Barry Wilner - Footballs Top 10 Running Backs

THE GREATEST RUNNING BACKS EVER!

Lightning-quick moves. Speed. Tenacity. Power. These are just some of the qualities of football's greatest running backs. All ten of the players in this book have left their mark on the sport of football. Some are Super Bowl champions while others are record-holders. From yesterday's heroes to today's stars, author Barry Wilner lists ten of the greatest running backs to have ever played football.

About the Author

Barry Wilner is a professional sports writer for the Associated Press. Other titles he has written for Enslow Publishers, Inc., include Sports Great Peyton Manning and Michelle Kwan: Star Figure Skater.

The author would like to thank Andrea Adelson, Nancy Armour, Jaime Aron,
Larry Lage, Bernie Wilson, and Tom Withers for their help with this book.

Whether it has been Jim Brown plowing over defenders, Tony Dorsett scooting around them, or LaDainian Tomlinson leaping over them, running backs have been stars ever since the NFL began eight decades ago.

They tend to have different styles, but one thing that is the same is their desire to carry the ball often. It doesnt matter if their team is close to the opponents end zone or stuck deep in its own territory, their motto is Give me the ball and block for me.

There can be a beauty in how they go about their jobs. Think of Barry Sanders taking a pitchout, running wide, cutting behind his blockers, and speeding downfield like a racehorse coming down the stretch of the Kentucky Derby.

Or Eric Dickerson hurdling high over a pile of players at the goal line and soaring into the end zone.

There also can be breathtaking power, such as Jerome Bettis, perfectly nicknamed The Bus, mowing down tacklers to gain those extra inches for a first down.

The great running backs, from the 1950s and 60s to the present day, get stronger as the game goes on. In the fourth quarter, when defensive players are exhausted, the guys toting the ball are at their best.

Brown, Bettis, and Franco Harris were as much fullbacks as halfbacks, using their bulk and strength to dominate. Sanders might have been the most slippery runner ever. Dickerson used long strides in an upright style that invited tacklers to make big hits on him; they rarely could.

Curtis Martin was as steady as they come, churning out 1,000-yard season after 1,000-yard season. So was Emmitt Smith, the career rushing leader and a three-time Super Bowl winner.

Walter Payton is considered the model for the modern back: tough, relentless, always prepared.

Each of the stars in Top 10 Running Backs was a record-setter during his career. Bettis, Brown, Dorsett, Harris, Payton, and Smith were leaders on NFL championship teams. All of them either are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or should be someday.

Is it any wonder that football coaches from high school to the pros insist the main road to success is, well, staying on the roadrunning the ball?

Jerome Bettis wanted to take his Steelers teammates on a Bus ride, from Pittsburgh to his hometown, Detroit. All the way to the 2006 Super Bowl.

Bettis was given the nickname The Bus in college because a student reporter at Notre Dame wrote he ran over defenders like a bus. Now he was ready to end his thirteen-year NFL career. But he wanted to go out a winner.

Im going home, Bettis said after helping the Steelers beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. Im going to my first Super Bowl, and its in Motown.

Growing up as the youngest of three children, Jerome lived in a poor neighborhood. Heading to school, he usually wore a white dress shirt, glasses, and a wide smile, and carried a tattered briefcase with a broken handle.

Jerome did not play organized football until he was in the ninth grade. Even though he had asthma, Jerome played defensive line and linebacker. Then his coach put him in the backfield. In his first two starts, he combined for 300 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns.

He was also a fine student, making the National Honor Society before heading to Notre Dame. Although he did not win any championships in college, Bettis was good enough to be drafted tenth overall in 1993 by the Rams.

The first thing I bought when I signed my contract was a new house for my parents, he said.

After two excellent seasons in Los Angeles, he was traded to Pittsburgh, where Bettis spent a decade as one of the NFLs top runners. He was always at his best close to the goal line, and when he drove the Steelers to the Super Bowl, Jerome ranked fifth in career yards rushing (13,662), tenth in touchdowns rushing (91), and first in popularity in Steel Town.

Im going to enjoy the time I spent with Jerome, said Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward. Were sending Jerome out on a great note.

That great note was his only championship. It meant everything to Bettis, who said his other biggest success was establishing The Bus Stops Here Foundation for underprivileged children.

The script right now, if you took it to Hollywood theyd turn it down, saying it couldnt happen, Bettis said. Ive had a very special run.

BORN:

February 16, 1972, Detroit, Michigan.

HIGH SCHOOL:

Mackenzie High School, Detroit, Michigan.

COLLEGE:

Notre Dame University.

PRO:

Los Angeles/ St. Louis Rams, 19931995; Pittsburgh Steelers, 19962005.

HONORS:

Six Pro-Bowl Selections (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004).

In late 1999, the Associated Press selected the player of the century in each sport. The hands-down winner in pro football was Jim Brown.

Although he played less than a decade for Cleveland, Brown made such an impact on the sportand on anyone who tried to tackle himthat picking him not only as the best runner but the best overall player was easy.

Brown retired in 1965 to become a movie actor. When he entered the Hall of Fame in 1971, he held the record for yards rushing, with 12,312 in nine 12-game seasons. Walter Payton didnt break the mark until nineteen years after Browns retirement, and Payton played in 16-game seasons.

When someone tells me theyve seen a great running back, I tell them, Go get tapes of Jim Brown. Then youve seen a great running back, said Oakland Raiders owner and former Coach Al Davis.

In Browns day, fullbacks often were the main running backs. At 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, Brown was as big as most linebackers, even some linemen. He was fast enough to run around them, but so powerful he often ran over defendersor carried them on his back or clinging to his legs for yards at a time.