Eric Dickerson Has a Story to Tell
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:23 pmIn advance of his new book, the Hall of Fame running back looks back on his controversial college career at SMU, the contentious trade to the Colts, racism at all levels of football, and the fight—and need to continue fighting—for social change.
As the years flew by, and Eric Dickerson settled into “retired” life with a similar ease to how he once whirled through NFL defenses, he continued to spin stories. So, so, so many stories. About his childhood in Sealy, Texas. His controversial time at Southern Methodist. Racism he experienced. The NCAA “cartel.” Or, from his NFL career, those 11 glorious seasons from 1983-93 with the Rams and Colts (mostly, along with the Raiders and Falcons cameos). Often, whenever he finished one tale or another, the listener would say the same thing. You should write a book.
For years, Dickerson considered that very prospect. He certainly had enough material, and much of the best stuff had gone unsaid. But it wasn’t until 2020, when he realized that his experience as a Black athlete in America’s most popular sport could inform the chaotic world he currently lives in, helping readers to understand why so much hasn’t changed—and why it needs to—that he decided to move forward. Which is why he called recently, to discuss writing and running, racists and fame and warped perceptions, and his forthcoming memoir, to be released by Haymarket Books.
Why now? Dickerson starts back in Texas, with a town divided along racial lines even in the late 1970s. He says he went to the Black school, until the coaches at the white one found out he could play sports. He had already been adopted back then, by a great, great aunt, and never found out that his biological father had played football until after a teacher saw him star and noticed a resemblance in how they ran.
Looking back, he says, he hates how he was treated. He’s not angry about it, but he knows it wasn’t right. Outsiders, he says, media types and counterparts and enemies, painted him as a villain, a bad guy, an ingrate, a malcontent. He laughs. He didn’t know what half those words meant when “they” affixed those labels on him.
To read this story in its entirety, CLICK HERE.
As the years flew by, and Eric Dickerson settled into “retired” life with a similar ease to how he once whirled through NFL defenses, he continued to spin stories. So, so, so many stories. About his childhood in Sealy, Texas. His controversial time at Southern Methodist. Racism he experienced. The NCAA “cartel.” Or, from his NFL career, those 11 glorious seasons from 1983-93 with the Rams and Colts (mostly, along with the Raiders and Falcons cameos). Often, whenever he finished one tale or another, the listener would say the same thing. You should write a book.
For years, Dickerson considered that very prospect. He certainly had enough material, and much of the best stuff had gone unsaid. But it wasn’t until 2020, when he realized that his experience as a Black athlete in America’s most popular sport could inform the chaotic world he currently lives in, helping readers to understand why so much hasn’t changed—and why it needs to—that he decided to move forward. Which is why he called recently, to discuss writing and running, racists and fame and warped perceptions, and his forthcoming memoir, to be released by Haymarket Books.
Why now? Dickerson starts back in Texas, with a town divided along racial lines even in the late 1970s. He says he went to the Black school, until the coaches at the white one found out he could play sports. He had already been adopted back then, by a great, great aunt, and never found out that his biological father had played football until after a teacher saw him star and noticed a resemblance in how they ran.
Looking back, he says, he hates how he was treated. He’s not angry about it, but he knows it wasn’t right. Outsiders, he says, media types and counterparts and enemies, painted him as a villain, a bad guy, an ingrate, a malcontent. He laughs. He didn’t know what half those words meant when “they” affixed those labels on him.
To read this story in its entirety, CLICK HERE.