Ricky Watters rolls deep. When he showed up at the Comcast SportsNet offices on Thursday afternoon for an appearance on “Daily News Live” after a day of passing out turkeys in Philadelphia and his hometown Harrisburg, Ricky had a bona fide gaggle of people with him.
With Ricky were close friends, a state senator and a person to keep him on schedule and get him moving to the next stop.
Ricky is a busy guy.
No, this entourage was hardly Iverson-esque. In fact, it out-numbered ex-Mennonite Floyd Landis’ peeps by two when the star-crossed cyclist appeared on DNL. But it was impressive nonetheless. Not many people visit a TV show and park a state senator in the green room to await a cameo appearance with the former football star.
Impressive is certainly the image Watters is trying to project. He wore his Super Bowl ring he got with the 49ers in the game he scored three touchdowns in to beat San Diego. Certainly that Super Bowl victory was the crowning achievement on an 11-year NFL career in which he made it to five Pro Bowls, is 20th on the all-time rushing list, and won a National Championship in college for Notre Dame. The numbers are a testament to his durability in which he missed just five games during the first 10 years of his career.
But all those numbers (nearly 15,000 yards from scrimmage), touchdowns (91) and Pro Bowl trips might not be enough to get Watters to Canton, Oh. for induction into the Hall of Fame.
He can blame two questions for that.
For who?
For what?
Though the achievements are difficult to deny, Watters’ NFL career is defined by one play and four words he spoke to reporters after an opening day loss to Tampa Bay at The Vet in 1995. As fate would have it, the incident occurred in Watters’ very first game for the Eagles and his first game after scoring three touchdowns in the Super Bowl. Instead of rallying his hometown team with a tough reception over the middle on a pass from Randall Cunningham, Watters gave it the ol’ alligator arms treatment and then gave one of the most memorable quotes in the history of Philadelphia sports.
“For who? For what?” he said when asked why he didn’t make a better effort to haul in the pass in traffic on a crucial late-game drive.
People don’t forget. Oh yeah, Watters led the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 1996, averaged 106. 5 yards per game and scored 32 touchdowns in 48 games for the Eagles, but that never erased the memory of that very first game.
Worse, Watters’ questions became the calling card of the quintessential selfish athlete. In fact, the phrase is still a punch line in these parts. In fact, when Phillie Aaron Rowand crashed into the center-field fence face first to make a catch during the 2006 season, he was asked about Watters’ famous line.
“For who? My teammates,” Rowand said, his eyes blackened and nose in a protective brace lest he break it again doing who knows what. “For what? To win.”
Just like that Rowand became a cult hero. He was instantly the anti-Ricky.
"I have moved on from it," Watters said. "It was 13 years ago. I was young, angry, and upset that we lost a game. I never would have thought that it would get taken the way it was. It blew up pretty quickly."
These days Watters might be the anti-Ricky, too. A little thicker (but still fit) from his playing days that ended in 2001 with Seattle, Watters laughed easily when told a story from his days when we wore No. 12 for Bishop McDevitt. He posed readily for anyone who wanted a photo with him and handed out business cards with all the information needed to get in touch with him for anything.
On those cards Watters is listed as CEO/Founder of the Orlando, Fla.-based Urban Youth League. It was to publicize the efforts with his charitable group that brought Watters back to his old stomping grounds and answer some questions he asked all those years ago.
For who? For what?
“When you say for who, it’s for those who need us. And for what because they need us right now,” said state senator Anthony H. Williams, who represents parts of Delaware and Philadelphia counties and made the rounds with Watters on Thursday. “This charitable organization centered around children is going to have a powerful impact for generations.”
Certainly Watters isn’t the only ex-jock “giving back” to those less fortunate. And certainly there are others who do so with less fanfare. But there aren’t too many out there handing out turkeys and walking the forgotten streets in Harrisburg and South Philly who had a reputation quite like Watters.
He has all the answers now.
“I’m here to bring hope and to bring some change to some people who really need it. That’s what it’s really all about to me,” Watters said. “I feel just as alive as I did when I was playing ball. When I’m out here giving back to the people and talking to the people and touching them the way I am right now.”
Is it much different than the way he was then? Who knows? We all grow up and change at our own rate. Watters’ perceived selfishness as a player might be what’s keeping him out of the Hall of Fame, but really, what good is a bust in Canton when there are turkeys to hand out?