A major part of Nebraska’s football legacy sits in an Elkhorn closet, encased in a stainless steel box.
To most fans, it is the embodiment of a great career, a lifelong goal for any who dream of playing college football. But for Eric Crouch, the 67th Heisman Trophy is never the first thing that comes to mind.
He first remembers shaking his mother awake, aware that she needed to get to her second job on time. As she ran out the door every morning, he’d turn and resume cleaning the house and look after his brother, Kyle. Not the typical arrangement for an 8-year-old, but after his parents’ divorce, it’s what Eric was used to. Other adults in Crouch’s life took notice, including his YMCA basketball coach, Jim Brown.
“Eric was always responsible, even as a little boy,” Brown said. “His mother always worked two or three jobs, and Eric looked after everything. Most third graders aren’t built like that.”
It was Crouch’s mother, Susan Sanchez, who first introduced him to Brown. Both were working at the same hospital when Brown told Sanchez of his intent to create a local basketball team. Sanchez asked Brown if Eric could join the team, and the Millard Celtics had their point guard.
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Eight- and 9-year-old boys storm around the court at the YMCA in Millard. The only thing the spectators noticed was the lighting-quick point guard dominating the game, a young boy named Eric.
“Back then, he’d have a hard time following directions,” Brown said. “He wanted to guard everyone on the other team, and he could have. He was that good.”
Brown said that Crouch set the example for the rest of the boys, running wind sprints all-out, holding his teammates accountable and forcing them to fall in-line.
“Back then, it was all about having fun,” Crouch said. “I was still competitive, still had to win, but at that age it gave me an opportunity to have fun, and I took advantage.”
But an introduction to sports isn’t the only thing Crouch accredits to his mother — he regards her as his main inspiration. Crouch said that the mindset required to be a star in football came from her early on in his life.
“My mom worked so hard, taking two or three jobs to support me,” Crouch said. “I picked up on that. I had to work hard. For me, it’s just a way of life.”
For Crouch, football was never a means for money or popularity. He said football was his way of expressing himself, an outlet he could use to do good for himself and others. In high school, a developmentally disabled brother of Crouch’s friend died. Crouch dedicated the game to him and led Millard North to a victory.
“For me, it was a simple thing to do, to show people there are those less fortunate than us, to treat others how I wanted to be treated,” Crouch said.
There was never really any doubt Crouch would come to Nebraska after his stellar high school career. While he did consider schools like Notre Dame and Ohio State, only Nebraska would guarantee him a spot as a quarterback.
At Nebraska, Crouch faced stiff competition for the job from Bobby Newcombe, an athletic prospect a year older than him. Crouch performed well when Newcombe’s injuries thrust him into the lineup as a redshirt freshman in 1998, but Newcombe prevailed in the following spring’s quarterback competition.
After deciding to remain with the team as a receiver, Crouch finally broke through, winning the starting quarterback job by the third game of the season. He never let up, amassing nearly 8,000 yards of total offense and 88 total touchdowns while leading the team to a 37-7 record as a starter.
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Crouch was the envy of his neighborhood in middle school, sporting the largest martial arts collection around.
“Ninja stars, nun chucks, you name it, Eric had it,” lifelong friend Jeff Plummer said. “I used to walk into a room, and one of those stars would wiz right by my head. Good thing he was accurate because those things weren’t plastic.”
When he wasn’t dodging ninja stars, Plummer witnessed Crouch’s rise to greatness. Not a member of the team, Plummer was Crouch’s lead supporter in the student section in both high school and college. All throughout, Plummer said Crouch never changed the way he treated people.
“He’s so good with fans, it’s impossible to catch him on a bad day,” Plummer said. “I’ve never seen him turn down an autograph, he does great things with charities. Whatever time he has left goes to his family and friends.”
Plummer was there for the bad times as well.
In the fall of 1999, the local media were buzzing after Crouch retreated to Omaha for a weekend in the wake of losing the starting quarterback battle with Newcombe. Reports suggested that Crouch decided to leave the team. Plummer said nothing could have been further from the truth.
“After he put that much time and effort into (competing for the starting job), he was never going to leave,” Plummer said. “All that time, he was getting calls from guys like Mike Brown and Turner Gill. Eric had nothing but support. He never would have left.”
As for Gill, Nebraska’s quarterbacks coach at the time, the tough situation with Crouch led to a long friendship between his family and Crouch’s.
“We wanted Eric to continue school, continue football,” Gill said. “But it was his choice. If you don’t have a passion for it, you don’t do yourself any favors stepping onto the football field.”
The interest in this part of Crouch’s life, even after the fact, remains strong. As Gill put it, “it’s not every day someone considering quitting football goes on to win the Heisman.”
Gill’s efforts were rewarded when Crouch ascended to heights that hadn’t yet been seen by a Nebraska quarterback. The current head coach at Buffalo said Crouch would have started over him if both were in school at the same time.
“He was faster, had more talent, better skills,” said Gill, who finished fourth in the 1983 Heisman voting. “There’s no doubt in my mind he was a better quarterback.”
The NFL scouts weren’t as impressed, though. When Crouch went to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine in 2002, he had a nasty surprise waiting for him. The league wouldn’t let him work out as a quarterback. Crouch had heard all of the pre-draft criticisms: He was too short, didn’t have a strong enough arm and couldn’t transition from an option offense.
“None of that was true,” Crouch said. “I got into the NFL, and size and arm strength were never an issue. In fact, many people said my arm strength was better than they thought.”
Crouch ended up working out at quarterback, running back, receiver and defensive back at the combine, an experience he considered exhausting. But it paid off: Crouch was drafted in the third round of the NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams.
After being drafted by the Rams, Crouch struggled to stay on in the NFL. Plummer said he believes the beating Crouch took while at Nebraska contributed to the number of injuries he accumulated after college.
A major leg injury Crouch suffered during a preseason game with the Rams ended his season – and career in St. Louis – before it really began.
“I had this huge buildup of blood in my leg that had to be drained twice,” Crouch said. “It took a good three to four months to recover from it.”
Popular perception was that Crouch left the Rams because he had refused to play wide receiver. Crouch refutes this notion, saying it wasn’t that he wouldn’t play receiver but believed that he could make it as a quarterback in the league.
Gill said he believes that it was the lack of opportunity, not ability, that stopped Crouch from playing quarterback in the NFL.
“Eric had strong skills but needed to be in the right system,” Gill said. “(The organization) has to believe in you. If they don’t, it’s very difficult.”
After St. Louis, Crouch stuck on with Green Bay for two seasons at his favorite position. Crouch said the Packers were much more receptive to him being a signal-caller but didn’t give him enough opportunities to play in games. He said their support of him being a quarterback was mostly talk.
“I’m an honest person and wanted to be treated honestly,” Crouch said.
After a brief stint as a safety with NFL Europe’s Hamburg Sea Devils, Crouch got a major opportunity to play quarterback professionally with the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. Despite playing as a backup, Crouch had success in the CFL before shoulder and knee injuries led to his release.
“If it weren’t for the injuries, I was going to be the starter for the team,” Crouch said. “But things happen, and you have to move on.”
Moving on has been difficult for Crouch.
He said he still has the itch to play, which he showed in 2008 by joining the All-American Football League that never began due to financial issues.
When asked if he could go back and change things in his past, Crouch replied, “Absolutely.” He pointed to the two losses at the end of his career at Nebraska and his insistence on playing only quarterback at the beginning of his NFL career, believing it may have cost him some opportunities to succeed.
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As players sit around being taped before practice, a pair can be seen surfing espn.com’s Heisman watch. Husker safety Mic Boettner casts his vote for Crouch, his friend and teammate since their days at Millard North. The nationwide results pop up, and Boettner’s quarterback is in the lead. He pulls Crouch toward the monitor, and the senior’s eyes widen.
“You really think I can win this thing?” Crouch asked.
Boettner smiles at the look of incredulity on his captain’s face. He realizes Crouch’s question is serious, that he wanted an answer.
“Absolutely,” Boettner said.
Never a major star himself, Boettner passed through Lincoln in relative obscurity. The same could not be said for Crouch. Interviews, autographs, fan-mail – Boettner saw Crouch handle it all.
“Eric was always very confident,” Boettner said. “But he was also very humble, even to the point of naivety. I don’t think he ever really understood the heroism of his position.”
A few short months later, Crouch is with his family at a midtown hotel in New York City because the Downtown Athletic Club had been damaged on 9/11. When the announcer stepped up to the podium, Crouch’s thoughts weren’t on victory.
“I thought Rex (Grossman) was going to win,” Crouch said. “His stats were stronger than mine.”
When Crouch’s name was called, he was ecstatic, but not just for himself.
“It was a great thing to win for the team and university,” Crouch said. “I have always loved to be a representative of this university and was proud to deliver something like this. It was also great for my teammates, as it takes an entire team to win one of these.”
Today, Crouch runs a playground equipment business called Crouch Recreational Equipment. He lives with his wife, Nicole, 10-year-old daughter, Alexi, and 5-year-old son Carsen. Crouch has never been one for the spotlight, and, as Boettner put it, Crouch “would have no problem if he was never recognized in public again.”
This Halloween, young trick-or-treaters ambled past Crouch’s house on their annual quest for candy. But Crouch wasn’t home. He was a block down the street, trying to keep his enormous, overly friendly dog named Bear from causing a commotion and blocking the street. Crouch appeared extremely content. The children near him, unless their parents had told them so, had no idea there was a Heisman Trophy in a steel box inside his house.
And that’s the way Crouch likes it.
seanwhalen@dailynebraskan.com
