Eric Dickerson of La Rams presents before a-game against the Houston Oilers in 1984, when he set the brand new NFL’s single-season race listing which have 2,105 meters. Photograph: David Madison/Getty Photo

Eric Dickerson of your own Los angeles Rams presents ahead of a casino game against the Houston Oilers in 1984, when he place the fresh new NFL’s unmarried-year racing list which have dos,105 m. Photograph: David Madison/Getty Photo

Since the a knack Dickerson is actually sui generis, less tailback than simply high right back whose straight gait are as unorthodox once the their habit of pairing racquetball specs having a great Jheri curl

The fresh new Hallway regarding Fame tailback and miscast back just who lit up the NFL on mid-eighties sets the brand new number straight towards good profession one to watched your underheralded into profession and you may misunderstood off of it

Age arlier this few days Antonio Brown produced what would be the most dramatic get off from inside the sports background, stripping down and stalking off the field in the middle of an NFL video game, while the his protecting champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were rallying against the lowly New york Jets on the run.

Ingrate, Dickerson claims, is how sportswriters oftentimes described your

“Hell zero,” states brand new 61-year-dated Hall of famer. “My personal mommy would’ve killed me personally. I can’t cam for another man. I can not speak to possess what is on the his mind. However, I am going to state so it: eventually, as he extends to feel an older boy, he’ll review and state, Maybe We must not do that…”

Into the latest eighties and you may 90s Dickerson wasn’t only notion of while the Antonio Brownish of these time. He was recognized as even more sinister: a supremely arrogant running straight back which ruined South Methodist’s ascendant program, starred hardball into the Los angeles Rams and you can or even sulked their method using eleven NFL season – them, from the his reckoning, underpaid. And to brand new ear associated with the pleased native off Sealy, Tx – the little mattress-and also make town where he recalls whites and you can blacks actually life style toward reverse sides of one’s railway song – you to term sounded too comparable to another you to initiate with an N. Before a 1990 game chicas escort Richardson during their day for the Colts, Dickerson remembers exercising out having warmups being met of the an excellent banner away from a black colored baby within his Zero 29 jersey dressed in reddish lipstick, holding a fried poultry foot, which have a good watermelon on one side and you will a collection of money on the other side. That were Colts fans. “I was a detrimental, theif back to this new 80s,” Dickerson states. “And anyone satisfy me personally and tend to be including, Your isn’t nothin’ instance they generate you out over getting.”

Immediately following years of being cast due to the fact biggest back Dickerson eventually set the newest checklist upright within the See My personal Smoking, an autobiography he co-published with others magazine’s Greg Hanlon. Regarding publication Dickerson pays respect in order to their adoptive mothers, address the new notorious Trans Am present that nearly contributed to the brand new NCAA banning Southern Methodist University from competitive sports, therefore the ebbs and you can streams out of his underheralded NFL career. Threaded throughout try digressions into race and also the pill-popping that has been in fashion during his NFL time – and additionally his or her own usage of Darvocet, a today-banned opioid painkiller, to help you relaxed their anxiety ahead of online game. Dickerson actually facts his playboy misadventures from the occupation, maybe not the very least committed the guy prematurely ended an intimate interlude which have Pam Grier because the guy dreaded cracking his Rams curfew. “Each time I pick her when you look at the a film,” the guy breaks. “I am such as for example, You had your chance. You’d they!”

Eric Dickerson runs the ball on the Indianapolis Colts throughout a good 1991 online game resistant to the Los angeles Raiders at the La Memorial Coliseum. Photograph: Stephen Dunn/Getty Pictures

Although his thirteen,259 career meters (the fresh league’s 2nd-higher draw as he resigned inside 1993) have traditionally given that started eclipsed regularly, the five-date The-Pro has what can function as merely a couple info that truly amount during the expert sports: the newest newbie unmarried-seasons race important (step one,808) therefore the complete solitary-year race number (dos,105), hence Dickerson reached the very the following year. Not only possess men and women wide variety become more hallowed due to the fact NFL has evolved towards a citation-quirky league, in the scenario of your single-12 months rushing mark, every player exactly who appear personal appears to break apart shortly after that.