Dupree Is Hot Back for Rams

I wasn’t snooping. Honest, I wasn’t. But it was pushing midnight by the time I got to Marcus Dupree’s locker and my bloodshot eyes drifted to the shelf above his head, where a large jug of Pedialyte sat beside a can of cold cola. I didn’t know what Pedialyte was and I didn’t think to ask.

So, next morning, I consulted my corner druggist. I was curious. It could be Pedialyte was some sort of nerve tonic. Maybe Marcus had been having butterflies Saturday before the Rams turned him loose against the Raiders. Or, let’s see . . . Pedialyte . . . ped, ped . . . maybe it was foot lotion. Maybe that griddle-hot Anaheim gridiron had scorched Dupree’s feet.

“Pedialyte?” my pharmacist said. “Sure, right over here.”

I found a bottle and read the label:

Prevents dehydration.

Although there was certainly nothing amusing about a charbroiled athlete replenishing fluids on an August night, I still had to smile.

Marcus Dupree, overworked.

It must sound good, even to him. To be tired. To be perspired. To be drained from a hard night’s work. After all, all Marcus Dupree has been craving is a chance to work. All he has been waiting for is one more chance to be the Marcus Dupree he used to be.

For five long years, he has waited. Make it seven, in fact, counting the last two seasons with the Rams. Going on eight.

And anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting the good-natured Mississippian, before or after his comeback from football oblivion, can’t help pulling for him. His 100 yards rushing in one half against the Raiders was more enjoyable for some of us than it seemed to be for Chuck Knox.

“Marcus Dupree got to rushing and made some yards,” the Ram coach said.

Don’t get too excited there, Chuck. Bad for you in this heat.

I’m only kidding. Knox has seen enough running backs come and go not to get carried away. Ever since Eric Dickerson found an opening and ran to daylight all the way to Indiana, the Rams have auditioned an army of ball-carriers. Or, in some cases, ball-droppers. Knox wasn’t born yesterday. One exhibition game means zip.

But Dupree or not Dupree, that is the question. The Rams still have Robert Delpino, Cleveland Gary, David Lang and assorted others. Rumors have them nosing around after Kansas City’s Barry Word. And even if Dupree is the same age as Word, 28, he has more mileage on his odometer. Dupree broke into pro football in his teens .

Unfortunately, it was USFL pro football. A $5-million job offer was too much to resist for a poor kid from Philadelphia, Miss., same as it would be for a rich kid from Philadelphia, Pa.

I can still remember Marcus’ mom, Cella Dupree Connors, entertaining or enduring the procession of agents and scouts who materialized on her porch.

“If a stranger shows up in this town,” she said, “they ain’t looking for nobody but Marcus.”

He was hotter than Dixie weather. Everybody was after Marcus. The football coach from Oklahoma was after him--and when Barry Switzer went after somebody, he generally got him. Dupree stayed one season. He gained 239 yards in the Fiesta Bowl, stuck the MVP trophy under his arm and transferred to Southern Mississippi, homesick and unhappy.

He missed that home cooking, for one thing. “In our family,” his mother said, “nobody eats breakfast. But after noon, the kill is on. We just sit and eat until we go to bed.”

One year later, Dupree was a pro. One game into his second USFL season, however, Marcus’ knee decided that it had had enough. It took him five full years to persuade that knee to give it another try.

“I never felt better,” Dupree said after a 19-16 overtime success against the Raiders. He had a smile on his face that was as wide as the rip in his sweat-soaked gray undershirt.

“I don’t know what else to say,” said Marcus, who says that a lot. “I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been.”

Knox is a runners’ coach. Ground Chuck. Runners know this. It gives them hope. They always think this could be the year. Dupree, however, is different. This has to be his year. He can’t go on job-hunting forever. He has to make up for lost time.

It isn’t easy. When he finally got to play, it was with a rookie quarterback, T.J. Rubley, who was greener than the grass. “Yeah, he was nervous,” Dupree said. “But not for long. You watch that kid. He’s going to make a good quarterback in this league for somebody. I hope it’s us.”

Their first series together began with a penalty for a false start. Then Dupree cracked the middle and lost a yard. Then Rubley fumbled the ball away to the Raiders.

Not much hope there.

Two quarters later, Dupree had 100 yards in 22 carries, four catches and one huge smile.

When had he last gained 100 yards?

“Last night,” Dupree said. “In my dreams.”

He started laughing and said he felt tired but great and didn’t know what else to say. Well, I know what to say. Stick around, Marcus.