Throwback Thursday: Gordie Lockbaum, The Small School Two-Way Heisman Finalist

Gregg Burke woke up early on the morning of Sept. 14, 1986 with visions of grandeur in his head. The previous day, Burke had seen junior Gordie Lockbaum start at running back and defensive back for Holy Cross and score both of the Crusaders' touchdowns in a season-opening, 17-14 victory over Lehigh.

Burke, Holy Cross's sports information director and a 1980 graduate of the school, was ambitious and energetic and set his goals high. He wanted to get the word out on Lockbaum, the first two-way college football player since Purdue's Leroy Keyes in 1968. He wanted to let the national media and fans know that Lockbaum was a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender.

At the time, the notion seemed crazy. Almost as crazy as a two-way major college football player. But after Lockbaum finished fifth in the final Heisman balloting that season and third the next, the best showings for a small school player in a decade, it had been proven anything but.

Hype wasn't on Burke's side. After all, Holy Cross was a Division 1-AA school in Worcester, Massachusetts known more for its top-notch academics than its middling football program, which had gone 4-6-1 in 1985. Moreover, Lockbaum was by no means a household name in the state, never mind the country. He had started in the defensive backfield and returned kicks as a freshman and sophomore, but didn't play on offense.

Still, Burke wasn't afraid to do his job—promoting his players. In 1985, Holy Cross had a running back named Gill Fenerty, a transfer from Louisiana State who ran for 1,368 yards and made first-team All-American. Burke had a sign in his office that read: "The question isn't whether Gill Fenerty is the best Division 1-AA player in the country. The real question is, can he win a Heisman Trophy?"

Fenerty's Heisman campaign never went anywhere, but Burke was much more successful with Lockbaum. Back then, there was no email or social media, so Burke made phone calls to newspapers, magazines and television stations. He also received the names of many of the Heisman voters, which were not publicly disclosed, and reached out to them on a regular basis. His pitch was simple, effective, and perhaps a bit relatable, at least for some in the press: let's talk about a smart kid from a small school who played offense and defense, and once dreamed of competing for major programs in big stadiums.

"My Dad always told me a story that when I was really little I said I was going to go to Notre Dame to play football," Lockbaum told VICE Sports. "He said, 'Well, what are you going to study?' I said, 'No, I'm going to play football.' I didn't know that you go to college to study. I just thought you went to play football. That's all I knew."

Lockbaum didn't know anything about Holy Cross until he visited during his senior year of high school. He fell in love with the campus, and knew it was the place for him. But he wasn't satisfied with his play during his first two years of college. "I made my share of mistakes, to be quite honest with you," Lockbaum said. "I felt like I cost us a couple games here and there, even."

As Lockbaum grew older, he realized he wasn't going to get a scholarship to Notre Dame, Michigan or Penn State, three of the powerhouse schools he used to watch on television. Still, he was a good two-way player at Glassboro High School in New Jersey and took his academics seriously. He wanted to go to a college where he could play and get a first-rate education. He considered Navy, which recruited him as a running back, as well as Syracuse, which envisioned him as a free safety.

During the spring before Lockbaum's junior season, however, Holy Cross offensive coordinator Tom Rossley implemented a spread offense. With Fenerty gone, first-year Holy Cross coach Mark Duffner thought Lockbaum could help a bit at running back because he had recruited him in high school and remembered him as a shifty runner who was hard to tackle.

Lockbaum made an immediate impression.

"That rascal had one hell of a practice at running back," Duffner told VICE Sports. "Our offensive coaches came to me and said, 'Look, we can't be as good as we want to be unless we have Gordie playing running back.'"

Thing was, the defensive coaches didn't want to lose Lockbaum, either. And so, during two-a-day practices that summer, Lockbaum worked with the offense in the morning and the defense in the afternoon, or vice versa. As time passed, Duffner realized Lockbaum could handle the physical and mental demands of playing both ways.

"We weren't doing this to be cute," Duffner said. "We did it because we had a need for it … It wasn't to try to grab attention as much as it was for us to have the best chance to win games."

After Holy Cross' season opener against Lehigh, as Lockbaum continued to excel and barely left the field, Burke's persistence with the media paid off. ABC, CBS and NBC all did stories on Lockbaum, and Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly wrote a profile of Lockbaum in the magazine's Nov. 10, 1986 issue. The headline: "A Wonderful Throwback."

"That was gold," said Burke, a longtime athletics administrator who is now coaching golf at the University of Rhode Island. "It helped me a lot."

The attention didn't bother Lockbaum and didn't effect his schedule. He granted interviews between classes or during his lunch break and almost never left campus. "It was managed incredibly well," he said. "One of the goals of the coaches and the sports information office was to make sure that my college experience was as normal as possible. It was by no stretch normal, but I think people were very respectful to not try to go overboard."

Holy Cross's success helped Lockbaum, as well. The Crusaders won their first 10 games before losing their season finale 56-26 to Boston College, a Division 1-A team that finished 9-3 and No. 19 in the Associated Press poll. For the year, Lockbaum ran for 827 yards and 14 touchdowns, caught 57 passes for 860 yards and 8 touchdowns, returned 21 kicks for 452 yards and had 46 tackles, three pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, one interception and one sack.

Those impressive numbers earned Lockbaum a trip to the Downtown Athletic Club in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He placed fifth in the voting, the highest finish for a small school player since Grambling State quarterback Doug Williams placed fourth in 1977. Despite not winning, Lockbaum became a symbol of sorts for the good ol' days.

"The story really resonated with a lot of the people that were middle-aged guys who were local or across the country who played both ways," Lockbaum said. "That story resonated with them because they remember playing both ways or the guys they idolized when they were growing up played both ways, so they thought it was kind of a cool story."

The next season, Burke didn't have spend much time reaching out to promote Lockbaum. Instead, the media contacted him to write articles and shoot television segments. On the field, Lockbaum kept producing. He rushed for 403 yards and 13 touchdowns, caught 78 passes for 1,152 yards and 9 touchdowns, threw for a 10-yard touchdown, had 19 tackles and two sacks and returned punts and kickoffs.

He continued to receive fawning coverage, too. William Gildea of the Washington Post, who covered Lockbaum's final college game, wrote that Lockbaum was "this old-fashioned hero who might have been created by Grantland Rice" and that "Lockbaum epitomizes the good kid next door."

Holy Cross went 11-0, outscored its opponents by an average of 36.5 points per game and finished the regular season ranked first in Division 1-AA. Still, the Crusaders couldn't compete in the playoffs because their conference, the Colonial League, had a rule forbidding teams from postseason appearances. "It was very disappointing to us," Lockbaum said.

Lockbaum finished third in the Heisman race behind Notre Dame receiver Tim Brown and Syracuse quarterback Don McPherson. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the ninth round of the 1988 draft, but they cut him late in the preseason. The next year, he played in the preseason with the Buffalo Bills before getting released. He later had unsuccessful tryouts with the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers.

Although Lockbaum never appeared in an NFL game, he remains a college football anomaly: the last player to play extensively on offense, defense and special teams.

"This story, I believe, will have no shelf life," Burke said. Case in point? After coaching at Holy Cross for six seasons, Duffner became the head coach at the University of Maryland. He lasted five seasons with the Terrapins and has spent the past 20 years as the linebackers coach with five NFL franchises. He's often reminded of his Holy Cross days.

"All this time, people would come up and say, 'Hey, you coached Lockbaum, the two-way guy,'" Duffner said. "I'm talking even as recently as nowadays."

Lockbaum, an economics major in college, began working as a part-owner of an insurance company in Worcester in 1989. He's stayed at the same company ever since and helped oversee its growth. He lives only a few miles from Holy Cross's campus and is the national co-chair of the school's Crusader Athletics Fund, which raises money for the college's sports programs.

For nearly two decades, Lockbaum has also been involved in coaching youth football, baseball and wrestling. He was an assistant when his oldest son, Gordie, Jr., played in the 2002 Little League World Series.

Lockbaum, 51, is a visible and recognizable face in the community, but even though ESPN just produced a 30 for 30 short film on his story, he's not one to boast about his accomplishments. He often runs into people he knows from his time coaching them.

"Some of the parents, they'll tell their kids, 'Mr. Lockbaum used to play,'" Lockbaum said. "The kids are kind of going, 'Yeah, I bet.'"

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