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Catching Up With . . .
Plymouth State Heisman Hope Joe Dudek
December 2, 1985
Posted: Tue August 4, 1998
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(Tony Tomsic, John F. Jaqua, Manny Millan)
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On page
420 of the Denver Broncos' media guide is a chronological
list of every 100-yard rushing performance by a Bronco.
Near the top, Floyd Little and Otis Armstrong dominate the
list. Down low, Terrell Davis is everywhere. Someplace near
the middle, easily
missed, is this line:
JOE DUDEK
... 23-128, 2
TDs
...
OCT. 12, 1987 vs. L.A.
RAIDERS.
The line's simplicity belies, at least in Dudek's eyes, a
crowning moment. For one game, a 30-14 win over the hated
Raiders, Dudek proved to himself that he had the goods to
thrive in pro football. So what if it was a scab contest
during an NFL strike?
"That was my statement to the big boys," says Dudek.
"I may have come from a small school, but I could
play."
Eleven years later Dudek gets chills when he remembers
cutting through the silver and black. He revels even more,
however, in recalling that in 1985, as a
6'1",
195-pound senior running back at Division III Plymouth (N.H.)
State, he scored a
college-record 79
touchdowns and, largely thanks to SI's
Dec. 2 cover story, became a Heisman Trophy candidate. "I
haven't been the same ever since," says Dudek, 35.
"I'll always be remembered as SI's choice for the
Heisman."
(Damian Strohmeyer)
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Truth be told, neither SI nor Dudek thought he had a real
shot at winning the award. (He finished ninth, 1,453 votes
behind winner Bo Jackson of Alabama.) The point was,
small-college players such as Dudek, scrappy little guys
with big hearts, deserve
some attention too. Upon leaving Plymouth State after the '85
season, Dudek signed with the Broncos, who kept him on the
taxi squad during '86. He was cut in training camp before
the '87 season, but he came back to play in those two
replacement games.
Soon after, Denver let him go for good. "I've never been
too disappointed," he says. "When I left high
school, I was hardly recruited. I ended up being part of
two Super Bowl teams." Not only that, but last August
he was inducted into the College Football
Hall of
Fame.
Dudek lives in Derry, N.H., and works as an account manager
for Coors. He and his wife, Jodi, have a two-year-old son,
Joey. Joe is finishing his college
education, in business management, at Plymouth State. "I've had
two great spans in my life," he says. "The first
was that senior year of college, with the rushing records
and the cover. The second, with the Hall of Fame and my
family and my job, is right
now."
—Jeff Pearlman
Issue date: August 10, 1998
Past Editions of Catching Up With...
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