Bolt brothers
Heirs to Spanos family's stewardship of the Chargers are apparent

By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 23, 2006

The next president of the Chargers was walking down the jetway at El
Paso International Airport one Monday in September when a security
official stopped him to inspect his bag.

Then the official spied the lightning bolt on the young man's jacket.

“The Chargers won yesterday, huh?” the official said.

“Yes, they did,” came John Spanos' friendly reply.

After it had been ascertained that Spanos was not trying to smuggle hair
gel aboard the American Airlines flight to Dallas, he was allowed to board.

With that, he headed off toward seat 13D.

Yes, he flies coach.

That might not seem all that remarkable. Nor might the fact he endured
the longest of lines in the Southwest terminal at Lindbergh Field the
previous night.

Until you consider that Spanos has been flying in the family's private
plane since he was a tot. The family's current mode of air transport is
a Gulfstream V, complete with satellite TV and Nancy, the family's
full-time flight attendant, who makes the world's best banana bread.

It's hard to envision finding someone who cares less about who he is or
where he's from or what he might be entitled to. Spanos is interested in
only one thing. Ask the girlfriend who called it quits recently, in part
because he worked so much. Or the Governator, whom Spanos declined to
talk to during the team's season opener because, well, there was a
football game going on. (Of course, he has met Arnold Schwarzenegger
more times than he can count.)

He remembers pretty much every big play of every game from the Chargers'
lone Super Bowl season in 1994, when he was 15. Over dinner at a burrito
joint in College Station, Texas, during a recent scouting trip, he was
actually recalling crucial punts.

“Going back (to the Super Bowl) now,” he says with a tone nothing short
of giddy and a smile as big as the state he's in, “it would be like a
fairy tale.”

It's the only time in two days he seemed like a kid.

The business side

The other next president of the Chargers sat in a meeting earlier this
season regarding the opening of a team store at Qualcomm Stadium.
He was not the leader of the meeting, nor was he expected to be. He
asked questions and took notes.

“I definitely try not to speak before I think,” A.G. Spanos said later.
“I let everyone else talk, and I listen. My grandfather's main advice
was 'Ask questions and listen.' ”

When A.G. is in charge, he figures he might be more forceful. But his
approach will never be to micromanage.

“I think when I'm in a role where people are depending on you to make
decisions, you can't always rely on others,” he said. “I think my style
will be to give direction about what the ultimate goal is and let them
do it.”

He has two passions, and they center on one thing.

He remembers vividly the moment he went from being a kid just there to
play with his cousins to being a hard-core fan. He was sitting in his
family's suite for the 1986 season opener and watching running back Gary
Anderson take off from the 4-yard line and somersault into the end zone.

“That was amazing,” he said, eyes ablaze.

He might as well be the team's historian. Ask anyone. And if you want to
see him practically somersault around his office, merely mention the
team's lightning bolt logo.

The Chargers had just started to use the logo when A.G. began working
full time for the team, and his job as “lightning bolt police” was to
enforce the proper branding among licensees.

As he discusses the brand, he gestures excitedly, and his voice rises.
He grabs items around his office adorned with the lightning bolt to
illustrate his points.

“I want people to see this,” he said, “and think of all the games, the
players, the things this organization stands for.”

Starting at the bottom

Team President Dean Spanos' plan is for one or both of his sons to take
his place some day, perhaps in 10 years or so.
How would an A.G.-John hierarchy be structured?

“I don't know,” Dean said. “Fortunately, one is on the business side
(A.G., 28, as director of marketing programs and business development)
and one is on the football side (John, 27, as assistant director of
college scouting). They get along great.”

In an interview in September, exuberantly proud grandfather Alex Spanos,
the team's owner for 22 years, declared, “John is doing a great job. So
is A.G. I can't tell you how proud I am of the two of them. They're
going to be running the Chargers for quite a few years.”

And so it will be.

It is not as if Chargers employees are preoccupied with the ascension of
Dean's sons. But that reality is ever-present.

“I said when I got here, one of the responsibilities is to get them
ready to take over,” said Jim Steeg, hired in 2004 as the team's chief
operating officer. “I know that. You can read the tea leaves here.
That's an obligation we all have.”

To that end, A.G. and John have been working in the organization since
they were teenagers. Their only time away from the club was when they
served as interns for the NFL.

Given the freedom to do whatever they wanted with their lives, the only
thing that was non-negotiable was that they would work. Their dad, who
was sweeping out construction sites at age 16, told them so at an early age.

“I remember him saying 'When you turn whatever age, you're working over
the summer,' ” John said. “It was in a stern manner. It wasn't an
option. It was 'You're working for us or working for someone.' ”

Said Alex: “The best way to learn is by doing. The only way to build a
strong work ethic is getting your hands dirty. A.G. and John are doing
exactly that. Their dad did the same thing. All my kids have worked in
the family business. I've been successful at that. My family knows how
to work. We all started working very young.”

Over the years, A.G. and John have delivered mail throughout the
building, run errands, ferried players to and from the airport. Their
duties continue to become more crucial as they work toward being the bosses.

Dean, now 56, took over day-to-day operations from his father in 1994.
Whenever he passes on those duties, he knows his successors, because of
their head start in the business, will be better equipped than he was.

“By far,” he said. “And I want them to be. I don't want them to have to
go through the growing pains my father and I went through. . . . They're
going to be so much better prepared for this takeover.”

The long road

On the day after he arrived in Dallas, John Spanos glanced at his watch
and for a moment wondered why he was up and ready at 5 a.m. Then he
remembered he had not yet adjusted the time. It was 7 at the Fort Worth
Hilton.

John was 23 when he was hired as a full-time scout, perhaps the youngest
in the business at the time.

On this particular trip – the second of five such harried sojourns he
will take this fall – he was at Texas-El Paso on Monday, Texas Christian
on Tuesday, Texas A&M on Wednesday and Houston on Thursday.

Spanos arrived at the TCU football offices shortly before 8 a.m. By the
time he left after 3 p.m., he had watched about four hours of video,
taken notes on five players, asked the Horned Frogs' pro liaison and
their strength coach questions about the players and watched a portion
of practice.

Then he headed to his car for the three-hour drive to College Station.
Another hotel awaited, another school the next morning.

This is how he spends much of the year, helping the Chargers prepare for
the draft, something he might one day be in charge of.

The other part of his job is also designed to help him realize that
ultimate goal. John has negotiated the contracts of two or three draft
picks each of the past three years. His first contract was Michael
Turner's in 2004.

It's difficult for him to say which part of his job he enjoys more.

He recalls being a kid and asking Bobby Beathard about players on draft
day. He began working in high school, helping then-assistant GM Marty
Hurney by researching the salary cap number for every player in the league.

“I love both,” he said. “I appreciate the fact I can get experience in
both. My first hands-on experience was with the salary cap, but player
personnel has always been an interest – ever since we drafted Junior
(Seau) and I knew all about him before we drafted him.”

Ed McGuire, the Chargers' capologist and chief negotiator, recalled
taking John to Leigh Steinberg's office in 1998, the summer before John
started at Wake Forest, for an 11-hour negotiating session regarding
Ryan Leaf.

“At that point I really understood this kid is bright, he's very eager
to learn everything possible,” McGuire said. “He was just like a sponge.
He wanted to get involved, see how everything was working. I learned a
lot about John and how important this was to him.

McGuire will often include John in free-agent negotiations. McGuire,
considered among the league's foremost experts on the salary cap, has
instilled much of that knowledge in the younger Spanos.

“He understands the system,” McGuire said. “He knows the cap. He's a
very quick learner. He's got the skills to be a negotiator. I think
that's an inherited trait he has. He's a bright kid.”

Strong testimonials

Many people you talk to about John and A.G. – those who have worked with
them and above them – could someday be working for them. Many work for
their dad now. So it's not unexpected that no one has a bad word to say
about them.

But it is in the details offered, the way their answers go beyond the
minimum required, that make it believable that the sons of Dean are
capable heirs.

It's how NFL director of game operation/special events Bill McConnell,
for whom A.G. interned in the summer of '99 while a student at USC, says
A.G. asked questions and wanted to be involved beyond what was asked of him.

“Even though we carved out three or four things for him to be
specifically involved in, he showed the initiative to learn about
marketing,” McConnell said. “He was frequently inquiring how the league
handled certain things, how we approached certain elements from a
marketing standpoint.”

It's how Drew Myers, TCU's assistant director of football operations and
the program's pro liaison, relays how John is “businesslike” but also
how he asks about Myers' family.

“He's a class act,” Myers said. “That's a

breath of fresh air, when a lot of times (scouts) just say, 'Here are
the players you have, tell me a little about them.' ”

It's how Alistair Kirkwood, vice president of strategic planning and
development for NFL Europe, speaks of his former intern, whom he would
dispatch all over Europe to gather information.

“It's safe to say when A.G. came over he was quite raw in terms of
business experience, and also he'd never worked abroad,” Kirkwood said.
“His learning curve was huge and steep. . . . I deliberately tried to
throw him into the deep end and not give him anything in the way of
floats, to see how he came through. He came through every time.”

It's how Kevin Omell, agent for 2006 fifth-round pick Tim Dobbins,
speaks of how “well-prepared” and “intelligent” John was during
negotiations.

“He is not somebody who doesn't listen to the other side,” Omell said.
“He doesn't act like he's 26 (now 27). He knows a lot about players,
systems. He's a football guy. Anyone who didn't think that is pretty
convinced by now.”

John said he assumes those he meets along the way don't know who he is,
but he can tell when they do.

“Oh, Spanos!” or “Why is that name familiar?” they'll say.

On one visit, a school's pro liaison brought every player to meet
Spanos, got him a visor during a sunny practice and offered great
information on his players. When Spanos thanked him at the end of the
day, the man said, “No problem. I know you'll give me a job one day.”

Myers recalled how he found out Spanos was more than a scout. It was
three years ago, on Spanos' first visit to TCU.

“Somebody knew the Spanos name and asked him in front of me,” Myers
said. “I had no idea. I think he just smiled and said, 'Yes I am.' He
was very humble about it.”

A valuable perspective

A defining moment during two days on the road with John came as he was
finishing a soliloquy about not being able to make everyone happy.
It seems he and his brother are balancing instruments for their father,
being that the ups and downs of owning an NFL team have been constant
their entire lives.

“Dean really listens to John and A.G,” Susie Spanos said of the
relationship between her husband and two sons. “They have been a calming
influence. They're much more reasonable, because they've grown up in it.
They have a really realistic view. They put everything in perspective. I
don't worry for them because they're so well-prepared.”

Dean and Alex Spanos have been the object of criticism by fans and the
media, both for the team's struggles on the field and for its quest for
a new stadium.

Dean acknowledges he is, at times, myopic, even sensitive. Not only will
his sons offer him their take on issues, he often will seek it out.

“I am always asking both of them about certain situations,” Dean said.
“They give me a different perspective. They're a great sounding board
for me.”

And from those he is grooming sometimes comes the reminder that not
everyone will always be happy with you.

“You don't have to be old to be smart,” Dean said.

Said John: “He lets things get to him. I think it's good A.G. and I are
there to offer perspective.”

As he is addressing this particular family dynamic, John is
simultaneously talking, driving and juggling directions as he tries to
navigate the tricky loops of the Fort Worth freeways.

His car starts listing right, encroaching on another driver. There is a
honk. John swerves back into his lane and does not miss a beat.

“You can't please all the people all the time,” he says.

After a moment, he explains how traveling so much and trying to find his
way around unfamiliar places has made him a more patient driver at home.
When he comes upon a motorist he might otherwise dismiss as clueless, he
instead says to himself, “They must be from out of town. They're just
trying to find their way around.”

It is these moments, when he demonstrates a mature thoughtfulness well
beyond his 27 years, that give reason to believe the Chargers will be in
good hands.

For now, both brothers are remarkable in their focus on the present
while possessing a firm grasp on their future.

“I'm really more focused on the now and what can I do to help me in the
future,” John said. “I'm extremely fortunate, and not just because I
love what I'm doing. I feel like I've had a strong background in it.
Everything I've invested is going to help me down the road.”

Though their responsibilities continue to increase, both speak of
growing more comfortable with the passage of time. They know what the
plan is. But they speak of it in vague terms, not denying it, yet not
giving it a concrete foundation for now.

“I'm just going to keep doing my job,” A.G. said. “If that happens it
will be great, I'll look forward to it. I'm not going to assume anything
is entitled to me. As I look ahead, taking on more stuff, it's exciting.
It's going to be tougher, but I am looking forward to it.”