Eccentric Millionaire : In These Days of âMe First,â Sanders Finds Joy in Giving
Reporters arriving at the Silverdome parking lot for an Aug. 12 news conference to announce Barry Sandersâ contract extension were treated to a rare sight: A multimillionaire changing the flat tire on his 1989 Acura Legend.
Bad enough that he doesnât own a Rolls or a Mercedes, but dirty fingernails, too? Obviously, the guy is nouveau riche .
Sportswriters shook their heads. Lamont Smith, one of Sandersâ two agents, asked him not to do it. Considering the commission Smith was about to receive from an extension and signing bonus that could pay the Lionsâ running back as much as $10 million over the next six years, the agent should have scrambled to help his client.
Sanders frowns at mention of the incident, failing to understand why anyone would even notice.
âI just picked up a nail and changed my tire,â he says. âIâve changed my tires all my life. Itâs not like it was something Iâd never done before or will never do again.â
Clearly, Sanders doesnât flaunt his wealth. He doesnât wear $150 sneakers, and Nike will give him all he wants. He even cuts his own hair. And heâs not a member of professional sportsâ whatâs-in-it-for-me crowd.
If Sanders rushes for 1,000 yards this year, each of the offensive linemen will get a note and a check from Sanders. Not a watch--he already gave them each a Rolex after his rookie season--but cash, $10,000. And another 10 cents of every dollar he earns goes to the Paradise Baptist Church in his hometown of Wichita, Kan.
âThatâs just the type of person he is,â veteran tackle Lomas Brown said. âBut you know, I donât think that changed a thing about the way weâre going to block for him this year. We already had our plans on that.
âThis day and age, what heâs doing is really different. So many people these days are into themselves. I just think he wants to win, and he wants everyone to reap some of the benefits that heâs been able to get. Thatâs my idea of a quality person: someone who thinks about others when he really doesnât have to.â
Sanders shuns the Mother-Teresa-in-shoulder-pads image, claiming it has been manufactured by the media because plain folks donât sell newspapers or get people to watch sportscasts. He cherishes his privacy and would rather run with the football and then run from the spotlight. He wonât be rude, though, so he has become as adept at slipping interviews as he is at shedding tacklers.
But then when he does talk, heâs open and thoughtful.
Barry Sanders is very much an enigma. At first glance, his height and weight--5 feet 8 and 203 pounds--are impressive only in that a few hundred thousand couch potatoes who watch NFL football on Sundays can claim the same statistics. Then you notice that about 100 of those pounds appear to be thigh muscles.
Nearly everyone questioned his size when the Lions drafted him, and now nearly everyone is tabbing Sanders as the next NFL superstar. This is supposed to be the season he elevates his play to a level above the rest. Itâs hardly an out-on-the-limb prediction.
Sanders gained 1,470 yards in his rookie season, 1,304 last year, and the Lions, who scored more touchdowns than all but three NFL teams in 1990, are changing their Silver Stretch run-and-shoot offense to better showcase his considerable talents.
The man gained nearly 3,000 yards in two seasons, and the Lions didnât have an outside run in their game plan. After the 1990 season, however, Coach Wayne Fontes cut loose run-and-shoot gurus Mouse Davis and June Jones and named Dave Levy the offensive coordinator. Levy and Fontes have made some âsweepingâ modifications in the offense.
âBarry is one of a kind--in my opinion, the best back in the league,â quarterback Rodney Peete said. âWhen you have a guy like that, you have to take advantage of his ability as much as possible. I think the changes will help him. We added some sweeps we didnât have in the past, some outside runs to create some better opportunities for him to get some yards.â
In his first two years, Sanders had 59 catches for 744 yards, a 12.6-yard average. He ran only two pass routes. This season, the Lions intend to expand his role in the passing game.
âIâm very excited about blocking him less and running him more and having him catch a lot more passes,â Fontes said. âWe just had to find ways to get the young manâs hands on the ball a few more times.
âBarryâs truly a superstar. Every time he touches it, Iâm amazed what he does. Heâs the kind of back that makes you stand up on your toes when he gets the ball. Heâs got incredible quickness and instincts, and heâs the only guy Iâve ever seen who makes a move in the air. I swear, he can go left and right without his feet touching the ground.â
Is that better than walking on water?
Sanders refuses to be swept along by all the hype. Itâs as if he canât decide whether to shrug or yawn.
âIâm excited because itâs a new season, but that doesnât have a lot to do with the new system,â he said. âSupposedly, Iâm going to playing a bigger part of whatâs going on, but you never really know, because weâre going to be taking what they give us.
âWeâll see what happens. You just canât expect that youâll go in and all of sudden everything will be ideal. So Iâm taking a wait-and-see approach.â
WICHITA, KAN.
When he was in fourth grade, one of Sandersâ sisters--he has eight and two brothers--gave him one of those vibrating electric football games for Christmas.
âEven then I identified with the tailback,â he said. âRunning back was always my favorite position.â
The same year, he joined his first organized football league, making his debut with a helmet and shoulder pads for the Beech Red Barons. He scored three touchdowns in his first game.
âI remember the game very well, and I remember feeling pretty good. Heck, I felt real good actually,â Sanders said. âIt was my first year out of the neighborhood sandlots, and I wanted to prove I was good enough to play organized ball.
âYeah, I was happy, man. I had my chance and I did well.â
It seems that every time he happens upon a door of opportunity, Sanders kicks it in. Heâs just had some trouble finding the door.
He didnât get his first start at tailback for North High School until only five games remained in his senior season. He rushed for 274 yards and scored four touchdowns that day and finished the year with a city-record 1,417 yards.
Sanders learned many lessons about perseverance as a child, but most were taught at home, not on a football field.
âMy mother was a huge influence on me,â he said. âShe was a living example of what a Christian should be. Her conviction, her discipline. She would rather see other people happy than herself.â
And from his father?
âOoooh, I got a lot, especially in terms of work ethic,â he said. âI learned respect, how to be independent, to make decisions and be a man about it.â
He said he was amazed when he discovered that other kids in school were getting an allowance just for being alive. When he told his father, William Sanders told his youngest son his pay was having a roof over his head and food to eat.
Now, Sandersâ parents live on Easy Street. But they live in the same house.
STILLWATER, OKLA.
A lot of football fans know that Barry Sanders played behind Thurman Thomas at Oklahoma State. What they donât know is that he also played behind three or four other guys whose names you would never recognize.
âThe whole scenario about Oklahoma State hasnât been portrayed the way it really was,â Sanders said. âWhen I went to Oklahoma State, I didnât really expect to play for a long time. They recruited a couple of All-American running backs the same year as me.
âI was fourth or fifth string. The only reason I got a chance to play was that some of the guys ahead of me got hurt. There was never any competition between me and Thurman. I was basically recruited to play special teams.â
He became a very special special-teams recruit, establishing 13 NCAA single-season records and winning the Heisman Trophy as a junior in 1988.
After that season, the NFL decided to make an exception and accept Sandersâ petition to be included in the college draft, rather than face litigation over its rule prohibiting the drafting of undergraduates.
A lot of people believe Sanders decided to become a professional because of pressure from his father, who reportedly told his son, âIf you go out for spring ball, Iâll break your legs myself.â
Sanders insists that it had more to do with his inability to keep up both ends of the student-athlete burden. He says practices, meetings, weightlifting and film sessions left little time for academic pursuits. He even turned down an invitation to the White House after winning the Heisman because he had to study.
âI didnât know exactly what I wanted to do in school, but I definitely didnât have adequate time to reach my full potential as a student,â he said. âYou know, Iâm fairly intelligent, but I donât think my grades reflected that.â
He laughs.
PONTIAC, MICH.
Heâs 23 and heâs the franchise.
âBarry poses a threat that other teams simply have to respect in their game plan,â Brown said. âThey have to begin by considering what Barry can do, and that changes a lot of peopleâs schemes.â
Heâs only 23 but willing to voice an opinion in the face of certain ridicule. A short locker room discourse on the evils of fornication elicited more than a few snickers.
âItâs something you have to go through, being a Christian,â Sanders said. âItâs not my law. It comes strictly out of the Bible. I guess if it was up to me, I wouldnât do it like that. And I admit Iâve done otherwise in my life.â
Heâs 23 and seems oblivious to individual honors.
âI think everyone wants to do well, and everyone looks at their statistics after the game,â he said. âThereâs a certain amount of gratification that comes with achieving certain things, but itâs more knowing that youâre doing your part.
âSure, I like to get good stats, but thatâs certainly not my sole motivation for playing the game. Itâs really insignificant when you stack it up against a win or a loss.â
Is this guy for real?
Late in the final game of the 1989 season, with Detroit comfortably ahead of Atlanta, Fontes discovered that Sanders--who was sitting on the bench after having gained 158 yards and scored three touchdowns, was only 10 yards shy of finishing the season as the NFLâs leading rusher.
Fontes asked Sanders if he wanted to return. Sanders declined.
âIf we win a game, like that Atlanta game, thereâs just no reason for me to go back in to get some record,â he said. âI just didnât see any need to do it.â
Is he too good to be true?
Early in his rookie season, officials checked his jersey for silicone. He has been slipping out of the grasp of would-be tacklers ever since.
âI think heâs the best in the league,â Fontes said. âAnd one day, barring injuries, he could be the best that ever played this game.â
Fontesâ praise is the stuff of legends.
Sanders, on the other hand, will only jack up his Legend if it has a flat.
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