He was some Dude, particularly 43 years ago Thursday.
It was Dec. 21, 1980 against the Cincinnati Bengals at Riverfront Stadium in the regular-season finale that a little-known wide receiver named Ricky Feacher bailed out the Kardiac Kids Browns just when they needed it most. Nicknamed “Hollywood Dude” for his flamboyant, stylish clothing, the fifth-year pro from tiny Mississippi Valley State came out of nowhere to catch two touchdown passes just three minutes apart in the third quarter to lead the Browns to a heartstopping 27-24 victory that netted them the AFC Central championship for the first time in nine years. It was their first playoff berth in eight seasons.
Feacher went into the game with just 21 career catches, including 19 with the Browns, with one touchdown (1979) since arriving as a rookie in 1976. He had only eight receptions in 1980 through the first 15 games, but two of them had gone for scores.
He was stuck behind two talented wideouts in Reggie Rucker and Dave Logan, so there was little opportunity for him to show his stuff. But when Logan suffered a knee injury early in the Bengals game after making a 65-yard reception, the Dude got the chance for which he had been waiting a long time.
And the Browns desperately needed him. They were really up against it.
They were 10-5 on the year, coming off a horrible 28-23 loss at Minnesota the previous week when they had a 23-9 lead with five minutes left and were defeated on a Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final play. They could have clinched a playoff spot the day, but now they needed a win over the Bengals to capture the division crown. If they lost, then they would fail to get into the postseason at all. They could not make it as a wild card.
Winning at Cincinnati seemed easy enough at first glance. After all, the Bengals were just 6-9 and had been eliminated from playoff contention for weeks. Plus, the Browns had blown them out 31-7 at Cleveland in the teams’ first meeting a month earlier.
But it would be much more difficult this time around. The Bengals had gotten hot and won three straight. And there was also the fierce in-state rivalry between the clubs fueling Cincinnati’s desire to end the season on a high note and ruin that of the Browns.
On gameday morning, Browns owner Art Modell boarded the team bus for the short ride of just several blocks from the club’s hotel on Fountain Square down the hill to the stadium.
Finding a seat across the aisle from head coach Sam Rutigliano, Modell leaned in close to him and said quietly, “Season ticket sales are way, way up. The city is electric about the team. So, Sam, whatever happens today, I want you to know that it’s already been a great year.”
“That’s crap! And you know it!,” Rutigliano shot back.
Modell was taken aback by the coach’s brazen attitude toward him.
But Rutigliano didn’t care. He kept going.
“Art, who’s the head coach of the Bengals who will be on the sideline this afternoon?,” he asked, then refused to wait for his answer. “That’s right, it’s Forrest Gregg. You fired him. And who’s the guy who will be sitting up in his box as the owner and general manager of the Bengals? It’s Paul Brown. You fired him, too.
“Those two guys would like nothing better to beat us today and keep us — and especially you — from winning the division title. And in turn, you want to beat them more than you want to take your next breath.
“So, don’t tell me that it doesn’t matter if we win.”
Modell didn’t say a word. He just smiled and sat back down. He knew Rutigliano was right as rain.
The Bengals did indeed come out fired up, bolting to a 10-0 second-quarter lead. The Browns rallied to tie it 10-10 at halftime on a 42-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brian Sipe, who won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award that year, to Rucker and Don Cockroft’s 26-yard field goal.
Disaster struck, though, on the first play of the second half as Sipe’s short pass for running back Calvin Hill was intercepted by Bengals defensive back Ray Griffin, the ex-Ohio Stater who was the younger brother of Cincinnati running back and OSU two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, and returned it 52 yards for a score to make it 17-10.
The Browns were in trouble. Their potent offense had not done much all day. They had tried everything, and nothing was really working well on a consistent basis. They needed a spark from somewhere. But where? All the principal characters in this action thriller of a play that was the Kardiac Kids season had performed their roles without affecting the storyline. The Kids had lived on the edge all year, with no situation so dire that they couldn’t rally from it, but they were really pushing the envelope this time.
They needed soneone — someone who hadn’t been given a part in the original script — to step up. Feacher knew the opportunity was there, and the fact he had had only a bit role all season didn’t dissuade him from the belief and confidence that he was the right Dude for the job.
The Browns had not gone to him at all that day, but from the moment he entered the game and every time the offense huddled, he said to Sipe, “Throw me the bomb!” Over and over and over again, he implored, “Throw me the bomb!”
Running out of options, Sipe, the unquestioned leader of not just the offense, but of the team overall, looked right at the Dude. “Throw me the bomb!,” Feacher said once more.
“OK, I’m going to throw you the bomb, but if you drop it, you had better just keep on running through that big tunnel right out of the stadium,” Sipe said, with the rest of the Kids, from Ozzie Newsome to Doug Dieken to Tom DeLeone, hanging on his every word.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Brian, you just put the ball out there and I’ll go up and grab it,” the Dude said.
There was something in the homespun, innocent way he spoke to make his teammates believe he would do just that. Feacher, a Florida native, had come a long way from the time he arrived in Cleveland and, while being given a tour of Cleveland Stadium and looking out at Lake Erie, asked in a matter-of-fact fashion, “What ocean is that?”
With the ball at the Cincinnati 34, Sipe took the snap, retreated into the pocket and heaved the ball toward Feacher as he was streaking down the right sideline, along the Cleveland bench. He hit him in stride for a touchdown, beating veteran cornerback Louis Brenden, to tie the game at 17-17.
The Browns got the ball right back on a Ron Bolton interception and the offense — and Sipe and Feacher — went back to work, and to the well. They ran the same “go” route down the left sideline and Sipe threaded the ball to Feacher in between two defenders, including Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Ken Riley, for a 35-yard score. Just like that, with the Dude catching two bombs of similar lengths for touchdowns in a matter of a few minutes, the Browns had a 24-17 lead.
But these were the Kardiac Kids, for whom nothing was easy, and as such the Bengals scored a touchdown later in the third quarter to tie the game for the third time, 24-24.
Cockroft, in what turned out to be the last regular-season game of his 13-year career as only the second kicker the club had ever had, booted a 22-yard field goal for the game-winner with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals weren’t done, though, as Ken Anderson, who had been hurt, entered the game for the first time for the injured Jack Thompson, drove the Bengals down the field to the Cleveland 34 with enough time left for one play. He flung ball down the field to wide receiver Steve Kreider for a 22-yarder to the Cleveland 12, but he couldn’t get out of bounds because Bolton just laid on top of him and the Bengals, who had no timeouts, ran out of time. The Browns had the hard-fought victory and the Central Dinision title.
The game played out in typical Kardiac Kids fashion, with another ending that even Hollywood couldn’t come up with, but the Dude could.
The Browns and Bengals end the 2023 regular season at Cincinnati in three weeks in a game that could be for a wild-card playoff spot. You have to wonder if it’ll have any of the thrill and suspense of the game 43 years ago. With the way this season has gone, I would certainly bet on it.
Steve King
