Jerry Eckwood (born December 26, 1954) is a former NFL

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He played for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

from 1979–1981, and was a key member of the Buccaneers team that made the first playoff appearance in franchise history in 1979. Eckwood played collegiately for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

from 1975–78.

High school career

Eckwood was a highly recruited running back out of

Brinkley, Arkansas Brinkley is the most populous city in Monroe County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,700, down from 3,188 in 2010. Located within the Arkansas Delta, Brinkley was founded as a railroad town in 1872. The city ...

, rushing for 2616 yards in 1973. He was signed to an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

with the Arkansas Razorbacks by then-head coach

Frank Broyles John Franklin Broyles (December 26, 1924 – August 14, 2017) was an American college football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at the University of Missouri ...

Collegiate career

Eckwood played for the Razorbacks from 1975–78, and was a three-year letterman ('75, '76, '78), playing both for Broyles and Lou Holtz. Eckwood was named 1st Team All

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

in 1975, rushing for 792 yards on 104 carries. His 7.62 yards per carry that season remained a school record until it was broken by

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of Arkansas and was drafted by t ...

in 2007. Eckwood had six 100-yard rushing games in his Razorback career, five of those games occurring in 1975.

NFL career

1979 Season

Eckwood was taken in the third round of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astori ...

by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ahead of notable players such as

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

Joe Montana Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...

and

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

ers

Kenny King Kenneth, Ken or Kenny King may refer to: Ken King * Ken King (born 1971), American politician and businessman * Ken King (ice hockey) (1952–2020), Canadian sports executive Kenneth King * Kenneth George King or Jonathan King (born 1944), Englis ...

, William Andrews, and Tony Franklin. Eckwood shared the backfield with quarterback Doug Williams and running back Ricky Bell. In 1979, Eckwood was the Buccaneers' second- leading rusher with 690 yards on 194 carries. He was, at the time, one of only 11 running backs to have gained 100 yards in his first professional game.Rosaforte, Tim. "Erratic Eckwood own worst enemy."

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

, December 21, 1980. Tampa Bay made the first playoff appearance in franchise history in 1979, advancing to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the Los Angeles Rams 9-0. Eckwood's 42-yard option pass to

Larry Mucker Larry Donnell Mucker (born December 15, 1954) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the ninth round of the 1977 NFL Draft. He played college football at ...

was the Bucs' longest play of the game.

1980 Season

In 1980, Eckwood was again second in rushing with 504 yards, and was also second on the team with 47 receptions. He fell into some disfavor during this season, after fumbling at key points of four of the team's losses.

1981 Season

In 1981, Eckwood led the Buccaneers in rushing with 651 yards on 172 carries (3.8 avg.). In Eckwood's final NFL season, Tampa Bay finished with a 9-7 record, losing in the first round of the 1981 NFL playoffs to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

. Eckwood rushed 515 times for 1845 yards (3.6 avg.) and six touchdowns in his 3-year NFL career and was the starter in 30 of the 47 games he played in, all with the Buccaneers. He also caught 93 passes for 956 yards (10.3 avg.) and one touchdown.

Post-career

Legacy

Eckwood was selected the 79th greatest player in Buccaneer history in 2007. Eckwood's nephew, LaDarius Eckwood is a wide receiver who played football with the

University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a public historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or university in the state of Arkansas. UAPB is part of the University of ...

Golden Lions after catching 108 passes in the 2008 season for

Springdale High School Springdale High School is a public high school in Springdale, Arkansas, United States for students in grades ten through twelve. Springdale High School is one of three high schools administered by the Springdale School District, the others being H ...

Concussion issues

Eckwood suffered several concussions while playing in college and in the NFL. Since leaving the NFL, Eckwood has struggled with mental illness, and was committed to the Arkansas State Hospita

for several years. He currently suffers from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

, and is housed in an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is si ...

facility. Former Buccaneers president

Gay Culverhouse Gay Culverhouse (February 5, 1947 – July 1, 2020) was president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1991 to 1994 while her father, Hugh Culverhouse, owned the team. Inspired by Tom McHale, a former Buccaneers player who suffered from chronic traum ...

has assisted with his medical care and has cited him as an example of the mistreatment NFL players receive from their employers. Culverhouse recalled warning signs of Eckwood's future mental problems, citing times where he went to the wrong huddle or bench during games.Culverhouse, Gay
Throwaway Players: The Concussion Crisis from Pee-wee Football to the NFL.
Lake Forest, California: Behler Publications, 2011. . pp. 130-134. ''

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

.'' Retrieved November 24, 2013.Henderson, Joe
"Ex-Bucs running back's mind strays wildly, a likely consequence of multiple concussions."

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

, July 25, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2018. Eckwood, who can no longer drive or live on his own, was approved to participate in the 88 Plan, an NFL program for former players suffering from various dementia-related symptoms, such as hallucinations,

forgetfulness Forgetting or disremembering is the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an individual's short or long-term memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process in which old memories are unable to be recalled from ...

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

, and the inability to process new information. Eckwood was also approved by the NFL to receive annual benefits of $136,000 for the remainder of his life."Broken Bucs: 1979 success came with costly toll on health."

The Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

, July 25, 2010. ''www.tbo.com.'' Retrieved November 24, 2013.

References

External links

NFL Player Care Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckwood, Jerry 1954 births American football running backs Arkansas Razorbacks football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Living people People from Brinkley, Arkansas