Dickerson, Who Has Sought New Pact, Says He Will Quit

Eric Dickerson, who has sought to renegotiate his contract with the Indianapolis Colts or be traded, told an interviewer for an Indiana television station that he intends to retire.

“I’m through with football, and (the Colts) know it. So I’m telling you, I’m finished,” Dickerson, 29, said in an interview broadcast Monday on WFYI-TV’s “Indiana Tonight” show.

Jim Irsay, the Colts’ general manager and son of owner Robert Irsay, said through a spokesman Monday that the team expected Dickerson to fulfill his contract obligations.

Dickerson has said his contract expires after the 1990 season.

During the 20-minute interview, taped last Thursday at his Los Angeles home, Dickerson, the seventh-leading rusher in NFL history, said he has lost interest in playing football.

“Right now I really don’t love the game that much,” he said. “I don’t love it like I did at one time. But rather than stay in Indianapolis and take the pounding that I’m taking, I’d rather quit.

“I mean, it’s like taking a revolver and putting a bullet in it and spinning it around and sticking it to my head, and sooner or later a bullet is gonna come out and kill me. And that’s the chance I’m taking,” he said.

“I just can’t do that. I like my health. I’ll take my health, and no amount of money in the world can buy my health.”