Plunkett pushes team approach to quit smoking

Tim Graham

Friday, May 28, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

Jim Plunkett never smoked. Sure, he admits he had a puff here and there, but he never got hooked.

Nevertheless, he knows the damage cigarettes can cause.

"My mom smoked for 44 years, hardcore, a long time," the Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl MVP said. "But my father, who also smoked, died of a heart attack in 1969. So after 44 years of smoking, with nicotine-yellowed fingers, my mom went up and quit cold turkey.

"She's 87 years old today and in pretty good health. That wouldn't be the case today if she hadn't quit smoking."

Plunkett toured Las Vegas media outlets Thursday to support local smokers wishing to kick the habit. He recently became a spokesman for "Coaches Corner Smoking," a program designed to help people quit through a teamwork approach.

"Some smokers feel it's hopeless, but it's not," Plunkett said after recording public service announcements at KXNT 840-AM's studios.

The 51-year-old quarterback who led the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders to Super Bowl victories in 1981 and 1984 appeared just as fit as the day he retired after 17 NFL seasons.

"We want to let the people who want to quit know there's some help out there," Plunkett said. "It gives them some hope. It lets them know they have some resources, some aids that may help them."

Coaches Corner provides help through a toll-free number -- (800) 428-6100 -- and a website -- www.ccsmoking.com -- which are loaded with information and recorded words of encouragement from top athletes and coaches such as Mike Krzyzewski, Scotty Bowman and Ken Griffey Jr.

The program advocates smokers to get a "coach," usually a physician, and surround themselves with "teammates,' whether they be fellow smokers trying to quit, friends or loved ones.

"It's a team concept," Plunkett said. "Surround yourself with a doctor, friends, family who will be there when you feel like picking up a smoke.

"That support is encouraging. Just like me, when it comes to working out. There are some days I don't want to go run, I don't want to pump iron. But my friend next door will come by and say 'Time to go work out.' You need somebody like that to help accomplish your goal."

Plunkett noted there is no such thing as a typical smoker and that each needs an individual approach to quitting.

"Some may need drug therapy, some may need counseling, whatever works for that individual," he said.

Even athletes, those who appear to treat their bodies as temples, are smokers. Plunkett recalled his surprise at how many players smoked in uniform after he joined the New England Patriots as a first-round draft pick and eventual rookie of the year in 1971.

"Some teammates got nervous before a game and they'd light up, or they'd light up at halftime," he said. "A lot of my friends who played smoked, especially when they had a beer in one hand and cards in front of them. They all seem to go hand-in-hand.

"Some of them probably wished they could stop."

Plunkett, who resides in Atherton, Calif., is involved with several charities and awareness programs. He still is associated with the Peninsula Center for the Blind, an organization that drew national attention when Plunkett created on its behalf football trading cards in braille. Both of Plunkett's parents are blind.

He also works for the Good Tidings Foundation, an organization geared toward giving needy Bay Area children a merry Christmas.

He frequently travels to Las Vegas for speaking engagements, charities and to see his old Raider teammate and local prep legend David Humm.

Plunkett gives of his time because he is aware the power a role model athlete can have.

"If they've got a good opinion of someone and know a lot of other people do too, you almost command respect," Plunkett said. "They tend to listen more. You get people's attention. They say 'Maybe Jim's got something there. Look at all he's done in the past. I'll listen to what he has to say.'

"We do make an impact."