Breaks of Game Have Yet to Beat Hampton : Pro football: After 12 years and 10 knee surgeries, the Bears’ defensive lineman plays his final season with passion--and pain.

There’s nothing like life on an Arkansas farm to prepare a young man for life in the NFL. At least if you grew up like Dan Hampton and play football like Dan Hampton.

Consider the benefits of calf skiing, for instance. You slip off your shoes, grab the tail of a calf and let it drag you through the pasture. This sport improves balance and--after the calf whips you into a barbed-wire fence--you learn a lot about how to stop bleeding and how to get stitches.

And, of course, there’s the tried-and-true tree climbing/falling drill. One rotten limb 30 feet above the ground is all you need. Hampton, then 12, landed on his feet, crushing his left heel and breaking his right ankle and left wrist.

This one helps you learn to deal with prolonged pain--after the fall, he lay in the back of the family station wagon for two hours waiting for a doctor to arrive at the local clinic. It also imparts the importance of patience and determination during rehabilitation. (Five months in a wheelchair and two more on crutches will do that.)

So the Chicago Bears’ defensive tackle was well-prepared for his 12-year frolic in pro football. He has been on a Super Bowl winner, been named to four Pro Bowls, played in three decades and made enough money to buy a farm near the one he grew up on in Cabot, Ark.

Heck, what’s 10 arthroscopic knee surgeries (five on each knee), eight misshapen fingers, 15 broken bones and a couple of hundred stitches? So what if he hasn’t felt good in seven or eight years.

“Ever since 1983, it hasn’t been the same,” said Hampton, 33, who will be making his 145th start for the Bears Sunday night against the Rams. “I had about two or three knee operations within a year and surgery on my hand. But if everything was easy, it wouldn’t be any fun.

“I get a kick out of playing guys like (Ram guard Tom) Newberry, who are perfect specimens, no damage, you know, low mileage. The Bears are gonna line up a rent-a-wreck to play against him and we’ll see how it goes.”

“That in itself is kind of remarkable, if I can say so. I don’t know anyone else who would do it.”

Erstwhile-genius-turned-commentator Bill Walsh told a television audience recently that no one should do it. Walsh said Hampton could end up confined to a wheelchair and should retire.

“This year at Indy, they asked A.J. Foyt, ‘Why don’t you retire?’ and he said, ‘Cause I don’t want to,’ ” Hampton said. “I’m still effective enough to play and play pretty damn well.

“Bill Walsh showed himself to be a hypocrite. Everyone’s got their opinion, but it seems senseless that he had to say his in front of 20 million people when there’s no basis to it. Let him worry about coloring his hair or something. He doesn’t need to worry about my knees.”

Now don’t get the impression that Hampton is just a dull farm boy who gets some perverse joy in watching his body be mangled. He’s looking forward to retiring after this season. But not even two more arthroscopic surgeries last year could persuade him to walk--OK, limp--away from a job unfinished.

Hampton might be hobbled but he is still more than a shadow of the player who, in his prime, was clearly one of the best defensive tackles ever to terrorize quarterbacks and running backs.

In last season’s opener, a 17-14 victory over the Bengals, Hampton blocked a field goal, stuffed Ickey Woods on a fourth-and-one on the Bear 18-yard line and sacked Boomer Esiason on a crucial third-down play in the fourth quarter.

The Bears were 4-0 before he went out for surgeries Nos. 9 and 10 last year. They finished the season 2-10 without him.

“I think this is a special team and I didn’t want to miss out on this season,” he said. “It’s a great blend. You know, it’s just got a real nice feel to it.”

Indeed, the Bears are off to a 4-1 start, but this is more than just one final shot at fame or glory for Hampton. He wants to be certain he has squeezed every last drop of talent out of his 6-foot-5, 270-pound, bent and twisted frame.

“I just wasn’t ready to quit yet,” he said. “Now, I’m dying for February. I’m looking forward to this being my final year, but in a larger sense, I don’t want to leave any stone unturned.

“A 12-year career in the NFL is much like a marathon. At the end of it, I plan on being spent, but it’ll be a very good feeling to know I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do and now it’s over.”

Hampton’s wife, Terry, wasn’t looking forward to having to dress her pain-riddled husband for another season’s worth of Monday mornings. His boss, Bear president Michael McCaskey, was grateful, but beginning to think enough was enough. And if they had their way, Hampton would be home on the range right now.

This is not a man easily swayed, however. He shrugs off pleas and criticism like he sheds double-team blocks. Just ask Terry, who says her knees also may need medical attention after all the begging she’s done.

Hampton made $850,000 last year. When the Bears questioned his durability during contract talks, Hampton said he would settle for a base salary of half that amount, with the rest to be paid on a per-game-played basis. The ultimate in incentive clauses.

“They seem to be happy with it and I’m happy with it,” he said. “If I break down, I don’t expect to get paid.”

So Hampton, the player Philadelphia Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan calls “my hero,” endures. It’s not just that he’s so tough and can stoically withstand punishment and pain. Hampton plays with passion. Still.

“We know Dan is not playing as well as he did a few years ago,” Bear Coach Mike Ditka said, “but he’s still helping us with the pass rush and with leadership.

“From Day 1, I fought for him to be signed, to be part of this football team. He’s good for our young people and good for our team.”

Hampton believes in the importance of passing down the traditions of his trade and insists there’s more to it than male bonding.

“When I came into the league, Alan Page and the other old hens taught me about dedication and leadership, the things coaches throw around and people scoff at, but there’s a lot to it,” he said. “I feel like my contribution transcends the actual playing field.

“Last year, the confidence of this team really started to fall. I wanted to come back this year and try to put it back on track. The old guys are the ones you have to look to for leadership. The younger guys still gravitate toward the older guys as the bell cows. We’ve been down that road a bunch of times and we know what it takes to win and how you get beat.”

For the first time in his career, Hampton is a part-timer. He’s part of a three-player rotation at defensive tackle that includes 11-year veteran Steve McMichael and Refrigerator Perry.

“Everybody’s fresh,” Hampton said. “It’s been an asset. It’s really nice for all three guys.

“I’m playing OK. I’m just not, well, let’s be realistic. A guy in his 12th year who’s had as many things go wrong as I have. . . . I still want to be 25 and throw people around. But I don’t think that day will ever come again.”

Hampton might not be able to bring himself to talk about diminished skills, but he’s willing to enter the debate on whether he has sacrificed his chance to enjoy retirement by continuing to let his body be ravaged.

Frankly, he doesn’t believe much more damage can be done. Let’s just say he already can feel a cold front a day before anyone else.

“The degree of aggravation from here on in is slight,” he said. “When you get as beat up as I did in the middle ‘80s, it’s all small calibrations after that.

“If I don’t have to run or lift weights for two or three weeks, I feel super. So I’ve got great plans for this spring.”

The Bears, of course, are hoping Hampton can help them realize their great expectations for this winter. And you can bet the farm that Hampton will be giving it one Herculean, final push.