Gridiron great reveals on (and off) field battles

Even today, I remember picking up the October 4, 1982, issue of Sports Illustrated and reading an eight-page article on the then–University of Georgia running back Herschel Walker titled, “My Body's Like an Army.” Funny thing is, we didn't even have a subscription to the magazine. One of my friends, John Steed, did, and I stumbled across it by accident one day at his house. When I recently reread it, I realized not only did I remember the details, but I could feel the same excitement that I felt all that time ago.

When he was twelve, Herschel went to Tom Jordan, the local track-and-field coach in Wrightsville, Georgia, and asked him how he could get bigger, stronger and faster. Jordan gave him a simple game plan: push-ups, sit-ups, and sprints.

“During that first year Walker had done these exercises every day, unless rain kept him from sprinting along the road leading from his house down to the highway,” the reporter wrote. “Jordan had never said how much to do, just to do those three things regularly. To Herschel, ‘regularly’ meant every single day, and by the end of that critical first year, he had done more than 100,000 push-ups, more than 100,000 sit-ups and had sprinted nearly half a million yards.

“He almost always did his push-ups and sit-ups in the evening, while he was either studying or watching television or, more usually, both. During every commercial break he would pump out a quick 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups or would alternate the push-ups and sit-ups, doing 50 push-ups during one break, then 50 sit-ups during the next, until he had accumulated approximately 300 of each.” Isn't that a great way to make use of that annoying commercial time?

This was inspiring stuff. Soon after, a little voice started speaking to me: Here's somebody who succeeded in football and here's how he did it. Here's what he did to get stronger. Here's what he did to get faster. Here's what he did to become the best possible athlete.

I wasn't startled by this voice. It was almost as if I was waiting for it, and it would come to me regularly throughout my life at times when I needed to hear it most — I came to think of it as my guardian angel. That first time it was comforting me, reassuring me, yet challenging me to do what it was telling me — or I would have to account to myself if I didn't. Here I was looking for a direction, seeking a road map, and now something spiritual, almost mystical, was taking over. Wherever this voice was coming from, I had to follow it to the letter. And between the article and the voice, I had my very first prescription: Push-ups, sit-ups, and sprints. Every day ....

Excerpted from “Romo: My Life on the Edge — Living Dreams and Slaying Dragons,” by Bill Romanowski. Copyright © 2005 by Bill Romanowski. Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt can be used without permission of the publisher.

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