The Bonus Battle

In pro football's bonus war, it is obviously more fun to be a private than a colonel. Weeb Ewbank, 58, earns $35,000 as coach of the American Football League's New York Jets, and this season he has already found himself in the position of trying to give orders to

1) a $400,000 first-string quarterback,

2) a $200,000 third-string quarterback,

3) a $100,000 taxi-squad fullback (from the Ivy League, no less). All Weeb needed to make his embarrassment complete was an independently wealthy lineman, and last week he got one when Jets Owner Sonny Werblin signed Michigan's 230-lb. Tackle Bill

Yearby to a contract at $1,000 per pound.

Talent for Burlesque. Well, that's showbiz. And there were a few other touches of it in last week's annual pro-football draft, as the A.F.L. took 18 hours to divvy up 253 college players, and the older National Football League took 36 hours to draft 305. The Washington Redskins, whose talent for burlesque is fairly obvious (season's record: five wins, six losses), drafted Princeton Place Kicker Charlie Gogolak as their No. 1 choice, giving him a modest $15,000 bonus, and announced afterward that they were insuring Charlie's kicking foot with Lloyd's of London for $1,000,000.

There was no deliberate humor in the battle for such stars as Texas Linebacker Tommy Nobis, who was drafted No. 1 by both the A.F.L.'s Houston Oilers and the N.F.L.'s Atlanta Falcons. "That boy's got a 20 1/2-in. neck," sighed Oiler Owner K. S. ("Bud") Adams as he flew off to a conference with Nobis at the Villa Capri Motor Hotel in Austin last week. Nobis also, it developed, had an attorney. While Tommy drank half a dozen Cokes, gulped down two club sandwiches and said nothing, Adams tried to find out what Atlanta had offered so he could top it. Uh, uh, said the lawyer: "Just give us your best deal, and we'll let you know in ten days." Adams suggested a figure of $250,000 or so --and was more than a little astonished at the reaction. "They kept poker faces throughout the whole thing."

Nice, Round Figure. All-America Halfback Mike Garrett, the Heisman Trophy winner from Southern Cal, made it clear what he wanted: "$300,000 is a nice, round figure." Illinois Fullback Jim Grabowski, the No. 1 draft choice of both the N.F.L.'s Green Bay Packers and the A.F.L.'s Miami Dolphins, denied that he was demanding a $500,000 package. "I just don't know," he said innocently, "where these stones get started."

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