AUSTIN, Texas (KRT) - To illustrate how the more things change, the more
they stay ... Herschel Walker is back and I'm still here.
Walker has returned to the Cowboys and he is not much altered except in
calendar age, and that doesn't show. He looks no older at 34 than when he
left almost seven years ago for Minnesota. Of course, neither do I, which
Herschel was about to mention before our Thursday chat ended.
Walker said his personal regimen is unchanged. Some find it healthy that
he arises at 5:30 a.m. for a series of push-ups, sit-ups and wrestling with
a fitness bar. Most just think it's tiring. Walker still claims to eat only
one red-meatless meal a day of rice, salad, fruit and veggies.
The mystery endures of how Walker weighs 225 pounds on an intake of barely
enough calories to keep a moth aloft. Pursuit of the unknown often has moved
Herschel into peculiar pastures. He danced with the Fort Worth Ballet, competed
with the United States two-man bobsled team at the Winter Olympics in Albertville,
France, and once expressed ambition to become an FBI agent.
This much has changed since 1989. Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones then paid Walker
a $1.5 million bonus to leave for Minnesota. Jones is paying Herschel $275,000
to come back and perform a variety of roles - running back insurance, kickoff
return threat and catching passes out of the backfield.
It's fitting that Walker rejoin the Cowboys to view the NFL empire he helped
restore by going away in a trade to the Vikings. Minnesota gave Dallas enough
draft choices to re-float the Spanish Armada. Then-coach Jimmy Johnson used
those picks to fetch Emmitt Smith, Kevin Smith and Darren Woodson among
others.
Walker admires the deal.
"That was business. Smart business," he said. "And it wasn't
like the Cowboys sent me to a bad team."
Nor does Walker regret leaving in '89. He split from a team headed toward
a 1-15 record. And he went north with that check from Jones which combined
with others to leave Walker financially secure for life, he said.
Those left behind were most upset at Walker's departure. They had to finish
the season. Troy Aikman recalled:
"I came in (in '89) as a big-eyed rookie, and Herschel was very good
to me. He spent time with me and kinda helped me along. I remember those
things.
"I hated to see him go. He was the one proven player we had on the
team at that time. Then we let him go, and I was a little concerned about
the direction of the team after that transaction."
Walker has been concerned almost ever since by lack of full-time use. Only
once in 6-1/2 seasons since leaving Dallas did he get more than 200 rushing
attempts. When he did with Philadelphia in 1992, he gained 1,070 yards.
"What's so strange is when you get to training camp, and they see you
do it and know you can do it and then they don't give you the opportunity
to do it," Walker said. "I just keep playing. I don't rag on anyone.
I respect people who respect me."
Walker's NFL career is strange for a player who's been once traded (by Dallas),
thrice released (by the Vikings, Eagles and Giants) and yet ranks No. 4
all-time in combined net yardage. He has 15,881 yards rushing, receiving
and returning kickoffs and would surpass No. 1 Walter Payton's 21,803 yards
(with 22,927) if his three-year totals from the defunct USFL were included.
"I have the chance to pass Tony Dorsett (No. 2 at 16,326 yards). I
think I can get it here and that's nothing to sneeze at. There were some
teams I played for that didn't let me play, and that's all I ask of Jerry
and Barry Switzer. Just let me play.
"I'll play special teams. You don't see many guys at 34 who'll do it."
When Walker reflects on 10 NFL seasons, his major regret returns to that
theme. The mystery to him is why he became a cameo offensive figure.
"Hard to say," he shrugged. "Some people never got to see
me play. I ran the ball only 31 times last year in New York. People there
saw me in the USFL (New Jersey Generals) but not with the Giants.
"I know I could have done more. I've been like a horse sitting in a
stall. I want to run but the door won't open. So I sit there pounding the
ground."
A few faces are still familiar to Walker from his first tour with the Cowboys.
There's Tony Tobert, Nate Newton, Bill Bates, Daryl Johnston and Aikman.
And me.
(Frank Luksa is a sports columnist for the Dallas Morning News. Write to
him at: Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, Dallas, Texas 75265.)