Watters Proof

Quick . . . someone says, “What a jerk!” and without mentioning any newspaper people, who’s the first to come to mind?

Thought so. You watch him thump his chest, gesture and yell at his teammates, cop an attitude when he doesn’t get the ball, and then open his mouth to speak, and, well, you can have Ricky Watters.

San Francisco didn’t keep him, and he had just scored three touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Philadelphia made no attempt to sign him this off-season, and the Eagles have no one else who can score.

Seattle signed him, presumably because the $15-billion Microsoft whiz kid who now owns the Seahawks got some kind of e-mail suggesting it, and since he knows nothing about football, what’s $13 million?

But here it is, more than 100 degrees, practice has been over for an hour and only one player remains behind, the one you never would have guessed.

Watters, 29, is sweating in place patiently, posing for pictures--”Take another,” he says--and chatting with every youngster who asks for his autograph, reminding some to say, “Thank you.”

A youngster tells Watters proudly that he could buy only one jersey for school and he has chosen No. 32, “because you’re my hero.”

Watters gives the kid a high-five, and tells him he’s honored, but you know what, he adds, “My parents were my heroes.”

Coaches and players have gone to lunch, but no one, and there are still more than 100 fans lining the fence, will leave here without Watters’ autograph. And after visiting training camps for almost two decades, watching players brush past children or walk and sign at the same time to avoid being stopped, this is an impressive event.

And Watters has been doing this every day. Sometimes twice a day, removing his gloves and sweatbands and giving them to the kids, giving away so much that the Seattle Seahawks’ equipment manager had to say something before the billionaire owner raised heck.

What a guy!

“It kills my mom more than it does me some of the things people say about me,” Watters says. “She asks me, ‘Who are they talking about?’

“It’s always been important to me that people know what I’m like. I have these big ears and I could hear people, who didn’t even know me, saying terrible things about me, and it was like they were cutting me with a knife.

“Sometimes I felt like I was going to bleed to death.”

Watters, while appearing to be cocky from the outset, says, “That’s inaccurate. I was just a kid with a lot of money, but not knowing where to live or even shop while trying to find my way on a team with such superstars like Jerry Rice, Steve Young and John Taylor. I know now blending in takes time, but I didn’t know that at the time.

“I’m always going to be fiery, but people misunderstand. I get knocked down and get up pounding my chest and I’m yelling at myself for not picking up my foot and it looks like I’m mad at my offensive linemen. I’m mad at me.”

He holds the NFL playoff record for five touchdowns scored in a game, has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his last three seasons, and since leaving San Francisco--without a running game--the 49ers haven’t been the same.

Still, Watters is known best for his boorish behavior, the spoiled brat pointing to the press box and demanding the coaches upstairs get him the ball more often.

In his first game with the Eagles, he made little effort to catch a pass over the middle, later infuriating the Philadelphia faithful by snorting, “I’m not going to trip up there and get knocked out. For who? For what?”

Eagles’ safety Mike Zordich told the Philadelphia Daily News, “We’ll miss his production, but I don’t think we’ll miss the way he acts on the sideline.”

In San Francisco, Watters suggested Young had choked after an NFC title-game loss. In Philadelphia, he routinely stormed past reporters only to appear later on his TV show to deliver his biting comments.

He carries so much negative baggage with him it’s a wonder he can gain any yards. “You have to know Ricky,” said former 49er center Jesse Sapolu in discussing Watters a few years ago. “I think one of the reasons he’s such a good player is that he doesn’t let the past wreck his concentration.”

But his past was beginning to damage his future prospects for success after an unhappy divorce with the Eagles, so he sought out someone to improve his image.

“I put it to him when I first met him,” agent Leigh Steinberg says. “I told him my perception was he was a whiner, always selfish, wanting the ball and caring more about himself than the team and unable to get along in San Francisco in an organization that gets along with everyone.

“After you spend some time with him you see something quite different. The thing is his instincts are to be outgoing and friendly, but he had gotten beaten up so badly in the press that he viewed the world as a hostile place. The key was to get past his image and get closer to people so they could get to know him.

“At the same time our thrust was keeping his frustrations inside, which of course runs against his nature.”

His nature, his obvious exuberance for the game, should have made him a superstar and one of the game’s most popular players. In San Francisco he would run out of the locker room and run the length of the field to slap the hands of the fans in the stands. In Philadelphia he donated $1,000 for every touchdown scored to a camp benefiting youngsters with cancer.

“George Seifert used to tell me in San Francisco that he loved my spirit and how fiery I was, but he felt like I was burning myself out,” Watters says. “I had so much energy and wanted to play so badly, but I’d be running around and jumping up and down and then we’d start the game, get to the 10-yard line and I was too winded to keep going.

“I’ve learned how to channel that energy, but I still love this game as much as ever. I have a great chance to touch a lot of people and I get to say things, and maybe not always the right things, but I get to express myself.”

Watters is currently establishing the “Jim and Marie” charitable foundation in Seattle, but before he can be nominated for sainthood, there’s a sentiment shared by all here: Just wait until the first game in which he doesn’t carry the ball enough.

“He’s never had a problem unless he wasn’t getting the ball enough,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson says. “I don’t think that will be a problem here. You read about the negatives, but I just like what I’ve seen.”

Any surprises? “His ability to be a leader and be positive all the time. We’ll see what happens when we begin playing for real, but I’ve watched and studied him, and when the lights go on, he’s pretty good.”

Said quarterback John Friesz: “Sure, we were all on guard when he came here. But there haven’t been any problems yet; in fact, he’s become a leader on the team.”

In Watters, however, some wonder if Seattle isn’t dealing with Mt. St. Helens all over again.

“I’m tired of defending myself,” he says, but that’s just bluster for the TV guys because he’s working the crowd harder than any presidential candidate.

“People read all this stuff about me, but these people out here have met me and they can say, the guy signed my kid’s autograph and talked to him and didn’t rush away. Think about it, you don’t read about me beating anyone up, or any woman troubles or anything like that. I’ll leave it up to these people how they remember me best, and I think that’s what will win out.”

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WITH 49ERS

YARDS PER SEASON: 946.6

YARDS PER RUSH: 4.4

TOUCHDOWNS/SEASON: 11.0

LAST CONTRACT: 2 Years, $1.2M

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WITH EAGLES

YARDS PER SEASON: 1,264.7

YARDS PER RUSH: 3.9

TOUCHDOWNS/SEASON: 10.7

LAST CONTRACT: 3 Years, $6.9M

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Rickey Watters Profile

BACKGROUND: Born April 7, 1969 . . . 6-1, 217 pounds . . . Member of five Pro Bowl teams . . . 21 100-yard rushing games . . . 10th on all-time 49er rushing list (2,840 yards) . . . 4th on all-time Eagle rushing list (3,794 yards) . . . 1997--fourth in NFC in rushing . . . 1996--led NFL in total yards from scrimmage (1,856 yards) . . . 1995--4th in NFL in rushing . . . 1994--5th in NFL in total yards from scrimmage (1,596 yards).

WATTERS’ STATISTICS

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Year, Team Rush Yds Avg TD Rec Yds 1991, 49ers Did not play, broken foot 1992, 49ers 206 1,013 4.9 9 43 405 1993, 49ers 208 950 4.6 10 31 326 1994, 49ers 239 877 3.7 6 66 719 1995, Eagles 337 1,273 3.8 11 62 434 1996, Eagles 353 1,411 4.0 13 51 444 1997, Eagles 285 1,110 3.9 7 48 440 Totals 1,628 6,634 4.1 56 301 2,768

Year, Team Avg TD 1991, 49ers 1992, 49ers 9.4 2 1993, 49ers 10.5 1 1994, 49ers 10.9 5 1995, Eagles 7.0 1 1996, Eagles 8.7 0 1997, Eagles 9.2 0 Totals 9.2 9

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