At Least in Denver, Dorsett Is Back in Running

In the beginning, he was simply Tony Dorsett.

Then, he became Tony Dor- sett .

Or TD.

But when the glory days faded with the Dallas Cowboys, it got ugly.

He became Tony, the outcast.

Tony, the malcontent.

Tony, the scab.

And, ultimately, Tony, the bench-warmer.

The only answer seemed to be a clean break to restore his shattered image and waning confidence. So that’s exactly what he and his accountant, Bill Love, did last June, negotiating a 2-year deal with the Denver Broncos that could bring Dorsett about three-quarters of a million dollars including incentives, plus additional annual payments from an insurance policy.

And, suddenly, Dorsett has put a happy face back on his image.

Now, he’s Tony, the Bronco.

Tony, the great orange hope.

Tony, the record-breaking future Hall of Famer.

He has gone from a man who wasn’t good enough to play for the Cowboys, who gladly dumped him for a conditional fifth-round draft choice, to a man the Broncos hope will finally balance their offense enough to take them over the top after consecutive losing appearances in the last two Super Bowls.

No longer, goes the theory, will opposing defenses be able to lay back and wait for quarterback John Elway. This isn’t Gerald Willhite or Sammy Winder back there now. This is Tony Dorsett, who’ll take the field Monday night at Mile High Stadium to face the Raiders, needing just 97 yards to surpass the legendary Jim Brown and thus become the National Football League’s No. 2 all-time rusher behind Walter Payton.

“I’m loving Denver,” said Dorsett, beaming over his new lease on life. “It hasn’t been as tough as I guess (it would have been) under normal circumstances. When I say normal, I mean most times when you’re traded, you end up going to a system that’s completely different than the one you’ve been accustomed to. But Denver has a very similar system to the one I ran for the past 11 years in Dallas.”

There is a very good reason for that. Denver Coach Dan Reeves learned his trade as an assistant under Tom Landry at Dallas.

“I think Tony’s fitting into our offense,” Reeves said. “And we’re trying to get used to him, to learn the plays he’s comfortable with.”

Dorsett’s problems in Dallas ultimately can be boiled down to one person--Herschel Walker. When Dorsett arrived in Big D 11 years ago, he was the big name, the logical successor to Duane Thomas and Calvin Hill. Dorsett certainly had the credentials--a Heisman Trophy-winning career for the Pittsburgh Panthers that included 6,082 yards gained, a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record, and 58 touchdowns.

Reveling in his superstar image, Dorsett changed the pronunciation of his name to make him even more distinctive, but people often just referred to him by his initials, since TDs became his stock in trade. He scored 72 of them rushing in his 11 years in Dallas, putting him ninth on the all-time list, while gaining more than 1,000 yards eight times.

But there was often a bitter taste to his salad days--the death of a fiancee, marital problems, financial problems, tax problems and inability to fit into the Cowboys’ mold.

His difficulties reached a peak last year. First came the player strike. Dorsett criticized those who crossed the picket line, then was pressured into doing the same thing when Dallas management threatened to cut him off from an annuity he was receiving.

The strike eventually went away, but Walker didn’t. The Cowboys, having taken a good look at this all-purpose back from the United States Football League the previous year, had decided to rebuild their offense around him.

In November, Dorsett sank to the absolute bottom. In a game against the Miami Dolphins, he did not play. No injuries. Just simply did not play. The Raiders have devised an offense that allows Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson to share the ball. The Cowboys went the other way.

“In Los Angeles, it seems like they’re trying to make it work,” Dorsett said. “Whereas in Dallas, they don’t know how to make it work. We supposedly in Dallas had some of your more innovative coaches and brilliant minds, but it didn’t work. I don’t know if it was because they weren’t capable of doing it, or if they really just didn’t want to do it.”

So Dorsett moved on. But even the jump to Denver hasn’t been one smooth run to daylight. Before the trade was made, the Rocky Mountain News conducted a poll to see which running back the fans would prefer to see the Broncos get, Dorsett or the Washington Redskins’ George Rogers. Rogers won in a landslide.

Some still question how much Dorsett, at 34, has left. His introduction into the Denver offense has been cautious at best. He has carried only 42 times in 3 games, an average of just 14 a game.

“It’s too early in the season to really be disappointed,” Dorsett said. “We as runners all feel that we need to carry 20 to 25 times or more a game to really get into the flow of what’s happening. I feel I can still bring something to the picnic.”

But he would say no more. The last thing he wants to do in his new home is resurrect an old designation--Tony, the malcontent.