hostetler has failed to pass for 400 yards, they are 0-3.

RAMS--They are one of only two teams that has yet to score at least 20 points in a game. The other is the Cardinals. But they have an excuse.

MIAMI--In five games, the Dolphins have had three leading rushers. Two of them have been named Bernie Parmalee and Irving Spikes. As soon as Cleveland Gary gets in shape, this number will increase to four.

MINNESOTA--The Vikings’ starting defensive line of John Randle, Roy Barker, Henry Thomas and James Harris has combined for 10 sacks, more than the entire defensive units of 13 teams.

NEW ORLEANS--The Saints have not given up a touchdown rushing in their last 283 minutes of action . . . or since the 17th minute of the first game.

NEW YORK GIANTS--Another reason Dan Reeves is the best active coach: He has gone 3-1 with eight players catching passes and eight players running with the ball.

NEW YORK JETS--Another reason funny Coach Pete Carroll had better toughen up quick: In five games, the Jets have fumbled seven times (losing three) and thrown seven interceptions.

TAMPA BAY--Craig Erickson continues to start, even though he has completed only 17 of his last 41 passes.

SAN DIEGO--Natrone Means has rushed for one touchdown in each of the Chargers’ four games, but never from more than three yards out. He is averaging 1.5 yards a touchdown run.

SAN FRANCISCO--The 49ers have started at 3-2 or worse in three of Coach George Siefert’s six seasons.

SEATTLE--One of only six teams that have led in every game. Others are the Chargers, Bills, Browns, Cowboys and Giants.

WASHINGTON--The Redskins have given up nine touchdowns rushing in four games, a pace that would equal the pro record of 36 in one season, by the Oakland Raiders in 1961. They have given up touchdowns rushing to Emmitt Smith, Chris Warren and Dave Meggett . . . and also to Brad Muster, Craig Heyward and Lincoln Coleman.

QUICK HITTERS

* REGIS, WE ASSUME, WILL MARCH IN THE HALFTIME SHOW: One of the more amazing streaks in the NFL involved the national anthem singer at the Super Bowl.

Beginning with the Super Bowl in Miami after the 1987 season, the pregame tradition has featured Billy Joel, followed by Aaron Neville, Whitney Houston, Harry Connick Jr. and Garth Brooks.

An announcement earlier this week confirmed that in January in Miami, that incredible talent streak will be broken.

No offense, but why on this green earth would the league give the job to Kathie Lee Gifford?

The game is being televised by ABC? Oh, we see.

* BAY AREA FALLOUT: The impolite yanking of battered Steve Young in the middle of a drive in the third quarter of the San Francisco 49ers’ 40-8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday means two things.

1. Coach George Seifert, who later apologized for the timing of the move, will be fired if he doesn’t lead the team to the Super Bowl.

The only thing owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. hates worse than losing is employees who fail to give the perception that they are in control. For much of this season, Seifert has flunked on both counts.

2. Young will never gain even one-tenth of the respect accorded Joe Montana. And he has finally realized it. That’s why he was so angry upon being replaced.

As our Northern California expert, Times columnist Pete King, reminds us, almost exactly five years ago, Montana was trailing the Eagles by 11 points in the fourth quarter and was in the process of being sacked eight times. But he stayed in the game and completed 11 of 12 passes for four touchdowns, leading the 49ers to a 38-28 victory.

His coach? Seifert, who said, “(Montana’s) coolness under pressure was the difference in a hell of a game between two fine football teams.”

* WHAT WOULD A NOTEBOOK BE WITHOUT BARRY SWITZER? Here’s how badly Switzer and the Dallas Cowboys were fooled in their recent attempted signing of running back Cleveland Gary, who ended up in Miami.

When the Cowboys called Gary at his Dallas hotel on the morning he was supposed to sign, they discovered he had checked out. Switzer opened his news conference that day by saying, “Has anybody seen Cleveland Gary? I’m serious. We don’t know where he is.”

* THE UNHAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH: There were better places to watch last Sunday’s game between the Rams and Atlanta Falcons than from Box 138A in Anaheim Stadium.

Two of the seats in the luxury box were occupied by Dave and Judy George, who watched their son, Jeff, suffer a concussion while playing quarterback for the Falcons.

Also in the box was Jennifer Maddox, who watched her husband, Tommy, throw two interceptions after being summoned to quarterback the Rams.

Sitting between them was agent Leigh Steinberg, who was watching his clients fall apart on the luxury box TV.

Young was beaten up and replaced. Dave Brown of the New York Giants was throwing interceptions. Warren Moon of the Minnesota Vikings was getting whipped by Buddy Ryan’s defense.

* NICE GOING, GEORGIA: The son of the oldest living NFL player has given up his Ram season tickets.

Bob Bowser, an Irvine teacher and son of 95-year-old Arda Bowser, no longer attends games of a sport that once featured his father and Jim Thorpe on the same field.

“I had to give up the Ram tickets because I couldn’t get anybody to go with me,” Bowser said. “Even when I gave them away, that person wouldn’t show up.”