The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • 49

Cos AnQelee Slimes 8 Part IllWednesday. November 14, 1984 JOINER many times, it's habitual, like breathing. He is as technically advanced as any receiver could be." Another important quality stems from those thick upper legs. Joiner's low center of gravity gives him the ability to lean forward with a relatively short stride, Saunders said. As a result, he can change direction without slowing down.

He comes out of a break exceptionally fast. He seems to be gliding, but in an instant, he is running east-west instead of north-south, as Saunders put it. off money before he's even earned it. That won't be a problem this year. Joiner also likes to tell what his wife classifies as "po" stories as in poor.

One day their two daughters were arguing over toys. Joiner fussed at them, but was silenced when Dianne said he had never learned to share, since he was an only child. "But I never even had any toys," Joiner said. His wife would not hear of his supposedly destitute childhood. "Don't be telling me no 'po' story," she commanded.

In truth, his childhood in Lake Charles, was far from luxurious. Joiner lived in a housing project, where his favorite pastime was watching televised football on Sunday afternoon the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys were the most visible teams. "It wasn't a slum and nobody was miserable," said Rodney Geyen, who lived across the street and now coaches at Lake Charles Boston High School. "We all had enough to eat. We didn't have any fancy sports equipment, though.

We played baseball using a hoe handle or a broomstick for a bat. When we played football, we stuffed newspapers in our clothes to serve as padding." Associated Press diate receiver, and he has lived through several defensive scenarios, from the uncontrolled bump and run to the pure zones to today's limited contact. He went through a period with the Cincinnati Bengals (in the mid-1970s) where he had a problem with fumbling, but he eliminated that, and he never fumbles anymore." Joiner is embarrassed when someone brings up the fumbles. Paul Brown, who was then the head coach of the Bengals, would berate him at film sessions every week, Joiner said. "I thought he was going to run me out of the league," Joiner said.

Instead, the Bengals swapped Joiner to the Chargers in 1976, and Joiner's career was on the verge of taking off. After Don Coryell became the coach in 1978, Joiner became the most prolific over-30 receiver the game has ever seen. "Charlie is not really an instinctive receiver," said Walsh, who coached him with the Bengals and later with the Chargers. "A lot of what he does is learned. He is strong in the upper legs and isn't easily knocked off balance, so he doesn't flounder when he runs a route.

He gets to where he wants to go very efficiently." San Diego safety Tim Fox, who spent six seasons with the New England Patriots, called Joiner a scientist who reads zones better than any receiver he has ever seen. "There have been faster, more spectacular guys, but I would say he's the greatest because he's been the most consistent," Fox said. Consistent and persistent, according to Saunders. "Charlie has developed such a feel for the game because he has been working at it so long," Saunders said. "He can diagnose more than one defensive back at a time and adjust his route based on what he sees.

"I compare it to the first time you drive a car. You stare at the middle of the road and make sure you're going straight, right? When you get more experience, you can look off to the side and still steer correctly. "With Charlie, he has so much experience and such good peripheral vision, he can look off to the side and still see what's happening ahead of him. He has seen it all so Quarterback Dan Fouts said he doesn't know if Joiner has improved with age, but, unlike other receivers, he certainly has not tapered off because of the advancing years. "Charlie is an oddity in modern sports," Fouts said.

"He's not flashy or boastful. He just lets the numbers keep piling up and never says anything. I think that's the way it should be. When he's through, he will be the greatest ever." Fouts said he learned from being around Joiner how to react when things were not going well. "Charlie is so cool and so steady, you can't tell from looking at him if we are 100 points behind or 100 ahead," Fouts said.

"That, to me, is what leadership should be. "I definitely agree with Bill Walsh that Charlie runs intelligent routes. But it's not just speed and cutting. He knows how to get open. If I had blinders on and could only look for Charlie, I know he would be open the big majority of the time." Here's looking at you, old timer.

In many respects, Joiner is the antithesis of the modern athlete. He doesn't brag or pop off. He has no agent. He has never been fined. Given his accomplishments, he is almost an unknown in the constellation of superstars.

As Joiner sees it, that's as it should be. "I was brought up very strictly and spiritually," he said. "I always believed in what my dad, my coach and my pastor said to me. I always knew there was another way of life, but I never have crossed the road." one of his 641 receptions. received a degree in business administration and later went to work as an accountant for Gulf Oil, is his own agent these days.

But as a rookie in the NFL, he trusted Robinson to help him get started. Robinson, working without a fee, customarily helped his players line up low interest bank financing on a new car. He assumed Joiner would have the same request. Instead, Joiner wanted to use his bonus money to build a house for his parents in Lake Charles. "Charlie is as fine a man as I know," Robinson said.

"He don't love me half as much as I love him. I'd never say he was the best player I ever coached wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of my other players but you can look at where Charlie is now and draw your own conclusions." Joiner is at a plateau of technical excellence attained by no receiver in history. Or so argues Bill Walsh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, with a second opinion from San Diego's Al Saunders. "He has the quality of being able to totally concentrate on the other team while watching film, and when he gets in the game, he can describe their coverages on both sides of the field," Walsh said. "As a receiver, Charlie has gone from being a deep threat to an interme Continued from Page 1 Louisiana.

That labor helped develop the thick cords of muscle on his upper thighs, which give him a low center of gravity and make him tough for defensive backs to knock off course. The other strain running through his life is the quest for decency. Those who know him tend to speak of Joiner as if he were the second coming of St. Francis, or some other faultless figure. A sampling of comments: "Just about the best person I know." John Jefferson, Green Bay Packers.

"He can out-American any man I ever saw." Eddie Robinson, Grambling University. "The ideal man to break my record." Charley Taylor, Washington Redskins. Taylor has none of the animosity that Jim Brown harbored toward his pursuers, Franco Harris and Walter Payton. "Charlie has more than paid his dues," Taylor said. "The record is a tribute to what kind of person he is.

I'm happy for him. I'm just glad he waited until I was in the Hall of Fame. I wish him all the best and I hope his record lasts forever." Joiner isn't comfortable talking about himself. He isn't unfriendly or uncooperative. He's just reserved, so much so that his wife wondered if he would talk much to their children.

But they get more out of him than she does. At any rate, Joiner, under prodding, will part with a few words on what he sees as his do-gooder image. "I want respect," he said, "but I don't want people to think I'm goody-goody. I don't want nobody to hate me. I'm uncomfortable if I feel people don't like me.

I can get along with just about anyone. I seldom fight or argue. I guess I've always been that way. Everyone should be that way. I don't go out of my way to make friends, but when I make contact, I try to be a friend to people." That, folks, is an oration from Charlie Joiner.

A proclamation of where he stands. His parents, both deceased, would be pleased. Wave after wave of defensive backs has found it difficult to cover Joiner. The same thing is true of reporters seeking to unearth a juicy little scandal or past indiscretion. Something to make the man seem more human.

It turns out there is something, but it's not going to make the National Enquirer. Joiner can be a tease. He has a mean streak, even if it's an it-ty-bitty mean streak. "Oh, yes, Charlie can be mean," Dianne Joiner said with a laugh. "There was something that happened on Valentine's Day six or seven years ago.

I was hoping he would give me a Lincoln Continental Mark V. Well, you know how Charlie is. He likes to wait until the last minute to give you your surprise. And this time it got to be midnight before he said anything. I think he was trying to make me think he didn't have it.

"Anyway, he finally says to me, 'Dianne, you can go look now. Go see what's out in the I guess you've figured it out by now. There was nothing in the driveway! Charlie thought that was soooooo funny. He does like to tease." He also has a few other character flaws. For instance, he can't pick out clothes.

Dianne has to shop for him for everything, that is, except the hats, of which there is a wide assortment, ranging from fedoras to baseball caps. He gets angry when his wife gets carried away with the credit cards, charging that she spends the play Charlie Joiner has his eyes on ball on me today, Charlie." Joiner: "Oh, I might get two or three." Brown: "Well, you'll have to get them on the other side. You be wasting your time on my side of the field." Joiner: "Willie, I may have to catch it if they throw it to me, you hear?" Brown made an interception in that game and returned it for a touchdown. But the official ruled pass interference. Joiner said nothing.

"He was laughing to himself, though, 'cause he knows I didn't put a finger on him," Brown said, and continued: "I would put Charlie in a group of the five best receivers I ever saw. The others would be Charley Taylor, Lance Alworth, Paul Warfield, Don Maynard and FredBiletnikoff." Brown said Robinson had a habit of verbally challenging his Grambling players, trying to bring out the best in them. Often, Robinson would try to embarrass a player to meet his end. But the toughest thing he ever said to Joiner was, "Attaboy, Charlie." Robinson served as his agent when Joiner was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1969. Joiner, who JEW '85 CADILLAC sPy COUPE DEVILLE LLE PER Full power, PS.

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ycci jfx cap $179 IN' IF fflWiSs i I mn H' mi "mm 1. nil iifc I I mar mmmrn- mmmm-mmm m- -ml Joiner didn't go out for football until his junior year, but his skills quickly became apparent. His high school coach, Wiley Stewart, was a Grambling man and he urged Robinson to take him. Joiner never considered going elsewhere. "It wasn't hard to recruit in those days," Robinson said.

"Only the Big 10 and the Pac 10 were trying to get Southern black players." Joiner entered Grambling in the summer of 1965 along with a quarterback named James Harris. They had summer jobs as carpenter's apprentices. When they reported to practice, it wasn't long before Robinson was congratulating himself on how brilliant he was. Even then, Harris would throw before Joiner made his cut. Robinson loves to tell about a game against arch -rival Southern University.

At this particular game, one of his ex-players, 6-9, 317-pound Ernie Ladd was prowling the sidelines. Late in the game, Grambling was trailing by a couple of points. With the ball deep in Southern territory, Harris signalled for a timeout. The fans were yelling wildly, the field goal specialist was swinging his leg in anticipation and Ladd was hollering at Robinson to get the sure three. When Harris approached, Robinson said he wanted to take the field goal, but his quarterback wouldn't hear of it.

In a calm, even voice, he said to Robinson, "Coach, there's nuthin' to do but go to Charlie. We'll keep the tight end in to block, and the wide receiver, too. We'll just send Charlie. He's money in the bank." Harris prevailed. Joiner ran an out move, then cut back in and the ball was waiting.

The play gained 14 yards. On the next snap, the fullback ran for a touchdown that won the game. Joiner has been making the money catches ever since. Willie Brown, a Hall of Fame defensive back for the Raiders, used to return to his alma mater each spring to work out against the Grambling varsity. He would stay after practice and get Charlie to run patterns against him.

"He got loose on me a couple of times, I'll admit it," said Brown, now on the Raiders coaching staff. "He was always so smooth and precise." Brown recalled a meeting he had with Joiner before an NFL game. As he reconstructed it, the conversation went like this: Brown: "You won't catch a single Carton SAVE Limited Offerl Beautifully Finished in Topaz Bronze COSTA MESA DOWNEY EL TORO HOLLYWOOD NORTHRIDGE ORANGE PASADENA TORRANCE WEST COVINA WESTWOOD 2706 9447 24322 1531 18605 482 36.51 361 1 550 2270 HTTJ) TV? CORRECTING lEDkyii SELECTRIC II C3 Hew In Original Factory Dual Pitch (Pica and Elite) 15V?" Carriage Two Elements Included Our Rigulir (795. Fmmji Special 00 fj govern November 17 At the Rose Bowl Good seats available now at Ticketron, TicketMaster, and the UCLA Central Ticket Office. Reserved seats $20.00.

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