Sport: Blacksmith-Type Boy

In an age of football specialization, the finest of all 1960’s college quarterbacks might seem as far out of date as the flying wedge. Most of his quarterbacking rivals simply fire passes or present the ball to others to carry, then scurry off the field when the enemy begins to attack. But the University of Washington’s Bob Schloredt, 20, not only passes with precision, but also slams into the line like a fullback, skirts the ends like a halfback, drops back and kicks the ball out of sight, and plays defense as though the family honor were at stake. “The way I feel about the guys in the other jerseys. they’re open game,” says Schloredt, a rugged 6 ft. 1 in., 197 Ibs., “and I expect them to think the same way about me.”

They do. All season long teams will be gunning for the versatile Schloredt, prime mover of the Washington Huskies, who last year startled the football world by humiliating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, 44-8. When strapping Jim Owens became coach in 1957, Washington was sulking about a series of recruiting scandals, had such a reputation for attracting players with a checkbook that flashy Halfback Hugh McElhenny (’52) was said to have taken a pay cut when he turned pro. An Oklahoma All-America end, Owens snapped Washington out of its lethargy with rib-rattling practice sessions that came to be known as “The Death March.” Moreover, Washington began getting more good football players at far less cost. Says Assistant Coach Tom Tipps: “Make this a game for men, and the men will come to play it.”

Heart of the Matter. The best of the men who came to play was Schloredt. Son of a three-sport coach and grade-school teacher, Schloredt was born in Deadwood. S. Dak., but grew up in Gresham, Ore. As a tyke, Schloredt was tossing timid passes to his 75-year-old great-grandfather. While still a boy, Schloredt lost 90% of the vision of his left eye when a chum set off a firecracker in a bottle. Schloredt now sees only a blur with that eye. has to survey the field with quick movements of his head when he fades to pass. Although 3-D movies seem the same to him as ordinary films, Schloredt has developed amazingly good depth perception on the field, thinks that he judges distance by the relative size of players.

Schloredt is the key to Washington’s varied offense. Under Coach Owens’ blend of legerdemain and brute force, the wingback often acts as an end, the quarterback and fullback operate as halfbacks, and a tackle may end up as an eligible pass receiver. The system involves so many variations of men-in-motion, split ends and unbalanced lines that Schloredt must memorize some 240 plays. “Schloredt is the whole thing,” says Owens. “He’s the heart of it. He’s close to the ideal. We use a lot of option plays, and once he decides to keep the ball the play is all his. He has the confidence of the players, and what’s even better, he has confidence in his players.”

Patter of Footsteps. On offense, Schloredt is a ground-gaining runner. “He’s a blacksmith type of boy,” says Assistant Coach Tipps. “He’s used to running into folks and he don’t mind it a bit.” Adds Schloredt: “I’ve always had strong legs. And there’s something about the way I run that gives the illusion of slowness, so that a lot of people have tried to tackle me after I was already past them. It’s nothing I invented. It’s just an illusion.”

On defense, there is nothing illusory about Schloredt. “There’s an art to being aggressive,” he says. “The idea is that if you can soften up the other guy, he’ll be thinking about you. Take a big end. If his passes are good, he’ll outreach you and pull them in. And if you just tackle him around the shoetops, he’ll fall down, all right. But that’s not good enough. You’ve got to tackle him so he thinks your helmet is going to tear right through him. Next time he comes down, he won’t want to stretch so far. He’ll be thinking about you and wondering where you are. That’ll take his mind off the ball he’s supposed to catch. We call that ‘making them hear footsteps.’ ”

Despite making All-America last year, Schloredt remains one of his own toughest critics: “There were times last year when I did something everyone said was great. But all the time I knew that I maybe couldn’t do it again and maybe I did it only accidentally in the first place. It’s uncomfortable to know that.” Coach Owens is well satisfied to have a quarterback who plays a good game instead of talking one. “A lot of quarterbacks are fiery, holler guys, temperamental guys,” says Owens. “Bob, though, leads by example.”