9501040170
DETROIT FREE PRESS
950126
Thursday, January 26, 1995
METRO EDITION
1D
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO FINAL CHASER EDITION, Page 1D
Copyright (c) 1995, Detroit Free Press
HUMPHRIES TOILS IN FOUTS' SHADOW
MIAMI -- OK, I know all about Steve Young and his quest for acceptance.
But what about the other guy? Stan Humphries limped through a game last year
with a bum foot, an elbow cast, and a torso stuffed from top to bottom in
thick padding. He looked like the Michelin Man. I remember thinking "This guy
doesn't undress -- he unravels." Then he dropped back to throw, moving like a
creature who just came out of the tar pits, and the ball wobbled and hung and
went almost as fast as a paper airplane. Somehow it landed in the receiver's
arms. Touchdown. Humphries raised his fists and opened his mouth and yelled
something, I believe it was: "Ooouuwwch!"
You have to like that kind of effort -- especially in a nice guy from
Louisiana who looks like a grown-up Wally Cleaver. Stan Humphries is a great
story. And imagine your delight to learn there is a second Stan, fresh from
Louisiana, in the same backfield, with a similar tale, one of pain and
endurance finally paying off. I am talking about Stan Brock, the right tackle
who blocks for Humphries, and who has become a sort of alter ego for his
quarterback, Stan and Stan.
One up, one in the mud.
They are pals, these two, the QB and the lineman. Brock's kids babysit
Humphries' kids. The dads eat pizza together and razz each other. And they
talk about how their former teams both gave up on them. And now, look, they're
at the Super Bowl. How about that?
Stan the Man.
Er, men.
"He took me in the minute I got here," Brock says, "I think, deep down,
he's more like a lineman than a quarterback."
"I guess it's true," Humphries admits, "I'm certainly not the type of
quarterback you're gonna videotape and show kids in high school."
A story worth telling
And yet, maybe they should show Humphries to high schoolers -- OK, not his
thick, pasty body, which is so bruised and unsculptured that when Brock sees
him bare-chested he throws Humphries a T-shirt and begs, "Please, cover it up"
-- but his story. Stan's story should be told.
This is a tale of perseverance. Of a second chance. You may recall that
Humphries, 29 -- who hails from Joe Dumars' home town of Natchitoches, La., so
you know he has to be a good guy -- was with the Redskins for a while and was
on their roster when they went to the Super Bowl three years ago. But he never
played, and he felt "like I was just tagging along."
He was traded the next summer for a third-round pick.
The good news was he was out of Washington. The bad news was the town he
went to, San Diego, had never gotten over the image of Dan Fouts, Mr. Rifle
Arm, whipping out passes the way a pasta machine whips out noodles. And here
comes Humphries, whose throwing style can politely be described as
"interesting."
And he's supposed to lead them to a title?
"I don't why I don't throw it the pretty way," Humphries says."They tried
to teach me that in the high school camps and all. But it just never felt
comfortable. I went back to the way I liked."
Which is?
"Go out there and sling it."
He doesn't always sling it to the right guy -- he has his share of
interceptions -- but he does sling it well when he has to, down the stretch.
(In the playoffs, the Chargers were trailing Miami, 21-6, and Pittsburgh,
13-3, and Humphries led them back both times to victories). And he definitely
slings it when he's hurt.
Frankly, I don't know if he's ever not hurt.
There was the bad leg. The bad elbow. There was the time against the
Raiders when he played the entire second half with a dislocated shoulder. Most
people can't even move with a dislocated shoulder -- it hurts too much.
Humphries was getting whacked after every pass.
"Why do you have such a threshold for pain?" he was asked.
"It's not the pain. I don't want to come out. I sat for four years. They
always say you don't lose your job to injury, but I know that's not the truth.
I don't want to take any chances."
"If you go out, you never know if they'll want you back."
Life after Sainthood
Just ask the other Stan, Brock, who, at 35, is the oldest member of the
Chargers. For 13 years, he played for the New Orleans Saints. Almost never
missed a start. He loved it there, figured to end his career there. And then
suddenly, two years ago, they let him go. He had noticed the Saints trade for
another lineman, so he called head coach Jim Mora, just to check things out,
and at one point he said, "Do you still need me?" And Mora said, "Well, no we
don't."
Just like that, Brock was out of football. He was in a shock -- and it
takes a lot to shock a 6-foot-6, nearly 300-pound lineman. "I didn't exactly
have have people banging down my door. I hadn't made any plans for life after
football. I never wanted to think about it.
"I pretty much had one phone call I could make."
It was to Carl Mauck, the line coach for San Diego. Brock knew Mauck from
way back, and he knew Mauck would give him a straight answer. "If Carl said
'Stan, I've looked at your tapes and we can't use you,' that would be it, I'd
be done."
He waited a day to get the nerve to make the phone call. His hands were
sweating like a high school kid. But Mauck said the right thing. He said he
thought Brock could still play.
Today, he is the starting right tackle for the Super Bowl Chargers..
"It's amazing when you think about it," Brock said. "Of all the scenarios.
I used to think it was hard work and X's and O's that got you to a Super
Bowl. Now I know it's a lot of luck and fate."
And pizza.
It is pizza that unites Brock and Humphires, and has helped develop their
unique bond. It seems that Brock lives closer to Domino's Pizza than
Humphries, so Humphries orders the pizza to Brock's house then comes over.
"I've never seen anyone eat as much as Stan," Brock says. "He finishes a
whole large pie, then eats half of mine."
You want to impress a lineman? Eat more than him. You want to impress a
quarterback? Block for him.
Stan the Men. Funny. You have all these people comparing Humphries to Joe
Namath now, as the quarterback who could engineer the most unlikely Super Bowl
upset. And while Humphries says, "The only reason anyone compares me to Joe
Namath is the point spread. We're not alike. And I don't wear panty hose" --
still, what a story that would be, huh?
They keep talking about Steve Young and redemption at this Super Bowl.
Could you imagine if San Diego really won? The fans are going nuts, the
announcers screaming about "the upset of the century!" and there go Humphries
and Brock, having cashed in on their second chance in life, now heading for
the pizza, turning to each other and saying, "Stanley, this could be the
beginning of a beautiful friendship. . . . "
You never know.