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Show by Jim Murray Mnninray umi pntt Dickerson shows the country what John Robinson already knew He can't see without glasses. Off the field, he never seems to hurry, as if he's afraid he might bump into something in the dark. Even with the football, he goes along a line of scrimmage like a thief trying doors in a row of houses. When he finds one open, he's gone. He doesn't run so much as he glides. It's almost as if he was his own shadow. Lamont Cranston with a football. But what distinction does Eric Dickerson have that Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Floyd Little, Hugh McElhenny, Otto Graham and Sammy Baugh also had? i Answer: like them, he never won the Heisman but should have: He never got closer than third in the voting. But Jim Brown's best was fifth. Baugh made fourth. But Payton made 14th, Gale Sayers got clear up to 12th, little was 5th twice, while McElhenny finished 8th and Otto Graham was third. Bob Waterfield never got a vote and Bobby Layne settled for 6th and 9th. Larry Csonka made fourth, John Riggins was off the board. A Heisman Trophy winner has three options: he can sign with an NFL team on graduation and court failure. Or he can sign with a team in an "other" league (Canada or USFL) and insure anonymity. He can, of course, sign with an NFL team and consolidate his glory. But history shows that to be a high-risk adventure. The lists are full of Heismans who tarnished the trophy, to say nothing of their reputations, in the pros. For the non-Heisman winners, the path is all roses. He can only end up as a wronged man, a victim of history. He brings no media-hype baggage with him. But, even so, the Dickerson attack on the Heisman legend is devastating. He not only led the NFL in rushing in his rookie year, he posted the sixth-best of all time. His 85-yard touchdown run was the longest of the year. He carried the ball 24 times a game, caught the ball an additional 51 times and set team records in touchdowns, yards, was named Player-of-the-Year by Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. Only a year-and-a-half in the league and already he's making Red Grange, Jim Thorpe and O.J. Simpson move over. What happened and why is he doing those terrible things to the Heisman image? Didn't the balloters get any Texas papers? Eric Dickerson was no secret to the people whose livings depend on their knowing about the Eric Dickersons of the planets, the pro coaches and scouts. His present coach, John Robinson, knew about him as far back as Eric's junior year in high school. Coach Robinson, then head man at USC's football program, made a trip to Sealy, Texas, no less, to try to persuade the young man to come to the Trojans. Had he done so, it's not hard to believe Eric Dickerson i might be Heisman Trophy Winner Dickerson today, Troy's fifth in history. Instead, he opted for SMU which had had only one Heisman (Doak Walker) and that 35 years before. Well, actually, it wasn't Eric who opted for SMU. It was somebody with a more important vote, Viola, his adoptive mother (and great aunt). Viola calls the plays in the Dickerson household. "I go by her rules," admits son Eric. One of her rules was, get an education, not a Heisman. J "Other schools sent coaches. SMU sent the college president." Eric Dickerson's options narrowed to one f that day. V At SMU, the coaching staff thought it would be nice if Eric shared running time with another all-Texas I ball-carrier, Craig James. This was like asking Caruso to I sing duets or Barrymore to play a butler. "I wanted to I transfer to Oklahoma," Dickerson remembers. But Mother knew best. We Dickersons keep our word, she told him, go open a book. Eric matched Doak Walker's career records with 48 touchdowns for the SMU Mustangs. The coaching staff also saw the error of their ways and got Eric the ball enough for him to break Earl Campbell's conference records for yards and attempts. A junior at Georgia, Herschel Walker, got the Heisman nonetheless. The USFL lured Walker away with chunks of Park Avenue real estate and all the Mercedes he could drive, but they knew as well as the NFL that Dickerson might be the better player. For one thing, the Heisman experience all but mandated it. They threw their best bribes on the table. But, if son Eric ran with the football, Mam Viola was still quarterbacking the plays. Her advice: stick with the old established firms, sign with the LA. Rams and the NFL On two. How wrong was she? Eric Dickerson is now a household word, a media celebrity. He's in the league that has the Super Bowl, Monday Night Football, sellouts and games on Thanksgiving and other fall holidays. He gets $2.2 million for four years. The last two Heisman winners, Walker and Mike Rozier, signed with the USFL and it's as if they drove off a cliff in the fog. Dickerson, meanwhile, is getting a spotlight with history, with people known as The Galloping Ghost, the Four Horsemen, The Juice, The Horse, and Hustlin Hugh. Maybe they should have a Heisman Revisited, a review trophy given five years after the original which should be issued like Detroit motor cars with a proviso for recall if anything goes wrong with the original. (c) 1984, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate |