Gordie and the Good 'Ole Days

On the cover of the Holy Cross football program, he is clothed in ancient football gear--a leather helmet, a heavy cloth shirt and cloth pants. He is holding a battered ball, the kind Red Grange and his contemporaries used.

Behind him, there is a forest of yellow leaves, capturing the spirit of autumn and football. Gordie Lockbaum, a Holy Cross football player, stands there, chin lifted, his blue eyes glinting in the fall light.

Lockbaum is special among college football players because he plays both offense and defense. He is both a running back and a corner back. And, as the Holy Cross media guide reminds us, he is a "throwback," to the days when people used to line-up on both sides of the ball and play the entire game.

Lockbaum is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, which recognizes college football's most valuable player. He has good credentials. In nine games, he has caught 11 touchdown passes. He has run for seven.

He has averaged more than 16 yards a catch and almost five yards a run. In addition to playing on offense and defense, he is the Holy Cross punt returner.

Gordie can do it all, say his supporters, and do it well.

But Gordie plays for a Division I-AA school. At 5-ft., 10-in. and 190 pounds, he is smaller than the average big time college football player. He is also slower. He runs the 40 in 4.7. Most big time college tailbacks can make the distance in 4.4 or less.

Against Harvard Saturday, Gordie broke free after taking a screen pass from his quarterback. But he was run down in open field by Harvard's second-string safety. At the end of his run, Gordie lay exhausted on the turf.

Gordie's Heisman candidacy, the Holy Cross football program informs us, was at first "viewed with pessimism" but has now "blossomed into one of the most important and interesting stories in college football." Gordie has become a media event. He has aquired a following of young and old.

After Holy Cross dispatched Harvard, 41-6, Saturday, a horde of childen and their parents waited outside the Crusader locker room. The kids had programs and pens in hand, waiting to get autographs. The parents stood at a distance, peering over the heads of their kids, waiting to see who would come out of the Holy Cross locker room next. Would it be Gordie?

The Holy Cross sports information department is pushing Gordie's Heisman chances. In the Holy Cross media guide, there is everything you want to know about Gordie.

Favorite color? Blue Favorite movie? Rocky Favorite music? Appropriately, oldies.

There are other intriguing tidbits about Gordie the Great. One section of the media guide lists Gordie's thoughts on such topics as the "Greatest Influences in Making Him the Person He is." For those who are interested, Gordie credits his high school wrestling coach with making him believe "you can reach any goal that you set your mind too."

There is a small article with the headline, "Not Even the Most Famous Member of His Family!" which describes how Gordie's sister, Ruth, shook President Reagan's hand once. The article concludes with, "Even Gordie hasn't met the President...yet."

Gordie Lockbaum is more than just a Heisman candidate, of course. He is a wish, a desire, a dream. For what? For anything.

Gordie Lockbaum will not win the Heisman Trophy. Football has gone beyond the days of leather helmets and cloth uniforms. Football has become as complex and confusing as the country it is played in.

When Gordie stepped out of the Holy Cross locker room and into the cold night, the kids cheered. The parents smiled. Gordie waved and then went into another room for the press conference.

Fifteen minutes later, he stepped outside again. The kids were still there, their programs ready. The parents were still there, gazing over their childrens' shoulders.

Gordie stepped out, more myth, perhaps, than man, more hype, perhaps, than human, but still standing there, smiling.