The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 54

Part IllSaturday, September 12, 1987 CosAnfleleggElmes PRO FOOTBALL '87 THE END APPROACHES Dan Fouts Says, Really, His Arm Is Fine, but Time Also Can Pass 14 Ad4," could be talking." Asked about Theder, Fouts said: "He's doing a good job." Then, warming up before a game at San Francisco, one of his receivers didn't reach for a sideline pass, and Fouts called him names because of it. Apparently, Fouts was trying to get his timing and needed to know how far he had overthrown the guy. If last week's game means anythingand exhibition games usu Theder noticed that Fouts was throwing to the same guys every week tight end Kellen Winslow and Chandler. Defenses caught on. So Theder has asked Fouts to spread the passes around a little, and Fouts seems agreeable.

Still, he isn't worried about his arm. "First of all, you've got to examine each and every interception last year," Fouts says. "Look at ii By TOM FRIEND. Times Staff Writer There comes a time in every great quarterback's life when it happens. He's on the fringe.

He can still walk into any huddle and tell everyone to hush up and get away with it. He can still direct a two-minute drill that'll knock your socks off. But then he'll under-throw a ball or two or three. And then he'll throw an interception or two or three. And when you want him to be able to play every week, he can't.

It's sad. Charger quarterback Dan Fouts has reached his "time-to-answer-some-questions" season. Is he on the fringe or what? Is he over the hill or what? Can he throw a 20-yard spiral or what? Can he bend over and touch his toes or what? Does he hate his owner or what? He's 36, and there are two years left on his contract, but if he quit now, he'd shame no one. He has had 48 games in which he has passed for 300 yards or more, tops among all quarterbacks. He has had six 400-yard games, more than any other quarterback.

He could quit now and be in the Hall of Fame. He could be known as The Beard, but he certainly isn't The Body. He says he tried getting out of a chair a couple of months ago and found himself hunched over like the guy from Notre Dame. He was a little concerned about it, so he went to a few doctors and learned that scar tissue had built up in his back. Because of all those sacks.

He was healthy enough to play racquetball seen anyone on the team who can beat me," he says), but the Chargers were wondering if he could throw a spiral. He thought he passed their physical examination, but they said he didn't. Then, according to a source outside the organization, owner Alex Spanos asked Fouts in a private meeting if he would take $1 million to play just one more season (instead of getting $750,000 a year for two more seasons) and then retire. Fouts, according to that source, would not. This eventually grew into an internal spat that was well-documented in the media.

Fouts says he and Spanos haven't spoken since their private meeting during training camp, even though Spanos maintains that everything's rosy. In the meantime, Fouts goes about his business. The other day in practice, a rookie receiver named Jamie Holland was lined up incorrectly, and Fouts shouted: "Get on the ball, Jamie! Get on the ball!" Holland got on the ball. United Preaa International Some, including his own coaches, believe time may be catching up with 36-year-old San Diego Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts. what teams they were against and in what circumstances.

Five were against the New York Giants. I haven't changed my approach to the game, and I'm not gonna change. I'll throw it where I think the ball should go, and if people say that's throwing into coverage, that's fine. I've been throwing into coverage my whole life." Asked if his arm is the same as it ever was, he said: "Yes." Dan and Roger Fouts has been buddy-buddy with coaches such as Ernie Zam-pese and Joe Gibbs, both of whom were offensive coordinators under Don Coryell. He is especially close to Zampese, who now works for the Rams.

So, enter Theder, who is sort of infringing on Fouts' territory. Theder is as pleasant as they come, a former head coach at California and a self-described mad bomber. But there were rumors that Fouts wasn't too pleased with where the Charger offense was headed under new Coach Al Saunders. Rumor was that the Chargers wanted to run the ball more, which kind of takes the fun out of the game for a guy like Fouts. Fouts has taken a wait-and-see attitude, but Theder was a little apprehensive heading into training camp, especially when Fouts joined the team late after his contract squabble.

"Dan might have had some mixed feelings about me," Theder says. "In fact, I'm sure he did. I think Dan's one of those guys who doesn't like change. He was probably saying, 'Who is this Basically, there have been no problems, except for last week, when Theder who was calling plays from the press box thought it was first down and called for a screen pass. Actually, it was third and one, and Fouts was a little surprised by the call.

The Jets knocked down his screen pass, and Fouts came running toward the sideline to speak with Theder. "He just told me I'd caught him off guard with the call," Theder says. "I'm glad we talked about it. That's good. I want to know how he felt out there.

I want to talk to him. It does no good for us just to sit there and watch the game while we Dan and HI Offensive Una In the old days, it was Shields and Wilkerson and White and Washington and Macek. "I can rattle their names off just like that," Fouts says. Today, it's Kowalski and McKnight and Claphan and Lachey and Macek. Fouts doesn't rattle their names off.

Not that this is a bad offensive line. It's improving all the time. Just the same, the Chargers think it might be best if they used more of the shotgun offense, just to protect Fouts' body. Theder asked Fouts about it the other day, but Fouts preferred to stay away from the shotgun. "Dan says he's more comfortable at the line," Theder says.

"He likes to look the linebackers in the eyes, just to get the feel of what they're going to do." What they're going to do is throw him on his back from time to time. "Dan sort of brings it on himself, too," Chandler says. "No quarterback drops back shorter. That's what Joe Namath used to do. Dan's holding the ball and holding the ball, allowing guys to get open.

And if it takes getting hit, he'll get hit. But you see, a lot of times I'll be looking at the films, and it's that last second of waiting that makes the difference between a complete and an incomplete." So, this year, it's all up to Kowalski and McKnight and Claphan and Lachey and Macek. Claphan: "We'll do whatever it takes, whatever it takes. You try to keep him standing. If that means hold, you hold." Macek: "Dan who?" Macek is the veteran, the holdover.

He can say things like that. Dan and His Family Fouts is all dressed, with flak jacket packed, and ready to go to Kansas City this weekend. Odds are that sometime in the next 16 weeks, a nose tackle will punch him in the nose, and he'll start bleeding. It is hoped he'll stop bleeding this time, because last time it took awhile, and his nose became a mess. Team doctors tried to stop the bleeding with cotton that day, and it didn't work.

Apparently, he'd taken so much aspirin over the years for his injuries that his blood wouldn't coagulate quickly. Coaches have seen him get REGGIE ROGERS among the 28 college seniors who had tested positive for drugs at an NFL camp in Indianapolis. "He passed the urinalysis test," Thomas was quoted as saying in the Detroit News. "He's gone to different camps, and he's continued to stay clean." Continued? As best as anyone knows, Rogers has yet to flunk one of the paper cup tests. After his arrival in Detroit, Rogers was introduced to solid-citizen types such as Mel Fair, a former Lion star and now a successful businessman.

They happily approved Rogers' association with Ball and had team leader Lomas Brown, an offensive lineman, offer his time and advice. Although the speech wasn't directed exclusively toward Rogers, the Lions asked Gil Hill, once among the city's finest homicide detectives, to inform the rookies of people and places to avoid in Detroit. You may have seen Hill; he played a Detroit chief detective in the movie, "Beverly Hills Cop." Rogers is no dummy. He knows what is happening: The Lions are protecting their investment History dictates it, they say. "I don't know if it's fair," Thomas says, "but the unfortunate side of that association (between Don and Reggie will cause people to become more aware of potential problems.

You say maybe he's going to be more closely looked at by people looking for errors. That ally don't it's the same old Fouts. He completed 16 passes in 21 attempts for 241 yards and 2 touch downs in a little more than a half against the New York Jets. One of the touchdowns you've seen a million times. He backpedaled three steps and threw for the sidelines while his receiver, Wes Chandler, was still looking into the belly of the opposing cornerback.

Suddenly, Chandler turned, and the ball was immediately in his gut. The cornerback missed the tackle, and Chandler was in the end zone a moment later. Was it a mirage or what? Dan and Hi Arm Nobody, not even his coaches or teammates, thinks he throws with the same velocity. If it sounds as if they're comparing him to a baseball pitcher, they sort of are. Fouts walks around after practice with his elbow immersed in ice, just as Dwight Gooden would.

He throws only a certain number of passes in practice before he says, "That's enough." "He feels there's only so many throws in his arm," says Roger Theder, the Charger quarterback coach. "He'd rather save it for the game." Sometimes, the arm looks a little ragged in practice, but then again, it's just practice, right? The other day, Theder had his quarterbacks working on a balance drill, in which they would shuffle to the right, shuffle to the left and then throw into a netted target attached to the goal post. Younger quarterbacks hit the target easily, but Fouts missed so badly one day, he hit the side of the goal post. Everyone laughed, including Fouts. On his next attempt, he again missed the target but managed to hit the net.

"Hey, I'm making progress," he said. Some were alarmed by Fouts' 22 interceptions last season, which just about ruined the Chargers' giveaway-takeaway ratio. Theder, who wasn't with the team last year, has analyzed the films and isn't sure if it was Fouts' arm or his selection of receivers that caused the turnovers. Fouts, as a lot of quarterbacks will do, tries to zip the ball between two, sometimes three, defenders to get it to his primary receiver. that the loan was quickly repaid and that any contracts signed are invalid.

Both Walters, of New York, and Tacoma-based Pat Hea-ly, also are suing Rogers' new agent, Steve Zucker, who lists among his clients Bear quarterback Jim McMahon. In return, Rogers is suing Walters and Healy. "Is this Pick On Reggie Year, or something?" Rogers says. "I want this year to get the hell over with. A hell of a year." But each day, it seems, a new calamity.

Want to know what doting, protective employers the Detroit Lions are? Try wresting away Rogers, their No: 1 draft pick, from the friendly confines of the Silverdome practice facility. The public relations policy apparently is this: Private interviews with Rogers are conducted in Lion offices. Anything else preferably requires the attendance of a team official. Except today. Today, Rogers is hungry and in a hurry.

He speaks briefly with the Lion public relations director before climbing into a borrowed Ford Bronco (his Porsche is in the shop). He is leaving. The Lions will just have to trust him. Strange times in the Motor City. The Lions adore Rogers.

They love his size (6 feet 6 inches, 272 pounds), his quickness and speed, his style. They could have had the more celebrated Jerome Brown of the University of Miami. Instead, the Lions found Rogers available after the first six selections. "It was a matter of, do you go with a guy with potential, or go with a guy who has been very productive in his career," says Jerry Vainisi, the Lion general counsel and former Chicago Bears general manager. "We just felt that (Rogers') best football is ahead of him." After his first professional quarterback sack, Rogers turned toward the crowd and performed a military salute that would make the fellas at West Point proud.

He also isn't against taking a moment or two to watch himself on the stadium big screen. And after the Tm not ashamed of my brother in no way, shape or form. It was a terrible way that he had to die. But I know there are a lot of people in the league that did, and do right now, more stuff than he did. It was just his time to whacked and have asked him to take a rest.

He'll always say: "Give it a rest. I'm playing." Apparently, this get-up-and-go syndrome goes 'way back in Fouts' family history. For instance, Dan's grandfather, William B. Fouts, was a town constable. According to Bob Fouts Dan's father this William B.

Fouts was the toughest guy in town. One day, there was a shootout in a saloon, and somebody got killed. The man who had done the shooting was getting chased by a lynch mob, but William B. Fouts got to him first, disarmed him and put him on the first horse-and-buggyoutof town. Then, William B.

Fouts told the lynch mob to go on home, or so the story goes. Bob Fouts also talks about Dan's late grandmother, Matilda Fouts, who lived until she was 88 and was mowing her lawn and cleaning the gutters at her home up until the time she died. Bob figures this is why Dan is so hard-headed on the football field. Bob formerly broadcast 49er games in San Francisco. Often, Bob would take Dan on the road with him.

Dan's first trip reputation of the brother and that association is something Reggie is going to have to live with, unfortunately, for the rest of his life." Says Rogers: "This didn't start until my brother died. Everything started to go downhill as soon as he died. Every day, something happened." Don's death, which happened just eight days after the drug-induced death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, forced administrators and coaches college and pro, alike to re-examine current testing policies. Caught in the middle was Rogers. "I took a damn blood test for the Detroit Lions," he says.

"You know how far a blood test goes back? That goes back months. Up in Seattle, I volunteered for testing. No one else on the Washington team did that. I did it because they knew how close my brother and I were. I just wanted to clear my name.

I didn't want people to whisper it behind me." Next came his dealings with Walters and later, Healy. Walters had been trying to recruit Rogers as a client for months. As was his practice, Walters offered attractive loans and advances, even if it violated a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rule prohibiting players from receiving money while still eligible. At first, says Rogers, he declined Walters' offer of money.

Later, he says he accepted a $5,000 advance. "My mom had gotten money from the Browns after Don's death but I didn't want to take any of it or bother her," he says. "That's why I took the money from Norby, because I didn't want to take any money from my mom. I didn't want her to have any more worries. That's why I did it, plus I thought it was all right.

When someone plops $5,000 in cash and you got $100 in the bank, well, I don't know too many people who are going to walk away from something like that. "Before Don went pro, I used to damn near starve don't eat a thing on Sundays, stuff like that," he says. "I was at Washington and was to Baltimore for a game against the Colts, and Bob still has a picture of cold, little Dan sitting on the team bench wearing a wool cap. WJien Dan later joined the Chargers, John Unitas who had played for the Colts that day was Dan's teammate. "I remember seeing you play," Dan told him.

"I was about 8 years old." As Dan grew older, he became a 49er ball boy. One of his jobs was to throw a clean ball to the referee, and he'd give them nice, tight spirals. When he was in junior high, a high school coach saw him whipping a few passes to the referee and immediately became interested in Dan. Pretty soon, Bob was covering Dan's games. One day, Bob had to go into the Charger locker room to tape some interviews, and there was a tremendous crowd around Dan's locker.

Bob couldn't push his way through, so he just stuck his microphone into the group. "Get this damn thing out of my mouth!" Dan suddenly shouted. The crowd opened up, and Dan saw it was his dad. "Sorry," he said. all that stuff I did for them, they didn't get me a job until my senior year.

Then I worked like hell. It was construction, and I worked for every little penny. I thought I should have been paid more. I worked harder, then, than I do now. Sometimes, I want to go back and buy that damn company." A dream, says Rogers, which had Don standing at the edge of the bed, crying, extending his hand, caused Reggie to re-examine the ethics of the advance.

The next day he called the NCAA and was told that Walters had compromised Rogers' eligibility. So, Rogers hired Healy, who arranged for a loan so Rogers could repay Walters (with 12 interest, Rogers says). Walters also was informed by Rogers' representatives that his contract was null and void. Too late. The incident, which occurred shortly before Washington's appearance in the Sun Bowl, was front-page news in Seattle newspapers.

"People in Seattle made me seem like the bad boy," he says. "I did something wrong, but then I got it taken care of. I mean, 48 hours. How they can hold something like that against me. It ain't like I killed somebody.

"I felt like it turned on me, like the whole city turned against me." Rogers would later part with Healy, claiming that the agent was more concerned about his percentage than his clients. Healy and Walters declined to return phone calls concerning Rogers. Rogers visited the police blotter, too, while at Washington. An argument with his former girlfriend over the ownership of a Gucci purse prompted Rogers to push her away and into a wall. The former girlfriend wasn't injured, but a report by a witness convinced the city attorney's office to charge Rogers.

As part of his one-year deferred sentence, Rogers must attend an anger management class. He is looking for such a program in the Detroit area. "I'm going to see if that class works," he says. "Can you believe Please see ROGERS, Page 15 ROGERS Continued from Page 1 the drive, they chatted like two old geezers on a porch. They laughed.

They reminisced. They dreamed together. A tighter bond you couldn't form with a vise. Shortly after they arrived home, friends arranged a bachelor party. This would be their final salute.

The next day, Don was to be married. It was a happy gathering, so much so that Reggie and other well-wishers suggested that they move the party to a local nightclub. They left without Don. It would be the last time Reggie would see his brother alive. This is the memory he keeps, of Don smiling, of being surrounded by friends and family.

This other image, of cocaine and desperate agony, is pushed and shoved aside as best it can be. Sometimes the hurt stays put. Other times it prompts strong emotions anger, frustration, sadness. Always sadness. "It's like a black cloud hanging over my head," Reggie says in a tired tone.

"I'm not ashamed of my brother in no way, shape or form. It was a terrible way that he had to die. But I know there are a lot of people in the league that did, and do right now, more stuff than hie did. It was just his time to go. That's the way I feel about it.

"I don't understand why it hangs over my head, though. I just want to let him rest. let him rest." But this is not a legacy that will go peacefully. For on June 27, 1986, in the early-morning quiet, Don frantically called out to his mother, slipped into a coma and died. And so did a little of Reggie.

Meanwhile, that bothersome cloud, heavy with rumor, innuendo and assorted lawsuits, remains. A legal scorecard: Two former agents, including the notorious Norby Walters, have chosen to sue Reggie Rogers, reportedly for breach of contract. Rogers has said he accepted money from Walters before the conclusion of his playing career at Washington but argues Lions used the seventh pick on him, Rogers said that he would be. insulted if opponents used anything less than two offensive linemen to occupy his time. "When he does develop, you'll see that he has a certain amount of crowd appeal because he's an individual," Vainisi says.

"I know how fans relate to individuals, coming from where I came." Rogers is a friendly sort, open, engaging, thoughtful. He has a deep, quirky laugh. There is a charming innocence about him. And maybe that's part of the problem. "A lot of people don't understand Reggie, but I do," says Jerry Ball, a third-round choice who rooms with Rogers during trips.

"He's a very sincere person. He's got great character and he's got a free heart. And a lot of people take advantage of him." Says Zucken "He's a wonderful guy, very warm, very caring. He's very close to his mom. I realize all the things that have come up.

But they're a bunch of little things. People think he's a bad egg, but he's not." Despite the testimonials, the Lions act as if they have their fingers crossed: On draft day, General Manager Russ Thomas, after introducing Rogers as "Reggie Rucker," told local reporters that Rogers was not.