His fist-pumping days for Seau come to end

SAN DIEGO — The Seau punch has finally run out of juice.

Junior Seau retired from the NFL on Monday after 13 seasons as the live-wire leader of his hometown San Diego Chargers and three less-productive years with the Miami Dolphins.

The 37-year-old Seau celebrated practically every tackle and sack with a trademark fist pump during a career in which he established himself as one of the NFL's greatest linebackers and helped San Diego reach its only Super Bowl. During his best years he seemed to cover more turf than a groundskeeper's tarp, and was rewarded with 12 Pro Bowl selections.

"There's nobody that loved playing more than Junior," former Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard said Monday. "Any organization should be as fortunate as the Chargers were to have Junior."

Seau starred at Southern California and was Beathard's first draft pick as Chargers GM, taken fifth overall in 1990.

In a sign of the intensity to come, Seau was thrown out of his first NFL game, an exhibition against the Raiders, for fighting with guard Steve Wisniewski.

Seau knew only one speed — as fast as possible.

Beathard said he was surfing recently and ran into Seau, who was working out on the beach in Oceanside with some cousins and neighbor kids.

"He brought something to the game that very few people have brought to the game — he made people around him better," Beathard said. "He's got the passion that is unlike anybody else. He's just incredible. Besides being a great athlete, it's the intangibles that some guys have, but a good percentage don't have. He's unique in that sense."

Seau often referred to his teammates as "my players."

"He was the same in every practice as he was in every game," Beathard said. "You couldn't relax if you were on offense because he'd knock your head off if you thought he was going to go half-speed."

In helping the Chargers upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1994 AFC championship game, Seau spread his 16 tackles from the first play to the next to last despite a pinched nerve in his neck. His 15 career interceptions sometimes led to reckless returns, and one of his wildest was a pick of John Elway that saved a 37-34 win in the 1994 opener at Denver.