NFLHS.com will introduce you to some of high school football's greatest names during the 2005 season. Every week we will feature a different player or coach from a different era. Some of them have gone on to greatness in the NFL - all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even - but others have remained at the high school level, staying true to their calling.
We hope you enjoy these stories - if you'd like to share your own legend of high school football with us, please email it to nflhs@nfl.com.
By Dave Krider, NFLHS.com
Looking back at his awesome career, it's extremely difficult to believe, but Tony Dorsett admits he "was actually afraid to play football" as a sixth-grade Pop Warner participant. "The coach would look around to put everybody in the game and I'd be hiding," he says. To make it appear to his family that he had been seeing a lot of action, he would "put mud on my uniform and drag it down the hill" on the way home from games.
It's ironic, because he had to battle just to get onto a team. Tony always was a little guy and when he first tried out, he was rejected because he was too light. "Me and my buddy (Mike Kimbrough) put rocks in our pockets and we still were too light," he lamented.
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| Tony Dorsett, Getty Images |
Well, why on earth did he even attempt to play football? He explained simply, "I just wanted to be like my (four older) brothers. They were all good athletes and they were my role models." That continued to be the driving force which pushed him to overcome all obstacles throughout his fabled career.
Finally, one of his brothers, Keith, realized what was going on and told Tony in no uncertain terms, "You get out there and play!"
Placed on the kickoff team, Dorsett "was hoping it wouldn't come to me." Of course, the ball - tantalizingly - came right at him. "My eyes lit up like a silver dollar," he described. Somehow he made the catch and there wasn't anything else to do but run for daylight. The result was a shocking 75-yard touchdown! "The rest is history," he adds.
Tony's dad, Wes, gave him the nickname "Hawkeye" when he was young because his eyes were a prominent feature. However, he shortened it to "Hawk" during the Pop Warner years because his favorite play was a sweep on which he resembled a hawk soaring over his prey.
The summer before his freshman year, Tony continually was teased by his oldest brother, Melvin, who said that Hopewell Junior High again would lose to archrival Aliquippa in the coming season. Melvin died that summer at age 27.
This annual confrontation - dominated by Aliquippa - was especially important to Tony because he "lived in two worlds." He lived in the Aliquippa district (right on the boundary line), but was a bus student at Hopewell, which had 1,500 students in three grades. "It was good for me," he concedes, "because if I'd been with all my friends, there's no telling how I'd have turned out."
There always was a lot of "smack" talk before, during and after this clash.
Dorsett, who could dish out "smack" with the best, backed it up by running for over 100 yards and a touchdown as Hopewell posted a major victory. "To this day, I swear that I saw the image of my brother smiling in the stadium," he says. "I'd put my life on it!"
Between his freshman and sophomore years, Dorsett grew quite a few inches and began having problems with sore knees. The pain, which forced him to wear knee pads, continued throughout college. Still, he weighed only 135 pounds as a sophomore on the Hopewell High varsity and was used primarily as a monster back (roving linebacker). He made up for his lack of size with his quickness and all-out, aggressive hitting. "I was a bad dude - a tackling machine," he claims.
Against West Mifflin North, Tony intercepted a pass and headed for a 70-yard touchdown. However, when he reached the five-yard line, he thought he was in the end zone and put the ball on the ground. Alertly, teammate Mark Smallwood quickly scooped up the lifeless pigskin and rambled the final five yards to score in a 20-0 victory.
"You mean I never crossed the goal line?" Dorsett asked Smallwood incredulously. "That's right, kid," the older Smallwood replied. "But don't worry - you're going to be scoring a lot more touchdowns before your career is over," he added, quite prophetically.
The Vikings posted a losing record (3-7) with Dorsett on defense. He carried the ball only a few times, ending with just 67 yards. But their fortunes rose quickly when he was shifted to running back - going 9-1 in both his junior and senior years.
"He was small and really thin, but his speed (4.3 seconds for 40 yards) was phenomenal," Hopewell coach Richard Ross says. "He told me, 'You'd be fast, too, coach, because if we did anything wrong, daddy would go to a tree and break off a branch.' He just did things the average kid couldn't do. He was a great leader on the football field."
Dorsett's debut as a starting running back was spectacular, to say the least. The Vikings used their star wide receiver as a decoy and threw a swing pass to Dorsett on the first play against Ambridge. He gathered in the pigskin and was off on a 75-yard touchdown gallop. He wound up scoring all three touchdowns in a 21-7 victory.
The Vikings' only defeat during Dorsett's junior year was a 19-7 upset at Sharon, a team that had won just two games. In the first quarter, he dove for a possible interception, his head hit the knee of one of his own linebackers and he was momentarily knocked out. He suffered a concussion and was unable to play in the rest of the game.
The Hopewell speedster finished his junior year with 1,034 yards on 139 carries, had six catches for 162 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.
"He was an amazing athlete," says former teammate Mike Bires, who over the years has written many major stories about Dorsett for their hometown Beaver County Times. "Even though he wasn't a big kid, he was rock-solid, lean and mean. Everyone thinks he was a finesse runner, but he also could deliver and take a lot of punishment. He had great football sense, was really instinctive and he really understood the game. He had great jumping ability and could dunk as a sophomore."
The Vikings again were denied a state-playoff berth during Dorsett's senior year because of a 7-6 upset loss to Butler on a mud-caked field. He still believes, "We had the best team in the state that year."
The young superstar did go out in a blaze of glory, though, as he ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns in his final high school game, a 35-0 rout of previously undefeated Beaver Falls. He emulated the pros by celebrating with a "high-stepping dance. That was the only time I did the hot-dog thing."
He finished his final campaign with 1,238 yards -- including a school-record 247-yard game -- and 23 touchdowns.
Dorsett also dabbled briefly in track -- which he called "boring" -- as a senior, beating the state's defending 100-yard dash champion during an indoor 60-yard dash event. "I didn't even know how to come out of the blocks," he confessed. "One of my big regrets," he added, "is that I didn't go out for basketball as a senior. "I was a pretty darn good defender and a streak shooter. When I got hot, I was unconscious."
Despite being only a shade over 5-10 and weighing 155 pounds soaking wet, Dorsett, made the Parade Magazine high school All-American team during his senior year (1972-73) and was recruited by most of the major colleges.
It was either college or the nearby steel mills of western Pennsylvania. Tony's dad, who worked in the mills, told him years earlier, "Son, this is not a place you want to be. You may miss an eye, an arm or a leg." Tony readily admits, "It inspired me to want to go to college."
Schools such as Ohio State and Penn State wanted him as a defensive back, but, he emphasized, "My dream was to play running back. Joe Paterno said he would switch me to running back as a sophomore, but I was going to be such a great defensive back that he would have kept me there."
Dorsett claims he had a "zillion" college scholarship offers and he took full advantage of the unlimited paid visits which were allowed at the time. Naturally, he "got confused" because he "liked something about every place I went."
Enter the nearby University of Pittsburgh Panthers and their new coaching staff. First of all, the proximity was appealing because, as the 51-year-old Dorsett puts it, "I was a mama's boy and still am."
Johnny Majors was Pitt's head coach and assistant Jackie Sherrill was assigned to shadow Dorsett's every move. "He darn near moved in with me," Dorsett says of Sherrill. "I'd come out of my door and Jackie would be waiting for me," he only slightly exaggerated. "Jackie understood how to deal with inner-city kids. I really trusted him."
However - here's the surprising clincher. Sherrill's mom could make an awesome pecan pie and she showered the Dorsetts with them. "My mom (Myrtle) and I would fight for that last slice of pie," Tony affirms. "It was one of the sweetest coups of all time," he says, pun definitely intended.
Pitt's coaches were astounded when they gave Tony his pre-college physical exam. They discovered that his peripheral vision was off the charts. The light bulb lit up for those who had seen the elusive youngster run rampant at Hopewell High. Nobody could get a really good shot at him because he immediately spotted the holes and his speed did the rest.
Still, everything did not come up roses for Tony in his freshman year at Pitt. His weight rarely rose above 155 pounds and he "was getting my little butt whacked" in early workouts. "I said, 'I'm not going back in there.' Sherrill would say, 'Hawk, we need you.' That's when I learned mental toughness.
"I was kind of introverted and had a hard time making friends. I'd say, 'Mama, I'm coming home.' I'd go home almost every day (30-minute drive). She'd say, 'Boy, you need to stay there.' She and Jackie Sherrill convinced me to stay. She said the person I'd hurt the most would be myself. I did that a lot my freshman year. I just wasn't ready.
"After the first year, she would say, 'Boy, when you coming home?' I went in as a little boy and came out as a young man."
On the field, it was business as usual. As a freshman, he set an NCAA record by rushing for 265 yards against Northwestern. He finished his brilliant four-year career with an NCAA-record 6,082 yards. During that period, the Panthers twice were ranked No. 2 in the nation and they won the national championship his senior year (1976). He made All-America three years.
Dorsett's most embarrassing moment came during his sophomore year, when Oklahoma held him to 12 yards on 17 carries. He never will forget one sweep on which defensive back Scotty Hill leaped over his blocker and "hit me like a tornado. He hit me dead smack on my numbers and I fell back on my butt. They (Oklahoma coaches) used that (big hit, forever preserved on film) for years as a recruiting tool. They recruited a lot of players on that play."
Big wins in his senior year came against archrival Penn State and against No. 3-ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Dorsett called beating Penn State (he had been 0-3 against the Nittany Lions) "the ultimate." He also savored Pitt's win over the Georgia Bulldogs because "Their fans were in our hotel and every time we got off an elevator they called us dogfood."
His final campaign (1976) was climaxed by winning the coveted Heisman and Maxwell trophies. Tony never forgot his roots, so the night he accepted the Heisman in New York City, he invited - among others - his old high school coach, Richard Ross, and his wife. "I was like a kid in a candy store," Ross says. "I told him I'd go if I had to walk."
Still, a not-so-strapping 5-10 1/2 and 175 pounds, Tony Dorsett was sitting on top of the college football world. He reaped the benefits, making over $20,000 in personal appearances after his final campaign ended.
"My No. 1 dream always was to play for the Black & Gold (Pittsburgh Steelers)," he noted. "I've always been a Pittsburgh fan." It wasn't to be, however, because the Dallas Cowboys traded up and selected him No. 2 in the NFL draft of 1977.
He signed a contract for a handsome $1.1 million. To put that in true focus, team leader Roger Staubach was making $250,000 annually. Beginning with training camp, Staubach took Tony aside and began teaching him how to work and dedicate himself. He used a big medicine ball to gain strength. "There were times I thought he was going to throw it right through me," Tony once told Richard Ross.
Half believing the life-long whispers that he was "too small," Tony thought, "If I can make five years in the NFL, I'll be the happiest player." But his rookie year with the Cowboys was so outstanding that he feels he "set myself up for failure."
All Dorsett did in his rookie year was help the Cowboys win Super Bowl XII in New Orleans -- the same place he had sparked Pitt to a Sugar Bowl triumph the previous year.
In his second season, he again helped the Cowboys reach the Super Bowl, but they lost. After a good first half, he hardly touched the ball following the intermission, prompting Mean Joe Greene to call him "the highest-paid decoy I've ever seen." The fact that Dallas coach Tom Landry generally ran him sparingly -- to save him from injury -- always was a thorn in the competitive Dorsett's side.
"It was the nature of the game that the next play could be your last," Dorsett says philosophically. "I never totally accepted it, but I understood. Some carries were taken away from me just because I was small in stature. They were trying to preserve my career." His argument always was that he didn't get hit head-on very often because "my running style was to negotiate the defender" and he did it ever so well.
Two hombres he did not want near him, though, were Jack Hamm and Lawrence Taylor. He calls Hamm "one of the more astute linebackers I ever went up against. He did a lot of film study and always was in the right position."
He believes that Taylor and former Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes, "revolutionized the game. With Taylor, they put big on big. He was a 250-pound linebacker rushing the quarterback. If I cut him, he'd get back up. He was relentless and created havoc -- a beast," he says admiringly. "They invented zone defenses to try to cover Hayes. Nobody, one-on-one, could cover the world's fastest human."
Throughout his career, Dorsett says, "I pushed myself. I had nagging injuries. I had cracked and bruised ribs, a broken toe and a broken back. I never missed many games. They put a flak jacket on me to spread the blows over a bigger area. I would stop in my tracks and tears would start streaming down my face. One time a nurse said, 'Oh, your cracked rib is healing good.' I didn't know it was cracked!"
The broken back occurred when a Washington lineman fell - knees first - on Tony's back while he was on the ground. "It was like somebody had put daggers in both sides of my ribs," he described. He had both knees scoped late in his career, calling it his "11,000-yard checkup."
The evolution to big running backs hit Dorsett hard in his final year with the Cowboys, who had signed muscular Herschel Walker. "I didn't like the way it went down," he admits. He thought about "all the injuries and all that I had brought to the picnic." He basically told the Cowboys, "I was one of your offensive weapons and I'm not going to be your insurance policy (as a backup). I said, 'I don't feel like running today' and forced their hand to trade me.
"I shouldn't have done it. I was looking to pass Jimmy Brown. It was bitter sweet (when he was traded to Denver). I was happy and sad. It had been a lot of blood and tears. I never felt I looked good in orange (Denver colors)."
Well, he got his record, but he tore up his knee at the start of his second year in Denver. He had been troubled by a weak hamstring and those darn, ever-present sore knees. "I was physically and mentally exhausted," he admits. He was wearing only shoulder pads and shorts one day when he made a cut and went down as if he had been shot. Nobody even touched him. His knee "crumbled like spaghetti" and that was the swan song for one of the NFL's greatest careers.
He was placed on injured reserve for that 12th year, but simply didn't want to go through more pain again to attempt a comeback. "I missed it for about two hours," he quipped. "After I quit, I didn't look back. Today I'm fortunate that I'm in the health I'm in, because if I could walk I could play."
Though Dorsett never reached the Super Bowl after his first two seasons, he did play in four Pro Bowls. In 1982 he led the NFC in rushing. He left an indelible mark on the NFL, playing a surprising 10 seasons with Dallas and his 11th and final one with Denver. He was the first ever to rush for at least 1,000 yards in his first five NFL seasons.
During his career, the little guy with the quick, smooth strides and an uncanny knack for finding daylight, ran for 12,739 yards, caught 398 passes for 3,554 yards and scored 91 touchdowns. When he retired in 1989, he had passed Jimmy Brown and was second only to Walter Payton in career rushing.
The explosive Dorsett scored five touchdowns of 75 yards or more. His most memorable one was an NFL-record 99-yarder against Minnesota in 1983. Longtime Cowboys executive Gil Brandt claims the run actually was "99 yards and 18 inches. The game was on national TV and we only had 10 men on the field. When I told him he had just broken the record, he said, 'Just get me some air.'"
Brandt is equally enthusiastic about a meager two-yard run by Dorsett. He explained: "The hole closed, he spun, ran outside and scored. He made four guys miss in a three-yard area. He was one of the greatest running backs I saw in 40 years. He was small, but so durable. He's one of the most congenial guys I've ever been around."
The amazing little guy from Aliquippa was amply rewarded in 1994 with election to both the NFL and college football halls of fame.
Today Dorsett spends a lot of time helping his wife raise their three girls. "Seeing my kids being born and cutting the umbilical cord was awesome," he says proudly.
For the past 12 years, Dorsett has helped raise money for the McGuire Memorial Foundation at New Brighton, Pa. The money is used to help severely-challenged children who barely can walk or talk.
Former high school teammate Danny Rains got him involved in a celebrity golf tournament by taking him to see the facility and what was being done for the children. Obviously moved emotionally, Dorsett told his friend, "If you need my name, you've got my name, my time and my money. But it must be long-term and first-class." Over $2 million has been raised since that day.
Dorsett is especially proud of "Steel Bill," who is one of the poster children for the foundation's efforts. For the last four or five years, Bill has been the opening speaker at the annual banquet. "It's a very moving, touching situation," he says. "I tell sponsors, 'If you want to understand my passion, take a trip to the home.'"
His main business venture is Tony Dorsett Food Products, featuring pre-cooked foods. His company does a lot of business with the U.S. military and may go national some day. He also is a spokesman for several other companies.
To be called a legend at age 51 is a little puzzling to Dorsett, who says, "I don't quite understand it, but I accept it because it puts a stamp of approval on the type of career that I had."
NEXT WEEK'S LEGEND: Berwick, Pa., QB Ron Powlus.
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Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Legends of HS Football: Tony Dorsett
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