Anthony Thompson knew he was having a good game. The juices were flowing, he was getting the ball, and he was making yards.
But he didn`t know he was having that good a game until ”a little kid standing behind our bench yelled, `You`re over 350 yards.` I thought, Wow! But I didn`t know whether to believe him.”
Believe it. The Indiana All-America`s 377 yards on 52 carries against Wisconsin last Saturday for an NCAA Division I record had people exclaiming
”Wow!” all over the country.
Except in Champaign, where Illinois coach John Mackovic`s first reaction was, ”Ow!”
”It really caught my attention,” says Mackovic. ”A lot of backs couldn`t run 377 yards in warmups, and he did it against what we thought was a pretty good run defense. As bad as I felt Saturday afternoon, when somebody told me Saturday night what happened, I started to go into depression. I know he`s not going to come to town tired; he`s coming to town excited.”
Anthony Thompson is going to Illinois Saturday hoping to win a football game and the Heisman Trophy. In that order.
The cynical reaction to Thompson`s record romp was that, with the Hoosiers winding down a mediocre season, Indiana coach Bill Mallory was going to concentrate on getting the Heisman for his star tailback.
”I don`t believe that,” says Thompson. ”Coach Mallory doesn`t operate that way. We were out there having fun, and we needed a win. Our quarterback was hurting a little bit, and I was gaining yards.
”It`s not like we`re going to run up the score on people to get me notoriety or the Heisman Trophy.”
Thompson already has about as much notoriety as he can handle. The Heisman may or may not come, but if he gets it, it will be the old-fashioned way.
Thompson admits he doesn`t have breakaway speed. He even volunteers
”Darrell Thompson (of Minnesota) is probably the best running back in the country.”
But Darrell Thompson is not one more big day away from winning the most prestigious trophy in college sports. Anthony Thompson could be.
His work ethic is well-documented. In his four years at Indiana, he has made himself bigger, faster, stronger.
”Hard work will not always bring success,” Thompson says, ”but I always keep in mind that lack of hard work will never bring success.”
Thompson`s workouts are legendary at Indiana, from running the stadium bleachers to dragging a 50-yard sled behind him like a mule. He confesses that sometimes he would like to slack off.
But when he feels that way, he says, ”I think, how many running backs are doing this right now? Blair Thomas (of Penn State) is not quitting. Whenever I`m tired or feeling down and out, I think Blair Thomas and Darrell Thompson are probably not wimping out right now.”
Thompson concedes that, as far as he knows, the other two great runners might be lying in a hammock sipping daiquiris at that very moment. But in his mind, they are running the bleachers, too, and he is not about to quit before they do.
”My mom used to tell me when I was a little kid that there`s always somebody better than you,” he says.
As much as his mother`s words inspired him, it was two male role models who shaped his attitude toward`s hard work.
”My uncle Hubert and Walter Payton,” he says. ”They were the essence of hard work. I wanted to pattern myself after them.”
It wasn`t that Payton was always his hero. ”He was my uncle`s hero. When I was only 8, we`d go play on the sandlot, and my uncle would try to play like Walter Payton-the high step, the straight arm, the dive.”
Thompson himself became a Payton fan when he started watching him on TV a few years later. ”I liked the way he ran and how he carried himself on and off the field.”
Three years ago, Payton paid Thompson the ultimate compliment when he invited him to one of his killer summer workouts, running the fabled ”Hill” in the Chicago suburbs.
”He was 32 or 33 at the time and still running strong,” recalls Thompson. ”He seemed to be young at heart, and he still had a lot of desire and motivation.
”I had first met him in high school (Terre Haute North) when I was being recruited by Illinois and the Bears were practicing there. He told me that to be a good back, you have to work hard in every aspect of the game, catching the ball in the backfield, blocking and trying to improve yourself every year.”
Telling Anthony Thompson to work more is like telling a small boy to eat more ice cream. He seems to get a visceral enjoyment from it.
”Hard work makes you appreciate things better,” he says. ”Working for things means a lot more than people giving you things. It`s self-gratifying because you know you`re doing something for yourself and you can see the results.
”I`m a little quicker and a lot stronger. I`ve probably gained a step or two in my 40 times.”
The results are apparent to others, too.
”When someone tells you that a back wears down the defense,” says Mackovic, ”many times that means that you ran him so many times he finally got some yardage. A lot of backs will start out getting 2 1/2 yards a carry and then in the third or fourth quarter, they`ll get some gains of 10 or 12 or 15 yards.
”He legitimately wears you down. He`s making 10, 12, 15 yards at the beginning of the game, and at the end, he`s still making `em.”
Sometimes even Anthony Thompson wears down, but only for a moment. ”When I start getting tired on the field, I tell myself, `I worked too hard to be tired.` Then you suck it up and go.”
