Eric Dickerson
American football player (born 1960)
Eric Demetric Dickerson (born September 2, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, earning unanimous All-American honors in 1982. Dickerson was selected second overall in the 1983 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and later played for the Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders, and Atlanta Falcons. During his NFL career, Dickerson rushed for over 13,000 yards. He holds the NFL's single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards, set in 1984. Dickerson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. Dickerson wore prescription goggles throughout his career due to myopia.
Recruitment and college career
Dickerson committed to Texas A&M University before reconsidering and deciding amongst the University of Oklahoma, University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University (SMU). His great-grandaunt talked him into staying in the state of Texas to attend SMU because she liked Mustangs coach Ron Meyer.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Eric Dickerson” as american football player (born 1960). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american football player (born 1960). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1351228. VIAF identifies the subject as 13741032. The Library of Congress control number is n85105582. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960, 1982, 1983 and 1984.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Eric Dickerson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Eric Dickerson primary sources, Eric Dickerson archive and Eric research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Eric Dickerson”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Eric Dickerson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.