Terry Eurick, Fullback January 9, 1978

As a fullback at Notre Dame from 1974 through '77, Terry Eurick
was not an All-America, nor did he have a 1,000-yard rushing
season. In fact, he ran for a total of 806 yards in his career.
But Eurick, one of three captains on the Fighting Irish's 1977
national championship team, had a knack for being in the right
place at the right time. A power-running, short-yardage
specialist, he scored nine touchdowns over three seasons, and
then reached the end zone on two of his four carries in the
title-clinching 38-10 thrashing of top-ranked Texas in the '78
Cotton Bowl.

So it was a shot of Eurick, not quarterback Joe Montana or star
tailbacks Jerome Heavens and Vagas Ferguson (both of whom had
100-yard games against the Longhorns), that graced SI's cover the
following week. "When I got back home [to Saginaw, Mich.] that
week, my mother said she had heard that I was on the cover," says
Eurick, now 47 and a personnel director for General Motors. "I
figured I was just in the background."

A few weeks later another shot of Eurick appeared in SI's Year in
Pictures issue: Still in uniform after the Cotton Bowl, with
blood dripping from a gash on his chin, he stood arm-in-arm with
his fiancee, Margo, and flashed the No. 1 sign for the camera.
That moment capped Eurick's athletic career.

After graduating with a degree in economics the following spring,
he drew interest from several CFL teams and was invited to camp
by the New Orleans Saints. But Margo had started a job in IBM's
marketing department in Southfield, Mich., and Eurick decided
he'd rather stay close to home than pursue NFL ambitions.

Eurick, who lives in Clarkston, Mich., has been with GM for 25
years, working initially as a labor relations representative in
Pontiac and later as a personnel director in Bowling Green, Ky.,
and Marion, Ind., before moving to the Flint-based offices four
years ago. He was active with the Big Brothers Big Sisters
program for four years, but the bulk of his free time is devoted
to his family--he and Margo have five children, ages three to
16--and watching football. When his oldest son, Kyle, played as a
youngster, Terry was one of his coaches. Now Terry volunteers as
the P.A. announcer for games at Notre Dame Prep in Pontiac, where
Kyle is a junior running back. Last month Eurick returned to
South Bend for a captains' reunion before Notre Dame's 29-26
overtime victory over Washington State. A former member of the
school's monogram board, he tries to take his family to at least
one home game each season.

Eurick receives about 12 autograph requests on copies of his SI
cover issue each year. In Michigan, though, he's often recognized
for another achievement: In his senior season as a running back
at Saginaw Arthur Hill High, he was captain of a team that went
9-0 and unscored upon (433-0) and won the mythical state title.
"I get asked about that as much as I do Notre Dame," he says. "I
feel very privileged." --Stephen Cannella

COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR. (COVER) GRIPPING Eurick's small bursts yielded big touchdowns.

COLOR PHOTO: DAVID H. SCHREIBER [See caption above]

After helping Notre Dame win a national title, Eurick gave up
football and began a long career in management with GM.