Celebrity Jobber with Jeff Zito - Dan Fouts

Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Zito

In this episode of the Celebrity Jobber Podcast, host Jeff Zito interviews Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts about his unique upbringing in a football broadcasting family and his pivotal

Key takeaways

• Dan Fouts credits San Diego Chargers head coach Don Coryell with revolutionizing the NFL from a running-heavy league to a modern passing offense.
• Fouts began his sports career as a stat keeper and ball boy for the San Francisco 49ers while working in the broadcast booth with his father, Bob Fouts.

Main topics

• Dan Fouts' early football upbringing and family influence
• Transition of NFL strategy from running to passing offense

Notable quotes

"I wish I could take credit for it, but Don Coriel is the reason."

Conclusion

Listeners gain a behind-the-scenes look at how one quarterback helped

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:03) Hey, it's Jeff Zito, and thanks again for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber Podcast. Today, number six in the U.S. on the Apple Podcast Music Interviews Chart. Please hit that subscribe button. We're streaming everywhere you listen to podcasts, so Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you're listening, hit that subscribe button. Thank you so much. Also, we'd love a five-star rating, and if you could, leave a comment and or a review. Want to check out past guests and episodes? You can... do so by going to celebrityjobber.com. And every Wednesday, we highlight an older episode that might have slipped through the cracks. You know, over 200 episodes and over four years of doing this in the first year, wasn't that many people listening. So on Wednesdays, we release an older episode. We call it Celebrity Jobber Rewind. This past Wednesday featured legendary Bad Company lead singer Paul Rogers. Such an awesome interview. There's a part that he talks about. He tells a story about almost being chosen to be the new lead singer of The Doors right after Jim Morrison died. Not a lot of people know that story. You got to hear it. Also, you can follow on social media, Instagram, celebrity underscore jobber underscore podcast, and then our YouTube channel, which is youtube.com slash the at sign celebrity jobber. Okay, who are these people? What did they do before they were famous? Was there another? plan? What about their family? What kind of business were they in? Was there any kind of influence there? Maybe a little bit with today's guest. You know him as... former quarterback of the San Diego Chargers and also a color analyst for NFL games, including on Monday Night Football. Dan Fouts is pretty responsible for changing the game of football. You know, back in his day, the game was primarily a running game. Dan Fouts became pretty much one of the early quarterbacks that started throwing the ball downfield and accumulate a lot of passing yards. You know, before Dan Fouts, the game was played completely different. And by the way, the game today, you know, almost 50 years later, is still... played that way. It's a passing game. So we'll talk to Dan about his NFL career. We'll talk to him about his first job and also about his broadcasting career, Monday Night Football. He's actually involved with this new documentary, which just came out on HBO Max called Miller Night Football, which is the story about Dennis Miller, the comedian, former Saturday Night Live alum, joining Dan Fouts and Al Michaels as a member of Monday Night Football with some kind of social experiment. experiment and a lot of people have a lot to say about it. So we'll talk to Dan about that as well. The moment that pretty much changed his life forever and more. Hall of Famer, former NFL quarterback Dan Fouts is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber. The Speaker 2 (3:00) Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, give a five-star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you pod. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out. Speaker 3 (3:21) Hey, Dan, how are you? Speaker 1 (3:22) Good, good. Jeff, how are you doing this Speaker 2 (3:24) morning? Speaker 3 (3:24) I'm doing great. It's great to meet you. And it's funny, I just wanted to read you a couple things my brother wrote. Because my brother, growing up, we grew up in New Jersey, but my brother was a huge Chargers fan. And on his wall were posters of Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow. And he wrote me a message just a bit ago and I told him I was going to have you on. And I didn't get it. I was I was trying to figure it out. He goes back in the day. The Chargers were called the San Diego Chargers because there was no D in San Diego. Well, he he has me like Google. I'm Googling this going like, what do you mean? Did it change the name of San Diego? And then I got the joke and I was like, oh, OK, it it got me for a minute. You changed the game in San Diego. Dan, I mean, it was a different game before you aired it out with Coach Coriel. This is how they're playing the game today. So, I mean, you're credited with that. Speaker 1 (4:35) I wish I could take credit for it, but Don Coriel is the reason. Oh, by the way, there is an O in San Diego. So tell your brother that. Speaker 3 (4:46) I will. Don't worry. Speaker 3 (4:49) That's great. But growing up, Dan, when did football become, you know, part of your life? When when were you really interested? Because I know you have a really interesting football background with with your dad, which I had no idea before before I read about it. Speaker 1 (5:07) Yeah. Bob Fouts, he was the voice of the 49ers back in the late 50s and through the 60s. Speaker 1 (5:16) I was born way back then and was able to be a ball boy for the 49ers and actually sit in the booth with my dad at times, keeping the numbers for him, too. So growing up, you know, I got to see Y.A. Tittle and Hugh McElhaney and Bob St. Clair, all the famers, and get to meet them on a personal level because as a kid, I was always in the way. So, you know, it was great, great. Speaker 1 (5:47) experience. And, you know, I just love the game so much that I just wanted to keep playing. Speaker 3 (5:55) Yeah. So so you're a kid. Was this your very first job, by the