SUPER BOWL XXIX : A Kinder, Gentler Owner : After Alex Spanos Let Go of the Chargers, Son Dean and General Manager Beathard Gave Him a Super Bowl Team

Bobby Beathard quit.

It was never reported, and is discussed now only reluctantly, but San Diego Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard quit.

The “smartest man in the NFL” walked out of training camp. There was no talk of a settlement, no room for compromise, just escape from team owner Alex Spanos, the man of whom former Charger coach Dan Henning said recently, “He’s one of the most despicable people I’ve ever met in my whole life.”

It was the summer of ‘93, the Chargers were coming off their first playoff appearance in a decade, and Spanos’ vice president of finances, Jerry Murphy, repeatedly insisted on Beathard justifying his genius.

Instead, Beathard walked, taking with him Alex Spanos’ chance of ever making it to the Super Bowl.

“It wasn’t a power play,” Beathard said. “I wasn’t happy. Maybe he had the wrong guy, because I wasn’t smart enough to hang around and try and do it a different way.

“It had a lot to do with the attitude toward people in the office. The morale was horrible. Mr. Spanos could not see the difference between (the construction) business up in Stockton and the football business.”

Dean Spanos, the owner’s oldest son, chased after Beathard, and, fortunately for the San Diego faithful, caught him. He pleaded with Beathard for understanding, urged him to ride out the season and promised a solution at the end of the year.

Players, coaches and fans were unaware of Beathard’s disenchantment until late December, when Spanos refused to make money available to beat the salary cap and sign several of the team’s high-priced stars.

By January of ‘94, Beathard had told his wife, Christine, there was no way he would work any longer for the Chargers.

“I told Mr. Spanos verbally that I was out of there,” Beathard said. “I had a letter of resignation, and although I never got around to giving it to him, I didn’t think I’d be there any longer.”

What happened next goes contrary to all previous experiences.

Alex Spanos, known best for being egocentric, bombastic and cheap, promised to no longer meddle in the running of the team. And Madonna will no longer be outrageous, Roseanne no longer tempestuous, Elvis no longer dead.

“We’re talking about a live volcano here,” said Billy Devaney, Charger director of player personnel. “You would hear him before you saw him. He would come in on Mondays and you would try to close the door fast or make believe you were on the telephone.

“He’d be getting advice from people, people who had no idea what they were talking about, and he’d want to know why we aren’t using zone coverages more. Why isn’t Ronnie Harmon getting the ball? And then he would want to go back and talk to coaches to get some answers.

“A large part of Bobby’s job was just calming him down. I mean, knowing Mr. Spanos, I thought Bobby and the rest of us were all out of here.”

Alex Spanos, however said he would yield to Beathard’s demands. And the Pope will announce tomorrow he is no longer Catholic.

“He changed,” Beathard said, but then added with a smile, “If we don’t make it to the Super Bowl next year, I’m fired.”

He was kidding, wasn’t he?

“I heard that Bobby got his way and I called Bobby,” said Ron Lynn, former Charger defensive coordinator and now defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins. “I told him the only thing worse than losing an argument to Mr. Spanos was winning an argument with Mr. Spanos.”

Spanos not only gave in, however, he gave up. He stepped down as boss, put Dean, 44, in charge and banished Murphy and all the other three-piece suits to Stockton, hometown site for all of A.G. Spanos’ enterprises.

“I’ve always been a bottom-line guy,” Spanos said. “Dammit, you invest a dollar and you’re supposed to get a good return on it. It took me 10 years to learn it, but you don’t run a sports franchise worrying about the dollar.

“I was wrong. It wasn’t easy for me to admit, but by God, I was just going to have to back away and let Deano be responsible. The problem was we weren’t spending the money. That was it. I didn’t want to spend the bucks. I felt whatever profit the team made, then sure, spend that, but no more.

“I turned the team over to Deano and said, ‘Son, do whatever you have to do, just bring me a winner.’ I authorized $8 million, and I hate to tell you the kind of money we spent after I left. But look at the difference: We’re going to the Super Bowl. And that’s what it took.”

His weekly three-day reign of terror in San Diego became one-day courtesy visits at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Losses are still hard to take, but Beathard no longer considers it punishment having to sit next to Spanos during games.

“I don’t cuss anymore,” Spanos said, and he has never appeared so relaxed. “I used to go frantic, get mad. I was terrible.”

When it became apparent that the club might lose Beathard, Spanos’ wife and children became alarmed. Spanos, 71, had already gone through more than half a dozen coaches and general managers, and now he was threatening to start the search for success all over again.

“Let me tell you where the pressure came from: my wife,” Spanos said. “In 46 years she has never intervened with the business, but she stepped in and said it was time for a change.

“I’m a hands-on guy and I don’t think there is anything in this world I can’t handle. That’s how much confidence I have in myself. I know I’m good at whatever I do. But football, oh, I made a lot of mistakes. I had to swallow deep and walk away. I’m a big ego, but it was affecting me so badly and it was affecting the entire staff.

“I look at the end result, and after one year, mind you, since I walked away, it’s just amazing. It just took a few extra dollars and look where we are; we’re in the Super Bowl.”

Henning wouldn’t recognize the man. The transformation from demanding tyrant to benevolent ruler has included his willingness to accept the overnight turnaround.

“Do you think I like it? Do you think I like the fact I stepped back and all of a sudden we’re going to the Super Bowl? I don’t particularly care for it, but I have to give credit where it’s due. Bobby Beathard and my son, Dean, deserve it.”

For years, almost every day, he said, he has dreamed of his team winning the Super Bowl. And now the Chargers are here, although the other team, the San Francisco 49ers, is the overwhelming favorite. If the Chargers do get thumped, won’t that make the owner mad?

“This team got me to the Super Bowl,” he said. “It’s just so hard to imagine. I’m going to the Super Bowl. I’ve been on cloud nine all week, and I’m loving every minute of this.

“See that picture there; I’m taking everyone in the family--all 22 of them--the grandchildren, the babies, every one of them. I can’t tell you how happy I am; I’m just sailing.”

Spanos, who was only hours away from buying the 49ers in 1977, only to have Eddie DeBartolo bid $4 million more, gained majority interest in the Chargers in 1984. He promised an immediate winner, but the team nose-dived and Spanos became the easy target for criticism.

To celebrate Dan Fouts’ retirement, the team organized a halftime presentation in 1988. Spanos appeared on the field, and the fans booed. And they continued to boo.

“Worst day of my life,” Spanos said.

“The fans didn’t realize that I watch the games just like they do. I knew how they felt. I would have booed me too.”

Spanos had been teased by the prospects of success a year earlier, but after opening 1987 at 8-1, the Chargers lost their final six games in the strike-shortened season and missed the playoffs. They finished 6-10 for three consecutive seasons.

Spanos remained both flustered and frustrated. He had turned a $40-a-week bakery job into a catering business and had made his first million dollars by the time he was 27. He didn’t know anything about the construction business when he got into it, but today his business is reportedly worth more than $300 million.

He had been a success in everything he had ever done. He took up golf and qualified for the British Amateur. He wanted to sing and dance, and so he took lessons from Bob Hope and later earned five curtain calls at Carnegie Hall.

But until the hiring of Beathard and Coach Bobby Ross, the Chargers continued to lose. He had every reason to sell.

“Won’t sell,” Spanos said. “It’s in my will. It stays with the family. There isn’t enough money to buy this team. I used to come in here and lock my office door on Monday mornings and cry. I was trying to figure out what I did wrong. I’m not afraid to say it--I cried. Most people said I should have put the hassles behind me and sell the team, but I couldn’t get rid of something I couldn’t conquer.”

For all the things done wrong, there is now proof of success.

“He’s never flinched,” Devaney said. “The man has changed, and it’s so great to see him having fun. He’s been tough, but I think he’s been maligned unfairly in the past. There were horrendous football teams here, but they were not all his doing. He was just the lightning rod, and caught the brunt of it.”

So now all is well with the Chargers. Ross has been every bit as impressive as Beathard’s previous head-coaching hire, Joe Gibbs, and they have advanced to the playoffs two of the last three years. The flash fire between Beathard and Spanos died with Dean’s elevation and easy-going approach.

“Mr. Spanos has just been phenomenal,” Beathard said. “It’s hard for anyone to change, but he said he would and he has held to it.

“Dean’s truly fantastic. He has a great understanding of what we’re trying to do, and he’s very approachable and very supportive.”

In less than a year, Dean Spanos has made Beathard and his highly regarded assistants happy while also getting the team into the Super Bowl. But the younger Spanos prefers that the spotlight linger on his father.

“What can you give a dad that has everything?” Dean said. “More than anything I like to see him in a good mood, and right now he’s having the time of his life. I wouldn’t miss that smile that he has on his face these days for anything.”