Last Stand

The sign in the lot outside the Los Angeles Rams' training complex in Anaheim read RESERVED PARKING FOR J. SLATER. Neat, dignified, British style, first initial, last name. Nothing cute, like "Jackie," with perky quotation marks. Just a reminder that Slater, a 41-year-old offensive tackle who has worn the Rams' livery for each of his 19-going-on-20 years in the NFL, deserves his own slot in the lot.

Time ran out on that particular parking space on June 23, when 16 moving vans and two flatbed trucks laden with football paraphernalia rolled away toward the Rams' new home in St. Louis. Time might be running out on J. Slater too. "I sure hope not," the Rams' pro personnel director, Jack Faulkner, says. "You should see the hours he puts in. He's been [working out] four days a week, every week, since the season ended. No one's been working harder than he has. I'd sure like to see him get that 20th year in."

Whether he will or not depends on the state of his left arm. Slater tore the triceps muscle in that arm last October, somehow finished the season and then had surgery in January. He attended the Rams' minicamps in April, May and June, but after age 40 rehab is slow. "He'll go at his own pace," says the Rams' new coach, Rich Brooks. "If we feel he'll be ready at some point in training camp, then he'll be in our plans."

Forty-one years old. An age reserved for a few kickers and a creaking quarterback or two, not for players down in the pits slugging it out. O.K., Cleveland Brown and Minnesota Viking defensive end Jim Marshall lasted until he was almost 42, but to this day no one can figure out how he did it. Slater already has tied Marshall's record for longevity with one club, and next year he could tie him for NFL longevity among linemen. And the year after that....

"Whoa, hold on," Slater says. "I take pride in still being able to perform at a high level, but I'd like to leave the game in one piece. I'd like to be able to play with my kids. Everything depends on how soon I get full strength back in my arm."

How has he lasted so long? What's the secret? "I could say it's all the hours of film I've watched or the thousands of pounds I've lifted," he replies. "But, in reality, I've been blessed."

One looks for more tangible answers. Obviously, Slater had the size, strength and speed, as well as the mental agility, to be a first-rate lineman. But there are plenty of terrific players with similar attributes who last just five or six years. It's something deeper.

"My job description is helper," Slater says, "and I've always accepted the fact that my role would always be supportive." Ask him what he dislikes most in a player, and he'll say, "Two things. When a teammate refuses to take responsibility for a loss and he starts to blame others, and when a player is so arrogant, so egotistical, that he won't give anyone else credit for his success."

Gerald Ford was President when Slater was drafted in the third round out of Jackson State in 1976. Slater has blocked for 23 Ram quarterbacks, among them James Harris, only the second black man to start at quarterback in NFL history; Joe Namath, who came from the New York Jets as a savior and lasted four games; Dieter Brock, who brought a whole bunch of fancy statistics down from Canada and made it through one season; and Vince Ferragamo and Pat Haden and Jeff Kemp and Ron Jaworski. Slater has opened holes for 36 Ram running backs; the big boppers have been Eric Dickerson and now Jerome Bettis.

Slater has seen the Rams decline from perennial division champs to doormat, but his commitment has not wavered. He has spent almost as much time at the Rams' practice facility as the footballs.