America's Finest Running Backs
- 12-10-2005
- By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions
San Diego – or 619 as USC running back Reggie Bush labels his hometown by its traditional area code -- is once again the football world’s hub for running backs.
Bush is the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner and Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson is gaining notice around the NFL as the best in the pro game.
A year ago the Chargers locked up Tomlinson with a contract extension that made him the highest paid running back in the NFL. He’s not leaving San Diego during his playing days.
But there’s another reason -- a history lesson in San Diego high school football that LT has learned in his five seasons with the Chargers -- that has him talking about remaining in town beyond his playing days.
Bush, an alumnus of Helix High in suburban La Mesa, was named the Heisman Trophy winner Saturday night in New York. He wears 619, the tradional area code San Diego, inscribed in silver paint in his eye black on game days as a way to say hello to his hometown.
“Reggie has been tremendous this year,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t think there’s a better player in college football.”
Bush, a Heisman finalist in 2004, is the latest San Diegan in a long line of running backs from area high schools to dominate the game at either the college or pro levels. Before Bush, three San Diegans won the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious individual award.
Marcus Allen, a Lincoln alumnus, won the Heisman in 1981 at USC and later earned NFL and Super Bowl MVP trophies with the Oakland Raiders.
Rashaan Salaam, who played for La Jolla Country Day, won the Heisman in 1994 at Colorado and was a 1,000-yard rusher his rookie year with the Chicago Bears in 1995.
Ricky Williams, who enjoys a homecoming today with the Miami Dolphins against the Chargers, is a Patrick Henry High product. He won the Heisman in 1998 at Texas and the NFL rushing title in 2002 with 1,853 yards for the Dolphins.
Allen and Salaam said they voted for Bush, but Williams, as a Texas alumnus, was torn between Bush, a player from his hometown, and Texas quarterback Vince Young, a finalist from his alma mater.
But it’s not just Heisman Trophy winners that identify San Diego as rich in running backs.
Allen and Terrell Davis, also a Lincoln alumnus, are two of only nine players named both an NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
Allen was enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in 2003, but Davis will have to wait to see if Hall-of-Fame voters induct him similar to Gale Sayers despite having his career cut short by injuries.
Davis, who joins Allen in the Breitbard Hall of Fame for San Diego athletes on Feb. 28, 2006, led the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
Tomlinson said he knew Allen, Davis and Williams were from San Diego before the Chargers drafted him out of TCU with the fourth overall pick in 2001. But he added he’s come to appreciate the city’s rich football tradition even more during his five seasons with the Bolts.
As Tomlinson approaches Chargers team records and NFL records, he’s learned the Chargers’ history includes more than prolific passing games. In just five seasons he’s gained on or passed such names as Chuck Muncie and Paul Lowe.
Tomlinson’s three touchdowns in the Nov. 27 win over the Washington Redskins tied Muncie’s franchise season record of 19 rushing touchdowns.
Earlier this year he set an NFL record for rushing touchdowns in consecutive games with 14, breaking the mark with a score in the second game at Denver. He went on to tie the NFL record of consecutive games with a touchdown rushing or receiving when he matched Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts with 18 straight. His streak was was stopped at Philadelphia in the season’s seventh game.
Many people in football are calling Tomlinson, a two-time Pro Bowler who appears to be on his way to a third trip this year, the best running back in the NFL. Some say he is the best player at any position.
Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer has gone one a step further. He’s been saying since the 2003 season that he considers Tomlinson the best running back he’s ever seen in pro football.
Schotteneheimer, who began his pro career with the Buffalo Bills in 1965, considers Tomlinson a more complete package than other all-time greats more commonly mentioned as the best of all-time -- Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders or O.J. Simpson.
“I’ve said it a number of times,” said Schottenheimer. “When you look at the whole package -- the player, the leadership, the ability to make plays at critical times – I think he’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
Although Schottenheimer has repeated the statement in the past three seasons, the comment gained more national attention after Tomlinson scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime, on Nov. 27 to beat the Washington Redskins.
“My coach is a little biased because he sees me all the time,” Tomlinson said of Schottenheimer calling him the best he’s seen. “There are still a lot of things I want to accomplish in this game, and then I hope people are still saying things like that about me when I’m done playing.”
Tomlinson’s 184 yards rushing against the Redskins pushed him over the 1,000-yard milestone with 1,086 and he stands at 1,172 through 12 games. He’s only the seventh player in NFL history with more than 1,000 yards in at least his first five seasons. Of the seven, he is on the verge of becoming only the third to top 1,200 in their first five years along with Eric Dickerson and Eddie George.
“He’s got terrific power and there are times when you see it more than others,” Schottenheimer said. “When he bursts through the line and gets to that next level, he will not be denied.”
Tomlinson stiff-armed a Redskins safety en route to his game-winning touchdown after breaking through the line. In a win over the New York Jets, he faked Jets safety Ty Law, a Pro Bowler, with an ankle-twisting outside-inside move that is still being played on highlight films.
Tomlinson, who was a Heisman finalist in 2000 as a senior at TCU, has put together an NFL season that has made him a candidate to join Allen and Davis as NFL MVPs this year.
LT also joins Marshall Faulk as one of the game’s accomplished running backs who adopted San Diego as his hometown. Marshall Faulk was the runner-up in the 1992 Heisman voting and the 2000 NFL MVP.
Another San Diego running back might have earned Heisman credentials, but his career predated the first Heisman Trophy’s in 1935 presented by Downtown Athletic Club in New York.
Cotton Warburtin, a San Diego High alumnus, was an All-America at USC in 1933 that also played on USC’s first national championship team in 1932.
There are obvious reasons, such as climate, for San Diego turning out so many great running backs. But San Diego isn’t the only place with nice weather.
Willie Buchanon, a retired Pro Bowl cornerback who played for the Chargers, San Diego State and Oceanside High, believes the respect paid by San Diego high school football players for the greats that preceded them plays a role.
“Kids respect the tradition of running backs and they want to represent San Diego,” Buchanon said. “It’s just like the tradition of running backs at USC.”
That respect for San Diego’s running back tradition inspired Bush to 619 painted into his eye black.
“It’s a way for me to say hi to everyone back home,” Bush said. “I want to let everyone know where I’m from and I’m not going to forget where I came from. I started out wearing it on tape as a freshman and sophomore, but I thought of the eye black this year.”
Allen and Davis even referred to Tomlinson as “one of those 619 guys” while they were on air and in studio for an NFL Network broadcast. They were discussing a recent interview that Allen did with Tomlinson at Chargers Park.
The 619 club is not a bad one to join. Tomlinson even hopes to have a son someday gain membership.
Tom Shanahan can be contacted at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com.
