WEBVTT - OTB Sports: Eric Dickerson 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.160 I played football when I was a kid, and you know, 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:04.360 eight nine years old, you know, playing the fields, you know, 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.440 just hiking the bottom, playing tackle on the ground and 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:09.959 not the factive. Funny thing is I don't think I 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.039 could do is hike the ball. They wanted me bund 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.440 the ball. I only hike it. I wouldn't get Nobody 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:20.320 wanted no, but nobody wanted me. Let me be very 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:22.480 very clear. If you and I have been playing, that 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.840 would have been my rule as well. Let me be 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:29.480 very clear. I'll toss it to you. I'll stand there 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:38.440 and toss it. This is Eric Diggerson and I'm part 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:47.000 of the Pony Express, also an NFL Hall of Fame. Hello, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:52.520 Punned and all, and welcome back to another episode of 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.920 Off the Beat, or as I like to call it, 0:00:55.320 --> 0:01:00.040 Off the Beat Sports as I am hoping that you 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.560 know by now, I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Now 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:05.640 remember when I said I was going to start bringing 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.520 on some sports guests to the podcast. Well today is 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.520 the day. Now is the time I'm gonna start doing 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.440 some special Thursday editions of the podcast. And there is 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:20.840 nobody on planet Earth to better start us off than 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:26.680 the iconic the legendary Eric Dickerson. Now as a running back. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.679 Eric played for the l A Rams, the Indianapolis Colts, 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.520 among others. He has broken countless records since he entered 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.640 the NFL back in and I don't know if you've heard, 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.200 but Eric is what they call a Hall of Famer, yes, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.960 having joined both the pro and college halls. As of 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.240 impressive for his career, it doesn't even begin to cover it. 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.559 So for today's episode, we're going to dive into Eric's life, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:59.640 from his high school career and his alleged controversy involving 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.760 Pontiac trans am to his favorite moments in the NFL 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:10.280 and what he's learned about our crazy world through football. Plus, 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.359 we're going to talk about his new book, as well 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.400 as one major thing that we have in common. Well 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.360 what are you and Eric Dickerson have in common? You 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:25.440 might ask? Well, the greatest university on Earth, s m you. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.880 That's right. So before we get started, I just have 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:34.440 one more thing to say. Pony up, here's Eric Dickerson. 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:45.920 Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak, Bubble 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.800 and Squeaker cooking at every month left over from the 0:02:49.919 --> 0:03:06.440 night people. There he is hail to the Red. What's up? 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.760 I'm going to see you's gonna see you. It's been 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.360 way too long. You still play a golf. I'm still trying. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:17.320 What do you mean, I'm still trying trying to play 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.200 when I can. Well, I want to thank you for 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.960 being here. I uh as you know, gotten to know 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.200 you some through golf. Always been a big fan. We're 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.880 fellow sm SMU mustangs, which will we'll discuss in a 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:37.160 little bit, but I want to start, uh going back 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:42.040 even further. You were from Texas, see Lee, Texas. I 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.280 understand raised by your great great aunt. Is that right, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.160 that's right? Yeah, great great nut. And you didn't know 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.760 that this was was not your mom until you were twelve. No, 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.280 I wasn't twelve. I was younger than that. I was 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:05.040 about let me see, I was in the fifth sixth grade. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.240 somewhere here. Yeah. My my teacher told me. Really yeah, 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.320 my teacher told me, man, it was because she thought 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.120 you should know, or because she thought, you know, she 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.760 was jealous of my mother. She didn't, Man, small times 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.000 are different, you know. She didn't like my mom, my 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.440 real mother, and I thought my real mother is my sister. Um, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.479 my mother, I mean, my my real mother was. She 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.960 was a beautiful woman, really good looking, tall six ft tall. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.400 So she figured she's gonna tell boy. But it didn't 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.240 go over well. No, no, I didn't go well at all. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.520 I mean not for me. It, dude, I didn't. It didn't. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.320 It didn't bother me. But my mom because I was. 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.719 I don't forget. I came from school. She told me. 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.360 She said, I was. I was at school and she 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.120 said some did she stay out to class. I'm like, okay, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.800 so she's after class. He had me come, she said, so, 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.400 she said, you've seen your daddy. I said, my dad 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.120 at home. She said, no, my boy, your real dad. 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.839 It's a going as your mom. Who your real daddy? 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.560 So that's not your mom? I said, MS read that 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.800 kind of my mother, miss read, mr care, that's not 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.400 your parents. You said, your real mother is Helen and 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.719 then your dad's name Richard Seals go aster. Who Richard 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.919 Seals is? So? And I went straight home and I asked, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.560 I went, I still remember my mom was standing. My 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.320 dad was sitting and I asked him, my mom, I said, 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.240 who was Richard Seals? And if you just saw the 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.200 look on that what who told you that you know 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.719 my mother and she wanted my my who adopted me. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.159 She went off. My dad said, settled down. She said, 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:28.760 settled down. She said what did he What did she 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.960 tell you? I told she told me. She said that 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.000 you and not my parents. My real mom is Helen 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.400 and some guy named Richard Seals and my mother. I 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:41.000 was like, oh man, you know so she called my 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.360 mother next my mother right next door. I was told. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.080 I was told she's my sister. She did right next 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.120 door with my with her husband. You know, she was 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.919 consisted with my stepfather. I didn't know it's called him Roberts. 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.080 My mom, my real mother, went to get the gun. 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:54.560 When to get the pistol, she gonna she was gonna 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.360 really go kill it for real, no joke, She was 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.919 really going to go kill her for for seriously. She 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.960 wanted to get the pistol on. My My dad raised 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.359 her to my mother, and my great aunt raised my 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.719 real mom, and my dad raised her to his daughter too. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.159 So he said Helen said no, he said, put that 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.920 gun down, You're not gonna kill that woman. So she 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:13.680 went over to the house because it was only a 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.520 naby like two hundred yards away. You could see the 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.080 house from our house. She went over. Man, she beat 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.960 on the door. Bit you come out of you mother, Man, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.440 you tell him about Richard. It was a mess, man, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.000 But you know it didn't phase me. It answers. It 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.240 answers some questions that you know, as a black kid, 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.200 you don't ask your mama no question. They say, boy, 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:33.960 you don't be asking some kind of question. Yes, ma'am, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.560 But you don't think it didn't have any effect. I mean, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.040 I mean not for you. No, I didn't have no 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.839 effect because I had, Man. I'm gonna tell you, Brian, 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:45.680 I had to. I had the best parents ever, man. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:47.560 I mean, everybody's feel like their parents are the best. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.320 And you know you got a good parents. Nothing like 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:50.880 having a good parents. Man. I had a good dad. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.880 My dad was a good Christian man, I mean, a 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.599 true creature, not not not the word of mouth. You know, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.120 he didn't have to say it. You just knew it 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.760 by his actions and you know his you know them. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.280 And my mother, my mother was. She was a good one. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.320 She was tough. Now, she was really tough. She was 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.720 all about fairness, but she was really tough. I grew 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.760 up with with good parents and may not found out 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:12.960 my mom my real mother was my mother, and we 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:14.920 were like sisterant brother then I we really were, I 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.960 mean we were we were tight. So it didn't change 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.280 my childhood, you know at all. I just I think 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.679 God for having really two moms in a sense. Yeah, 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.000 that's awesome. How did you find football or was it 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.360 sports at first? Well? It was our sports, you know, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.840 But I love football. I mean I knew I was fast. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.760 I was really fast as a kid and just love running. 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.400 You know, I couldn't play We didn't. We didn't have 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.320 a tackle football, you know, it couldn't play until we 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:42.960 got in the seventh grade because we didn't have pop 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.080 warning it's a little small town. So I had a 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.520 chance to play tackle football and got into seventh grade. 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.920 But I played football when I was a kid, like 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.280 you know, eight nine years old, you know, playing the fields, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.560 you know, just hiking the bottom, playing tackle on the 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.120 ground and uh not. The fact of funny thing is, 0:07:58.200 --> 0:07:59.960 I don't think I could do with hike the ball. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.760 They wanted me bun the ball. I only hike it. No, 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.920 I wouldn't get Nobody wanted to, but nobody wanted me. 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.800 Let me be very very clear, if you and I 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.000 had been playing, that would have been my rule as well. 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:18.120 Let me be very clear, I'll toss it to I'll 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:22.160 stand there and toss it in your book, which we're 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.880 going to talk about. Your first organized football game in 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.880 seventh grade. You scored six touchdowns. Yeah, and then for you, 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:31.840 I love fell in love with it. I mean I 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.320 was in seventh grade. We played the Waller Bulldogs. We 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.200 supposed to play the game on a Thursday, and they 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.520 got rained out, so we had to play on a Saturday. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:43.040 And uh, the first my first testdown was kickoff kickoff return. Man, 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.040 I was so scared, I mean hard, beating fast. I 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.080 won't forget you know, it's just the jitters. And got 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.640 the ball and ran it back. But touchdown and man 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.480 didn't had another touchdown another one, Like oh, I just 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.160 love this. I just I loved everything about it. You 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.160 can see even when you started playing organized games, nobody 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.760 wanted to nobody wanted to get in front. Man, you know, 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.040 think about it, and I talked about it. I can 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.720 still see that day, you know, it was it was 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.760 still kind of overcast that morning we played. Man, I 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.520 just god, just loved playing it. It was so exhilarating. 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.000 It was so much fun. It was fun being a kid. 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.760 And like I said, I just loved it. Yeah, you 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:29.160 continue playing well and you move on to high school. 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.000 In ninth grade, I understand you. You get a new coach, 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.240 Ralph Harris. I was my freshman in high school year 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:38.520 in Front high school. Yeah yeah, Ralph Harris became our 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.040 high school coach. He came from East Texas. And when 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.040 a guy liked I mean honestly, I mean, I just 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.160 keep it honest. I didn't like him. He didn't treat 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.400 us right. And not us. I mean, I mean the 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.160 black kids, the white kids too. Even even even the 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.760 white kids, they were like, man, he the worst. Even 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.040 they didn't like him. And they were like, man, that's 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.040 not right because we couldn't like we like, you couldn't 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.000 have that, Like you had afro. You couldn't have the hair. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.480 I couldn't touch your ears you have to have it, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.840 you know, over your ears. You couldn't have any facial 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.320 hair and I have facial hair. No way. Couldn't wear 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.760 gold chains, you know, couldn't have a chain on your neck. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.520 I think you could wear a watch. You couldn't wear rings, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.000 you know, just just stuff like that. You know, it 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.319 was all targeting black kids more all the black kids. 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.760 And and then I think that the thing that got 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.720 me was is that our lockers. You couldn't have anything 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:26.560 in the bottom of your locker, like you couldn't only 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:28.800 have your shoes, like you couldn't have a piece of paper, 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:30.960 a pencil, and nothing in the bottom of your lockers. 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.960 And you know it's your kids. They keep a messing locker, 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.040 kind of football locker. Right, So then he comes in 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.640 and he makes all of some run who had stuff 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.280 in the bottom by locker, and it was just bout chance. 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.920 It was all black kids, all the blacks, no whites, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.600 just all black. And look, man, it wasn't even about 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.480 black and white because the thing, the thing by being 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.079 in that my hometown, is that we all knew each 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.040 other from little kids. You know. It wasn't like this 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.560 the white kid and it was like that's Kyle, you know, 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.160 that's David, that's Eric. That's what it was. It didn't, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.320 it didn't. It wasn't like black and white. But we 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.199 saw what he was doing. And like I said, even 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:07.960 the white kids said, man, that's wrong. I mean they 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.000 even said it's wrong. And so you know, I forget. 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:12.920 We had to run, and I mean when I say run, run, 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:14.200 we have to run with all. I went to Row 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.000 with our passed on around the tract on the bleachers 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.320 and then finally, uh, guys just one by one star 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.240 quitting and I think I was one. The last one 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.040 was my cousin Bobby, I think quit right before me. 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.880 Bobby Buyers and we still was my my favorite cousins 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.040 and they finally I said, man, it's a stupid I'm like, 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.880 I'm not doing this no more. So we all quit. Everybody, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:35.960 all the black kids cuittics. That one guy, Winston Brown, 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.400 he was the only one the stage and we finally 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.959 he came to our house in the summer. That coach 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.040 did RALP. Harris came to the house in the summer 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.360 and talked to us about coming back. Before that, a 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.280 guy named James Abernathy got named shock Shack. He was 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.120 from the town over called Brookshire Royal and people who 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.559 hear this, if you're from Texas of Brookshire, Texas, you 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.200 know what I'm talking about. The Row the raw Falcons 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.080 that well call and he and over. He was a 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.800 big sports guy and uh he always like you know, 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:05.520 a little bit like he had. The thing was he 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.320 had a girlfriend and Celie and had a family, wife 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:13.200 and Brooks. But everybody knew we all knew the girl. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.840 Well he passed away. Now so uh he comes over. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:18.600 He comes over to the house. One day, he comes 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.200 over to my house. Something pull up and he said, hey. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.319 My mother said, hey, shocks Ames Dickson's here. You know. 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.640 She said, you mind if I talk take erican and 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:27.880 talked to him for him, and he said, sure, take 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.520 it and talk to him. And Jack was big in 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.640 the sports. He loves sports. So, um, I got in 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:34.920 the car when we rode around and he said, Ericson, man, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:36.880 I heard you quick football. I said, yeah, man, that 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:38.760 man Precice. I don't like him. I said, no, one 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.040 likes him. And so he just listened to what I 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.440 had to say. So, you know, and it's funny how 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.599 older people and thinking about the shack what much. He 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.959 was saying in his thirties. But I'm teenagers, so so 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.840 he's older than me. So he says, uh, Eric, he says, um, 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.520 so what do you see in this town? I said, Man, 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:57.439 it's like I don't see nothing. He said exactly, because 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.280 nothing in this time he see let me tell you 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.319 some son. He's said. We heard about this man, we 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.800 heard you're not doing your kids right. But if you 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.160 don't want to play here, come play in Brookshire. He said, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.640 I'm gonna tell you something. He said, the talk about 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.400 you is that you want the best athletes we've seen 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.920 in these parts ever. And the funny thing, you know, 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.559 as a kid, I didn't see that, you know, yeah, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.800 I don't. You didn't know, not at all. I didn't 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:20.520 see that. I just I was just kid playing sports. 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:22.240 And he said you should. If you don't want to 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.040 come play and Celia, come playing Brookshire. We love to 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.480 have you over here. So when they drove me back 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:27.839 at home, my mother said, what did he say to you? 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:29.360 I told him, I said, he told me that I 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.439 should go back and Play'd be my way out of here. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.120 And she said, she said, he said, I don't like football. 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.280 My mother hated football, sounding like that sport Eric, she said, 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.720 but I feel like that. Look, I don't like your 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.080 quitting started something quitting. But if you want to play, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.160 if you don't play in Celia, I'll take We'll drive 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.199 you the Brookshire every day. Brooks was twelve miles away, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.120 so sah I'll drive you to Brookshire. You know you're 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.800 gonna play over there. I said, well, let me think 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.040 about it. A couple of days later, my best friend 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.040 called me and said, hey, man, it's a rab Harris 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.920 been by your house and now, I said, coming coming 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:57.560 by all the players how they quit, you know, all 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.439 the black black players, and I want to talk to 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.480 all about me back the next year, I said, okay, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.160 so shouldn't have. He came by our house talking to 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.319 my mother and my dad and we listened to what 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.839 he had to say. My mother, my mother was real block, 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:11.840 you know. She said, you know, the way you treat 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.000 these black kids. She says, that's not right, and she said, 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:15.880 you know, and then a lot of kids are saying it. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:17.839 The parents are saying the black kids parents, and white 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.120 kids parents are saying it. Well, I WHENNA trying to 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:21.720 do better? Blah blah blah it. Oh you know those 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.840 song and dance. You know, I never coached black kids before. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.280 He had never coached blacks before. He never had so 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.040 that was you know, and that was I was his 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:31.640 thing too. I mean, you know, he had never coached 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.400 blacks and we had never had we had white coaches. 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.880 But it wasn't no big deal of us. But so finally, um, 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.480 we all came back and we came back and we 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.680 decided to play. We want to stay championship, you know, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:44.920 my senior and never look at was no feel good 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.520 story when one of them like, oh everything turned out right. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.680 But now what one of them stories. I didn't like him. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.320 It never matched me and him never matched. And I 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:55.200 won't forget. He wanted me to go to the University 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.920 of Texas. That was his thing, and I Texas, okay, 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:00.440 but I didn't. I did were eric and I didn't 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.600 like the arrogance. And so he told me, look, if 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.600 you ain't because you don't consider the University of Texas, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.680 I just tell schools you're not interesting going to college. 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:08.720 I said, I tell you what, man, I don't need you. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:10.560 I said, I don't need you at all. I mean, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.200 I said, they want me to come to my house 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.800 and get me sure enough. That's exactly how it was. 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:16.200 Because he would tell him I didn't want to go 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:17.920 to college, and I tell him, I said, well, I 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.080 don't like him. We don't get along, you know, I 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:22.640 just don't like him. And that's funny. But and the 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.040 thing about it is that a lot of kids. Coaches 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.400 have really hurt their careers doing that kind of stuff 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.280 because they do it. They and they and they have 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.480 done it to two kids. And I'm sure some coaches 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.360 listening right now that has messed over kids and kids 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:37.160 did know what I'm talking about, that they'd been messed 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.160 up by coaches or sometimes family members you know, didn't 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.560 do them right. But luckily, my my, my situation was different. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.000 I thank god, Um, the coaches came to my house 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:47.880 talk to me, you know, and I didn't have a 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.080 relationship with him, with with with him, and yeah that 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.680 was that was You talked about that first football game 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:59.000 and remembering it. Did he change your love for the game? 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.640 Oh yeah, oh yeah, Oh yeah I didn't. I didn't. 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.560 I didn't like it as much you know, with him, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.000 with him, I didn't like it as much. But for 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.480 my first like say, my first two years with him, 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.960 I didn't like it as much. But after a while, 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.560 you know, you just kind of forget about him and 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.560 just played because you've got other players, you know, the players. 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.600 So I loved it. I did love I love playing 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:20.800 high school football. But I'll tell a story even at 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.680 the end, like with him, this has been about three 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:25.920 years ago. He just passed away like a year ago, 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.800 and um, I'm at home. The guy knows. He calls me. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:31.680 See like I said, what's up Dan? Now you know 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:33.400 how good Man? I'm good? Man was say blah blah 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:34.760 blah blah. Talk you say, Man, somebody want to say 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.640 hi to you? Like, Okay, get on the phone, say Eric. 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.000 As soon as I heard his voice it was him, 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.080 my heart started beating fast. Just go to show you 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.760 the effect that that that could happen as soon as 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:51.080 I and I was eight years old. I say said 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.000 hey Eric, I paused, I said, what's up? Ralph? I 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.000 mean that's because I was I was. I went through that. 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:58.840 I went back to that mode like I said what 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.200 I said, I said, what's up? Man? He said, how's 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:02.800 it going? I say, I'm good. What's happening? I mean 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:04.639 because I was really short with him. He said, I 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.200 just want to tell you, man, I've seen your career. 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.280 You had a great NFL career. I want to congratulate 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.800 you on college and everything. I said, thanks, Man, I 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.439 appreciate it. He said, can I just want to say, Man, 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:14.960 I just want to apologize to you and all the 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:16.720 guys who I treated you guys. I want to say, 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.520 I'm sorry. You know, I've really screwed it up, I said, 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.639 rap I said, man, thanks for saying that. I appreciate it. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.199 And I was the last concerce. I mean I did 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.160 because you know, as a kid, you think about did 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.000 I do something wrong? Was it me? You know, maybe 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.399 I could have handled it different, but I knew it 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:36.439 wasn't right. You know, you know when things are right, 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:38.480 I need he wasn't treating us right, not just me, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:40.560 just a bunch of us. He wasn't treating us all right. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.920 And like I said, well, no about to the whites 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.359 do sometimes white kids do, but it was mostly us, 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:48.280 And so I mean that was that was big at 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.760 him too, to apologize and say that not accepted as apology. 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:53.960 You know I did accepted as apology, but I say, 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.000 pay passed away about it? About it about a year 0:17:56.080 --> 0:18:00.840 or great passed away? That affect though all these years, 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.920 all of the things that you've accomplished since then, and 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.680 hearing his boys, hearing his voice, my heart started just 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.080 pounding and I just almost almost like I got nervous, 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.280 but I was, but I was mad at the same time, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.359 just to hear him, and so because I knew the 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:18.720 You know, it's like when you knew something, you know 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.879 something's wrong and you've been treated wrong, you don't forget it. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.840 These kids don't forget. You know, you could be a 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.080 grown man, but you remember. I'm sure a lot of 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.520 kids remember the teachers that they didn't like, the coaches, 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:31.640 they didn't like some of the parents. Did. I didn't 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:37.000 like his parents, and parents didn't like me. Yeah, well, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.960 you win the state championship, as you say, your senior year, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.560 you end up rushing in the championship game for three 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:50.520 eleven yards and four touchdowns. Obviously, that whole year you 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.720 start getting recruited and as you say, the coach wasn't 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.879 doing any favors because he wanted you to go to 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:03.399 Texas and you start looking at and M. Yeah, and 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:10.080 not really, but yeah, they were looking at Yale. Did 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.480 you ever think you were going to go to an 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.080 M and all honesty, No, I mean they're gonna tell you. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.040