Eric Dickerson

Eric Demetric Dickerson was born September 2, 1960, in Sealy, Texas, a small town about fifty miles west of Houston. Dickerson was raised by his great-aunt and great-uncle, Viola and Kary Dickerson, and spent the first part of his life believing Viola was his mother. Dickerson was a teenager when he discovered that his birth mother was actually a woman named Helen, whom he believed was his older sister. Helen, just seventeen when Dickerson was born, decided not to marry Dickerson's father, Richard Seal. Giving the child over to Viola seemed like the best option. Dickerson likely inherited some of his athletic ability from his father, Richard, who was a running back at Prairie View College in Texas.

Because he was terribly skinny and wore glasses, Dickerson endured teasing from his the neighborhood kids. That all changed, however, once he began playing football. Dickerson's success on the football field was almost instant. By seventh and eighth grade, Dickerson was making a name for himself as a running back. "I'll never forget our first game," Dickerson recalled in Nancy J. Nielsen's book Eric Dickerson. "I was absolutely terrified, really just running for my life, but I guess my fear was a pretty good motivator. I wound up scoring four touchdowns that day…. Suddenly people were looking at me differently. Their eyes showed respect."

Entering Sealy High School, Dickerson starred on the football and track teams, winning the state 100-yard dash championship with a lightening-quick time of 9.4 seconds. The sport he really stood out in, however, was football.

Even in high school, Dickerson's coaches could tell he had natural instincts as a running back. His senior year, Dickerson rushed for 2,642 yards and thirty-seven touchdowns to lead Sealy to the state high school Class AA championship. He was named a 1978 Parade magazine All-American.