football player; television sportscaster
Personal Information
Born Eric Dimitric Dickerson on September 2, 1960 in Sealy, Texas.
Education: Southern Methodist University.
Career
Los Angeles Rams, 1983-87; Indianapolis Colts, 1987-92; Los Angeles Raiders, 1992-93; Atlanta Falcons, 1993; retired, 1993; appeared in six Pro Bowls; sideline reporter, ABC-TV's "Monday Night Football," 2000.
Life's Work
Perhaps the most prolific running back of all time, especially in the 1980s, Eric Dickerson spent his career successfully eluding tackles. His success allowed him to not only run rampant through football's record books, but straight to the game's Hall of Fame.
Born on September 2, 1960 in Sealy, Texas, Dickerson had a startling revelation when he was 15. It was then he learned that the woman he thought to be his mother was actually his great-great aunt and the woman he knew as his sister, Helen, was actually his biological mother. At Sealy High School, Dickerson was a phenomenal athlete. His prep career wrapped up in 1978, when the team went unbeaten at 15-0 and won the state championship game. Dickerson ran 296 yards and scored four touchdowns in that game. His speed paid off on the track as well when, in 1977, he won two state championship titles. Dickerson ran the 100-meter in 10.3 seconds and clocked a time of 20.9 in the 200-meter sprint.
Dickerson went on to attend Southern Methodist University where he ran 4,450 yards and scored 48 touchdowns. He finished his college football career as an All-American, taking third place in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1982. He was named Second Team All-American his junior year, and was also named Offensive Player of the Year in the Southwest Conference in his junior and senior years. Dickerson broke the conference yardage and rushing attempt records of Earl Campbell.
Drafted by the then Los Angeles Rams in 1983, Dickerson wasted no time establishing himself among the league's best running backs. He would also set the tone for what would be another staple in career: being dogged by controversy. In the Texas Monthly, writer Annie Dingus illustrated that Dickerson's introduction to the pros rankled many fans in the south, especially Texas. "In April 1983 Dickerson was the first-round pick for the Los Angeles Rams and the second pick overall, after John Elway," Dingus wrote. "He angered Houston fans by stating flatly that he didn't want to play for the Oilers and later irritated many more Texans by asserting that he hated the Dallas Cowboys."
In his inaugural season, Dickerson scored a career-high 20 touchdowns, while running 1,808 yards, one of which was a career-high 85-yard touchdown run. At the end of the season, he was named NFL Rookie of the Year, NFC Rookie of the Year, and Offensive Rookie of the year. He set rookie records in yardage gained, rushing attempts (390), and touchdowns (18).
During his time in Los Angeles, Dickerson ran a total of 8,533 yards and scored 62 rushing touchdowns. In 1984 and 1986, he lead the league in rushing yardage. Additionally, he made three Pro Bowl appearances. During the 1984 season, he ran 2,105 yards, setting a single-season record. In 1987, just before he would be traded to the Indianapolis Colts, Dickerson signed a lucrative, four-year, $10.65 million contract.
Then came the critics. If he had an unproductive day on the field, fans in the stands wasted little time letting him know. Due to poor vision, Dickerson's on-the-field goggles became his trademark. Dingus remarked that wasn't the only thing fans would associate with Dickerson. "Because his vision was poor, he habitually wore goggles on the field. He also had trouble seeing his fans' point of view," Dingus wrote. "He alienated many by grousing about his low pay and his dissatisfaction with his chosen sport."
Viewed as an overpaid jock, some fans continually used his high-salary as a base for criticism. Following his 1987 trade to Indianapolis, when he first returned to Anaheim to play against the Rams, Dickerson was greeted with a shower of Monopoly play money and chants of "Eric the Ingrate." But Dickerson would shake it off and continue to put up impressive numbers. Showing Colts ownership they made a good decision, Dickerson ran 1,011 yards and scored five touchdowns in nine games. His first full, 16-game season yielded 1,659 yards.
The 1989 season would be the last year Dickerson would run more than 1,000 yards. He finished the 1989 campaign with 1,311 yards run and seven touchdowns scored, earning his fifth Pro Bowl appearance. Over the next four seasons, Dickerson's productivity would taper off, despite running 677 yards in his fifth and final Pro Bowl in 1990. He ran one more season in Indianapolis, netting 537 total rushing yards and two touchdowns.
In 1992, Dickerson was traded to the then Los Angeles Raiders for one season. In 16 games, he ran 729 yards and scored two touchdowns. The following season, he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons, where he played for four games before being traded to Green Bay. While with the Packers, Dickerson went in for a physical only to discover a painful, bulging disc in his lower back. He retired from football shortly thereafter.
However, when his career wound up and the numbers were tallied, Dickerson had solidified himself as one of the greatest running backs in the NFL. His 13,259 yards rushing rank him third on the all-time rushing list, behind Detroit's second-place Barry Sanders and the all-time leader himself, Chicago's Walter Payton. With 96 touchdowns, Dickerson ranks 13th on the all-time touchdown list. He was inducted in to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1999.
His success on the field, despite the distractions off it--contract-related criticisms, previous allegations that he once hit a woman he was dating--appeared to come naturally for the man many called Mr. Fourth Quarter. In a 1992 Sport magazine interview with John Czarnecki, Dickerson said he just lets instincts take over when on the field. He said he relies on quick-thinking reaction when on the field, a characteristic no coach can really enforce. "To a back, unlike a quarterback, it just comes natural," Dickerson told Czarnecki. "It's a gift. A coach cannot teach you how to run a football. The only thing they can teach you is the plays."
Having attained superstar status in the league did little to discourage Dickerson from immersing himself in the respective communities where he has played. His charities and foundations have reached out to help at risk schoolchildren, those suffering from diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and bone marrow patients. In Woodland Hills, California, Dickerson established The Second Byte Foundation (Bettering Youth Through Education), in association with the Public Relations class at Pierce College. That collective helped present 20 state-of-the-art computers to students there.
On May 8, 2000, Dickerson coordinated a charity golf tournament to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Dickerson was busy behind the scenes, conducting pre-event telephone interviews for various media outlets and hosting radio call-in shows with local stations. The event, held at the Deerwood Golf Club in Kingwood, Texas, raised more than $100,000 for the ADA. The celebrity guest list was a professional sports who's who, with Dickerson putting out the call to athletes for a little help. Those in attendance included Emmit Smith, comedian Eddie Griffin, Hall of Famers Franco Harris and Lawrence Taylor, heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and basketball coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
In August of 2000, Dickerson helped spearhead the Courage 4 Life Cause in Simi Valley, California. Nineteen-year-old Troy Mikolyski, who had been fighting leukemia since age 12, needed a bone marrow transplant. Those donating sports memorabilia for the cause included hockey legends Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Brett Hull; football standouts Steve Young, Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice; as well as baseball stars Ricky Henderson, Mike Piazza and Gary Sheffield.
Dickerson has a knack for gathering his professional friends to raise money for charity. In March of 2000 he hosted the Eric Dickerson Celebrity Golf Tournament in Bel Air, California. The event featured the likes of Michael Jordan, boxer Tommy Hearns, Dan Marino and Charles Barkley. After a 12-year career where he saw highs and lows, Dickerson's explosive speed not only helped propel him to the football Hall of Fame, but to an impressive standing in the charity community as well.
Awards
Rookie of the Year; MVP, 2 years; Daniel F. Reeves Memorial award; inducted to the Football Hall of Fame, 1999;
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Sport, September 1992, pg. 69.
- Texas Monthly, September 1999, pg. 216.
- Additional information was obtained online at Eric Dickerson's Web site, http://www.ericdickerson.com
— John Horn
