If Maurice Douglass becomes a famous Bear cornerback, maybe he will decide to quit his part-time job as a strip-tease dancer in Cincinnati.
And maybe he won`t. He might just raise his asking price and follow in the tradition of Bears who have gone from the line of scrimmage to a life with the chorus-line crowd.
Douglass has earned between $500 and $800 performing three nights a week. Screaming crowds at Soldier Field don`t faze him after the gigs he has been through.
He found stripping a welcome supplement to his salary as an assistant health spa manager in Cincinnati. And you can`t beat the benefit plan.
”You meet a lot of people stripping. I never tell them I play football, though,” he said. ”I just tell them I`m a regular guy, like the man on the street.
”If you tell the ladies you`re a football player, then they`ll be interested in just that. I`m much more than just a football player.
”I like to be different from everybody else. I don`t want people to say he`s just another defensive back, another football player.”
Still, he`d like the opportunity to say he is a full-time National Football League player. He got a part-time taste with the Bears last year in his first season as a pro.
Defensive coordinator Vince Tobin wanted to keep Douglass but couldn`t find room on the roster and reluctantly included the eighth-round draft choice from the University of Kentucky among the final preseason cuts.
But the Bears brought him back Nov. 25. Douglass contributed in the next four games largely as a special teams player.
”For a guy who has a little size, he can run pretty good,” said Tobin of the 5-foot-11-inch, 198-pound Douglass. ”He`s pretty tough, too. He`s a physical player.
”We liked him when we released him last year. He was one of those cuts where there wasn`t a spot, and yet we felt he could be a player.”
The longer cornerback Mike Richardson sits out in his contract dispute, the better chance Douglass has to make the club, although he suffered a setback Monday, leaving practice with a knee injury.
Douglass worked at safety much of last year, but he has the ability to transfer his talents to the cornerback position, too.
Does Tobin see any of Douglass` unique flair in his playing?
”A little bit, but your unusual thing usually doesn`t come out until you are pretty sure you have a spot on the football team,” Tobin said.
”Right now he doesn`t want to be too unusual. But we have a lot of unusual guys on this team. He has a legitimate chance to be one of them.”
But Douglass does something the rest of the Bears don`t. He wears earrings. He has three holes in his left lobe and one hole in his right.
It`s hard to say if George Halas would have approved. But if he can run rings around wide receivers, Papa Bear might have learned to live with Douglass` quirks.
”I like to stand out in my appearance, in my clothes, by wearing the earrings and stuff,” Douglass explained.
”I want to play football, but I don`t want people to see me as a football player. I just want to be a guy who did things his own way, but was a team player.
”I had a good friend who played with me at Kentucky (for two years after his junior-college transfer), and we stuck away from everybody else. We did things like dye our hair.
”The coaches at Kentucky would say, `Why don`t you guys fit in and be like everyone else on the team?` They gave us a bunch of flack. By doing that, we wanted to do more stuff they didn`t want us to do.
”I rebel really against the conformity you see in football. I`ll do anything they want me to do with my body while I`m on the field, but when that clock runs out I want to be able to do what I want.
”After the clock runs out, I`m on my time. I usually like to go back home and play with my dog for a couple hours. It`s a jet-black Chow-Chow named Seka. Named after the porn film star. An awesome lady. Awesome.
”I really enjoy stripping. It`s not just the attraction you get from the ladies. It`s more the money.”
He knows stripping the ball pays well, too. And he is confident he`ll stick this time with the Bears.
”I feel I`m in a good spot,” Douglass said. ”I think I have a better chance than some guys because I can play safety and cornerback.
”If they go by athletic ability, I know I`ll be there because I have the athletic ability to play in this league.”
When Douglass returned to the team late last season, coach Mike Ditka commented that he liked the way he dressed.
Which makes Douglass a man for all seasons, because his strip-tease fans like the way he undresses.
