Eric Dickerson always maintained LeRoy Irvin could not outrun him, so much so that Dickerson – a running back – and Irvin – a cornerback – would argue about it all the time.
One day at a Friday practice Dickerson's rookie year in 1983, then-Rams head coach John Robinson set up a race between them. The roughly 60-yard dash captured the attention of all of their teammates. Dickerson got out ahead of him. Later, Irvin attributed the result to having to run and cover the receivers.
The speed conversation re-engaged in Week 4 that season when the Rams were about to play the Jets. New York had a cornerback named Jerry Holmes who Irvin was convinced was faster than Dickerson, or at least fast enough to catch Dickerson.
"He said, 'If you break here, he'll catch you, he runs a 4.3,'" Dickerson recalled in a phone interview last Thursday with theRams.com. "I said, 'LeRoy, I run a 4.3, too. He ain't gonna catch me, I'm telling you right now.' And what happens, the second play of the game, toss left, and who comes in behind me, Holmes runs in behind and tries to catch me. Matter of fact, he blew a gasket trying to catch me."
"Well, I guess you do run a 4.3," Irvin said to Dickerson as he returned to the sideline.
"I told you LeRoy, I can run!" Dickerson replied with a laugh.
Irvin only gave Dickerson a hard time like that because the two became close friends. Dickerson called Irvin "his biggest fan," because Irvin would always tell him he's the greatest running back he's ever seen.
Irvin passed away last Thursday at age 68, with Dickerson and many friends and former Rams teammates mourning the loss of a person who was as special off the field as he was on it. Or, as Dickerson described, "a lovable, likable guy" who had an "infectious smile."
A third-round pick by the Rams out of Kansas in the 1980 NFL Draft, Irvin made an immediate impact on the way to being named Associated Press (AP) First-Team All-Pro twice and to the Pro Bowl twice in his 10 seasons with Los Angeles out of 11 total in the NFL, collecting 34 interceptions – still third-most in franchise history – during that span.
He enjoyed the best seasons of his career statistically from 1984-86, returning two of his five interceptions for touchdowns in 1984, then one each of six interceptions in consecutive seasons from 1985 to 1986. Both of his Pro Bowl nods came in 1985 and 1986, and he earned that Pro Bowl recognition at two different positions. He was named AP Second-Team All-Pro in 1985 and First-Team All-Pro in 1986.
Irvin also excelled as a punt returner with Los Angeles, still holding the NFL record for most punt return yards in a single game with 207 against the Falcons on October 11, 1981; he was named First-Team All-Pro as a punt returner that year. He went on to set the Rams record for most non-offensive touchdowns, and is tied for most pick-sixes in team history.
Overall, Irvin started in 104 of 143 games played with L.A. from 1980-89 before finishing his career with the Detroit Lions in 1990.
Dickerson said he doesn't think people don't know how good Irvin truly was. But just like him, fellow Rams legend and former teammate Ivory Sully could certainly speak to it.
As a special teams captain and a teammate of Irvin's in the defensive backfield as a fellow cornerback, Sully witnessed Irvin's dynamic impact up close – see the 207 punt return yards Irvin tallied on October 11, 1981 against the Falcons that still stands as an NFL single-game record. They knew they were a special unit – no pun intended – and it was because of their practice habits and in particular Irvin's emphasis on doing things the right way and being specific about what he wanted to do, and also because of how great Irvin was doing that lateral return, then planting his foot and taking off.
"It's still standing!" Sully said proudly of the NFL record. "How you like that? How you like me now? We're still standing as the premier punt return unit in the NFL, and I say that because I'm going to put myself in this, because we did, and LeRoy was the ball carrier, and he was the dude that took us to the house, and we were so happy to have him. Really, it was a different feeling on our punt return team."
Led by defensive coordinator Bud Carson, the Rams' defense prior to Irvin's arrival had a strong cornerback room led by starters Pat Thomas and Rod Perry. Sully said Carson built that defense around the outsides – meaning, the outsides being covered – because of the cornerbacks Los Angeles had; their coverage skills allowed Carson to run the blitzes he needed to inside. Irvin fit the group "beautifully," Sully said, because he attitude required to play the position. Irvin also earned every bit of the playing time he got.
"He an attitude, he had the corner attitude that you need, like, 'I don't care what you thought of me, I'm not going to be bothered, I'm just going to be LeRoy Irvin.' I loved that about LeRoy," Sully said. "LeRoy was going to do it his technique, he's going to do it for the team, our team way, but his technique was impeccable. His feet were just so good, so quick, so effortless. He was born to be a corner, but he was also born to be a guy you could circle the wagons with because he kept the pressure down."
Dickerson said Irvin was "the ultimate Ram," the embodiment of an unselfish team player who loved playing for the franchise.
"You'll never find anything selfish about LeRoy Irvin," Dickerson said, describing him as the type person who would give someone the shirt off his back. "I don't think people realize what a great player Leroy was, because the media was not as big as it is right now. I mean, Leroy would always say, 'Man, if I was playing today, I'd make $20-to-30 million right now. 'I said, 'I know, me too!' But Leroy was just like me, he says, 'I'm happy for these guys.' I'd say, 'Me, too, I'm happy these guys are getting paid. I feel the same way.' Leroy was just an unselfish guy, just really unselfish."
A Georgia boy and a country boy, Irvin was also "one of a kind," according to Dickerson.
Dickerson recalled a team meeting during the 1983 season – his and Robinson's first with the franchise – in which Robinson informed Rams players that if any of them hit Bears running back Walter Payton late, the Rams would fine them.
"And I'm like, 'Damn! He gonna fine our team? Like, wow. I was shocked when he says this," Dickerson said with a laugh. "I'm like, 'you're gonna fine us?' I don't play defense, it doesn't make a difference to me."
But it does for a cornerback like Irvin, who at one point in that game would find himself trying to guide Payton out of bounds – rather them shove him out of bounds – in order to avoid that penalty, only to be knocked out by one of Payton's legendary fore-arms.
"LeRoy got up, he's coming back toward our sideline, because it took him awhile to get himself back together. He's walking back over, it was so funny he says, 'That's some bullsh--! That's some bullsh--!' We were laughing at him. 'That's some bullsh--! That's some bullsh--!' 'Hey,' I said, 'you know what you were doing.'
"Man, we teased him about that forever," Dickerson said, laughing.
Above all else, Dickerson said Irvin was "a good human being." Dickerson said his dad once told him that "your name follows you everywhere," and that "your name gets there before you get there."
"And LeRoy Irvin had a good name," he said.
Like anyone, Irvin wasn't perfect, Dickerson said, but Irvin had "a great heart for people." Dickerson said his kids loved Irvin, recalling the time when Irvin raced his son Dallis – who is also fast – when Dallis about 6 or 7 years old and won. Dallis wanted to race Irvin again, but just like that Friday practice in 1983, it was one and done for Irvin.
"And he (Dallis) wanted to race him again, and LeRoy said, 'Nope! Nope! Nope! I'm done! I ain't gonna race you no more! I'm going to always say I beat you. Dallas was like, 'No, I want to race again!'" Dickerson said.
"Matter of fact, a couple days ago, LeRoy said, 'I won't get a chance to race him again,'" Dickerson continued. "I said, 'No, LeRoy, you can't outrun him, and neither can I anymore.' But it was so funny, that was the big thing, he said, 'I want to race him again!' Leroy said, 'Nope, I got you once, you can't get me again so I can always say I can beat you.'"
For Rams legend and former kicker Mike Lansford, Irvin was the second player to come up to him when Lansford was a "scared rookie" during his first season with the team. What stood out to Lansford was not only the kind of teammate Irvin was, but also the father and "intelligent" businessman who repeatedly gave to charity.
"Leroy was loaded with athleticism, intelligence, charisma, and enough energy to chase anything down successfully on and off the field," Lansford said. "He's a father. Our children are great friends."
Though there was only one thing he perhaps wasn't good at.
"He wasn't a great hunter," Lansford said. "There are rules to hunting like 'make sure that the boar hog is dead before you lean over it'... oops."
Still, "selfishly I will miss Leroy!! A lot," Lansford said. "We all will."
In retirement, Irvin participated in as many events as he could – whether that be Legends Day at Training Camp, fan and partner activations, or the franchise's Legends Weekend – as he was passionate about engaging with the fans and spending time with his former teammates.
His post-playing career also included a brief stint as an assistant coach at California State University Northridge, and later at the high school level in the state. Sully, currently the defensive backs coach at Edison High School in Huntington Beach after coaching at Servite for multiple years, has – and will continue to use – Irvin as an example for his players.
"(I hope people) just remember how kind and easy he was to be around," Sully said. "... It was his being LeRoy – calm, cool, make light of it, take it easy, but understand that it really is life-changing stuff that we're doing here, guys. We're doing this stuff for real, and we're going to do it until we get it right. And he enjoyed doing it. It's hard to do sometimes, man. I coach these kids right now, and I try to explain that to them, I try to pass on some of LeRoy's standards that he had, because he's a great example for me to teach. I teach from the LeRoy Irvin School of Being a Cornerback, and these kids are getting it.
"The fact that they understand it, that you can't press this, you've got to be loose... LeRoy had a certain way of being calm and just doing his job, and enjoying it, and laughing the whole through, and enjoying the hell out of the job that he was doing."
