Gold Jacket Spotlight: Dan Fouts 'had to play quarterback'

Bob Fouts, the father of Pro Football Hall of Famer (Class of 1993) DAN FOUTS and a former San Francisco 49ers play-by-play announcer, once declared the only advice he ever gave his son was that, if Dan was going to play football, he had to play quarterback.

Good advice.

The elder Fouts observed, “The thing that sets Dan apart is just his single-mindedness of purpose. He was just self-motivated and dedicated.”

Self-motivated indeed, Dan Fouts said: “Nobody else can push you as hard as you can push yourself to be as well prepared as you can possibly be and to be as good as you can possibly be.”

Those abilities led Fouts from success on the field and in the classroom at the University of Oregon to an outstanding 15-year career with the San Diego Chargers.

Fouts, the pilot of the San Diego Chargers’ “Air Coryell” offense, lands in this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.

After Fouts established 19 school records while at Oregon, the Chargers selected him in the third round of the 1973 NFL Draft. Fouts and Ducks teammate Ahmad Rashad (then Bobby Moore) were members of the charter class of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame in 1992.

While the Chargers struggled during Fouts' early years, the appointment of Don Coryell as head coach resulted in a rapid improvement and the installation of a pass-oriented offensive scheme that would result in record-setting performances for Fouts and the team.

A 1979 Sports Illustrated article proclaimed, “The Chargers’ complicated offense makes unusual demands on the quarterback, and Coach Don Coryell is convinced that Fouts is the only man to run it.”

In that article, Coryell offered: “We are only doing what we do because of Dan. He has such a flexible mind. But he is very, very, intelligent and he is extremely competitive and tough mentally.”

While directing Coryell’s offense, Fouts led the NFL in passing yardage four consecutive years (1979-1982) while on his way to 43,040 career passing yards.

Considered the AFC Player of the Year by UPI in 1979, Fouts was named the NFL MVP by the Pro Football Writers of America in 1982 and was a second-team member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1980s.

“He’s (Dan) the very best. I have never in my coaching or playing career ever gone up against a better quarterback," former Cleveland Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “He’s such a great competitor, a great talent. I don’t know if there has ever been a better one.”

Fouts appeared in the 1980 and 1981 AFC Championship Games, the latter being one of the most memorable championship games in NFL history as was the AFC Divisional Playoffs game preceding that 1981 title game.

The Chargers and Miami Dolphins battled in an epic overtime game in that 1981 divisional round in the sweltering South Florida heat and humidity. Battling dehydration and exhaustion, the Chargers prevailed 41-38 in overtime.

Heat and humidity certainly weren’t issues the following week for the AFC Championship Game in Cincinnati, aptly named the “Freezer Bowl.” With the wind chill temperature reaching minus-59 degrees (nearly a 140-degree difference from the Miami game), the Bengals defeated the Chargers 27-7.

Fouts was selected to six Pro Bowls in a seven-year span and, at the time of his retirement, held or shared 42 Chargers records. In 2009, fans selected Fouts as the “Greatest Charger of All Time” while voting for the Chargers’ 50th Anniversary Team.

Fouts' Chargers jersey was retired in 1988, the first jersey retired in team history, and he was added to the San Diego Sports Association (Formerly San Diego Hall of Champions) in 1989, the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame in 1993 and the State of Oregon Hall of Fame in 1992.

Fatherly advice, self-motivation and an aggressive offensive strategy merged to produce a Hall of Fame career for Dan Fouts.