Herschel Walker is locked in a fiery race for a U.S. Senate seat, but the soccer legend is also tied to a key rule when he catches up with former Dallas Cowboys teammate Jim Jeffcoat.
“We made a deal: don’t talk politics,” Jeffcoat told USA TODAY Sports. “We talk about our lives.
Given the controversy and drama that engulfed Walker’s campaign as he attempts to unseat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, it must be quite a challenge to separate life from politics.
Walker, 60, has campaigned as an abortion advocate, but in recent weeks two women have come forward to claim that years ago he paid for abortions after impregnating them, which he repeatedly denied. Earlier in the campaign, Walker revealed he had fathered four children – by four different women – in stark contrast to his public admonitions about absentee fathers and his previous claim that he had three children.
Additionally, a litany of alleged bouts of domestic violence — many involving his ex-wife, Cindy DeAngelis Grossman — resurfaced during the campaign. In one of the TV commercials aired in Georgia, Grossman describes an incident in which she claims Walker pointed a gun at her head and threatened to pull the trigger. Walker said he did not recall threats against Grossman, whom he divorced in 2002, because he suffered from dissociative identity disorder.
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Politically speaking or not, there’s so much to unpack with Walker.
“Everyone has skeletons in their closet if you look deep enough,” said Jeffcoat, a former defensive end who played 15 seasons in the NFL and is one of Walker’s closest ex-teammates. “He’s just human. We have all made bad choices. I’m not going to condemn him.
As the midterm elections loom, several former Cowboys reflected on Walker for USA TODAY Sports and offered a range of reactions — from extreme skepticism to enthusiastic support — about his candidacy.
A raw candidate
“He was almost like a political candidate when he came to the Cowboys,” said Everson Walls, an all-professional cornerback in the 1980s, referring to Walker’s high-profile entry into the NFL in 1986.” They tried to tag him.”
As Walls realizes, the Cowboys by this time were deteriorating – on and off the field – despite continuing to attract a huge spotlight as “America’s team”.
“With Herschel coming in, there was this misnomer that he could be the savior of the Cowboys,” Walls said. “He was supposed to change the perception.”
And now, decades later, the GOP has pinned its hopes on the raw nominee in a pivotal race that could tip the balance of power in the Senate.
“I may not agree with his politics, but that’s what Herschel has been since I’ve known him,” said Nate Newton, who joined the Cowboys in 1986 and turned into a keep all-pro.
“He’s always been strange… Am I lying?”
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Jeff Rohrer, meanwhile, is a registered Democrat living in California who was so moved by Walker’s candidacy that he donated to the campaign.
“He’s an old teammate,” said Rohrer, a former linebacker. “That, to me, goes beyond politics.”
Walker never held public office, but returned to his home state and became the Republican nominee, encouraged and supported by his longtime friend, former President Donald Trump. According to the polls, the race is a toss-up.
“Not even on our best day would I have seen this coming — for any of us,” said Kevin Gogan, a former offensive lineman who began a 14-year NFL career as a eighth-round pick with the Cowboys in 1987.
“I don’t know what the requirements are”
Walker led the University of Georgia to a national championship in 1980 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1982. He became the short-lived USFL’s star player and played nearly 3½ seasons with the Cowboys before being sent to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989 in the biggest trade in NFL history. It involved a combination of 18 players and draft picks, some of which were leveraged by Dallas to land key players for three Super Bowl championship teams in the 1990s, including Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson and Russell Maryland.
“It was a business decision,” former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson recalled when he traded the team’s only Pro Bowl player in his first season at the helm. “He had value and was probably overvalued by our opponents.”
It has been suggested that the Hall of Fame coach send Walker a thank you card for his connection to the title teams.
“I actually saw him a few months ago for the first time since the trade,” Johnson said. The two shared a stage as speakers at a trade show in Dallas in February. “He was very complimentary. He said that if he founded a football team, the first person he would hire would be Jimmy Johnson. Obviously there are no hard feelings.
Did you see a potential senator among you during Walker’s stint with the Cowboys?
Johnson laughed at the question.
“Absolutely not,” Johnson said. ” This is another thing. Tommy Tuberville was my assistant. Now Herschel is running. I don’t know what the requirements are. Some of the people we have in there…”
(Tuberville, the former Auburn coach, is the Alabama senator who drew a reprimand from the NAACP for spouting a racist narrative at a recent Trump rally, comparing the descendants of slaves to criminals as he denounced the notion of reparations.)
Walker, meanwhile, dropped an assortment of nonsensical or otherwise questionable remarks while addressing one issue after another, fueling debate over his suitability for the position.
He has promoted a “COVID mist” which he says instantly kills the coronavirus. He talked about the “bad air” floating in from China in the context of climate change. When addressing school shootings, he pushed the idea of a “service that can watch young men watching women watching social media.”
And he seemed distraught as he discussed the $430 billion climate and drug bill, saying a significant chunk of the money would be spent planting trees. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker said, “Don’t we have enough trees here?
Despite such gaffes, Rohrer is unwavering in his support for his friend. “I trust him,” Rohrer said. “I think Herschel is a man of his word.”
What about the cases where the truth was questioned with Walker?
“It’s politics,” Rohrer said. “Politics. The only thing harder than football.
Rohrer said he was exploring the possibility of running for Congress — “Maybe we’ll start a trend,” he said — but for now he hopes that if elected, Walker can stay the course with agenda items that involve the economy, crime and securing the border.
Rohrer also happens to be the first known NFL player, past or present, marry a person of the same sex. If Walker becomes a senator, Rohrer hopes he will be a champion for gay rights and the LGBTQ community.
“I hope he doesn’t turn psycho and vote against my community,” Rohrer said.
“The so-called Christian values”
Newton also maintained a friendship with Walker over the years. He remembers the call he received when Walker was considering leaving Texas to mount his campaign.
“I haven’t become ugly. I didn’t say, ‘Are you riding with Trump?’ ” Newton recalled. “I gave him respect and listened to him.”
Newton said Walker asked for his opinion on running for office, asking, “What do you think?”
The gist of Newton’s answer: “Be your own man.”
Jeffcoat said he last spoke to Walker about a month ago. Although they didn’t talk about specific political issues – “I have different political views; that’s why we don’t talk about politics,” Jeffcoat said — he felt his friend wasn’t worn out by the rigors of campaigning.
“If you know Herschel, he’s a Renaissance man,” Jeffcoat said. “He likes the challenge.” As for the controversy, Jeffcoat added, “Knowing Herschel, I think it inspires him to be better.”
Like Walls, Gogan was hit by an incident in 1991 (when Walker played for the Vikings) when Walker was rushed to the emergency room for treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning after his wife found him unconscious in his bedroom. car with the engine running, parked in the garage. of their Irving, Texas, home. Walker insisted to reporters at the time that it was not a suicide attempt; he maintained that he fell asleep listening to a favorite song.
Says Walls, “That’s when some flags were raised.”
The walls never warmed up for Walker, in part because he thought the Cowboys – under coach Tom Landry and team president Tex Schramm, until they were sold in 1989 to Jerry Jones – backed him up as a prospect when the franchise was collapsing.
“There was always a narrative with him,” Walls said. “He was a guy with an American history…always touted or backed.”
As the 1980s progressed, the Cowboys’ talent pool dwindled, the Flex defense became ineffective, and drug scandals lingered. Enter Walker.
“The Cowboys organization was hanging on to straws,” Walls said. “It was a desperate organization. They knew very well that the talent was gone, but they were trying to get people to sit down.
The dynamic was complicated as Walker eventually kicked out future Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett as the star running back. The Cowboys teamed with the pair in the backfield for one season, but after Walker went to Landry and demanded a bigger role than his co-star, Dorsett was eventually traded to Denver.
“I thought then and I still think now that was extremely stupid,” Walls said. “Get rid of the fiery Tony Dorsett, replace him with Herschel and his so-called Christian values. Foolish.”
No, Walls wouldn’t be around supporting Walker’s political vision.
Newton, however, is always willing to hear from Walker – even if he doesn’t offer an endorsement.
“If he calls me today, I’ll still answer the phone,” Newton said. “But Georgia, wait baby. That’s all I can say.”
