September 4, 1983

JOHN UNITAS was 14 games from the end of his legendary career when he first met Dan Fouts. They became teammates on the San Diego Chargers within a few months of each other in 1973. The Chargers had bought Unitas's contract from the Baltimore Colts in January and taken Fouts in the third-round of the college draft a few months later. The Chargers opened that season with a soon-to-be Hall of Famer as the starter and a rookie as his backup. As diverse as their backgrounds and experience were - one, an 18-year veteran, the other an unpolished rookie from the University of Oregon - they liked each other right away and, in time, learned that they shared an approach and dedication to the game.

Ground will be broken this month for an opulent high-rise condominum in a former stone quarry directly across the street from the entrance to South Mountain Reservation State Park in South Orange, N.J. The development will be called Cambridge House and it will be built by the First Regency Development Corporation, a company that has built primarily in Florida. A spokesman for First Regency said the developers hoped to attract buyers looking for the space of a house with the convenience of apartment living.

THE downing of the South Korean airliner that strayed into Soviet airspace last week sent angry shock waves around the world. President Reagan called it ''a terrorist attack.'' He questioned ''Soviet credibility when they so flagrantly lie.'' ''The Soviet Union,'' Mr. Reagan insisted, ''owes the world the fullest possible explanation and apology for their inexcusable act of brutality.'' Korea demanded full compensation and there were stern denunciations in other world capitals, from NATO allies to Communist China and also from Communist Party officials in France and Italy.

Israeli tanks and military vehicles by the hundreds streamed southward early this morning as Israel began its long-awaited withdrawal from positions near Beirut. The long convoy rumbled south along the dusty highway during the night beneath brilliant flares shot into the sky, apparently fired by the Israelis to illuminate their route through the Shuf Mountains overlooking the capital. The announcement that the pullback to the Awali River was under way came in a telephone call shortly after midnight from an Israeli military spokesman, Maj. Louis Williams, at his office on the outskirts of Beirut. He did not give details, and declined to say how long the operation would take.

COMPETING for a declining pool of local students, Long Island colleges and universities are seeking to minimize their tuition increases, maximize their financial aid packages and step up out-of-state recruitment. While college costs nationwide, according to a study by the College Board, will rise about 10 percent this year, many Long Island schools are keeping their increases below that level. School officials say that while the Federal cutbacks projected last year did not reach the extent feared, government allocations nevertheless have not kept pace with the cost of a year at college, which, they said, grows faster than consumer prices or wage increases. With local high school enrollment declines expected to continue well into the 1990's, Long Island's demographics still appear unfavorable to institutions of higher learning. At Hofstra University in Hempstead, this year's freshman enrollment is 4 percent above last year, despite a 9 percent tuition increase. According to Marc Dion, dean of student services, aggressive recruitment of out-of-state students has broadened the university base. A quarter of the fall freshman class came from 24 states. (Four years ago, 17 percent of the first-year students came from out of state.)