Ron Heller stepped out of the shower naked and took a boxing stance. Jerome Brown stood across from him in full pads. Mike Golic and the rest of the Eagles defensive line at the time dropped their helmets as offensive linemen began filing out of the showers.
After a training camp practice filled with fights, Golic thought the two lines might be about to have another.
Instead, everyone started laughing.
Golic revisited the locker room standoff Tuesday on ESPN’s This Is Football, recounting the practice that led to it and a confrontation involving Brown that had escalated to talk of guns.
During one-on-one pass-rushing drills, offensive lineman Ron Solt and Brown led a series of fights. But it was a fight “not just between the two players, but through the whole O-line and D-line,” Golic said, adding that it happened after six or seven consecutive plays.
According to Golic, Solt said he would go to his car for a gun. Brown replied, as Golic remembered it, “I’m going to beat you to my car and get my gun.” Neither player retrieved a weapon, Golic said, but the drill had spun out of control.
“You didn’t get a whole lot done in practice when you’re fighting that much,” Golic said.
The Eagles stopped the one-on-one session and moved to a two-minute drill, but another fight disrupted everyone’s work. After practice, the defensive linemen stayed on the field for extra drills while the offense headed inside.
At West Chester University, where the Eagles held camp, the route to the defensive locker room passed the showers. Golic and his teammates were walking in still wearing their uniforms when Heller emerged. Heller had faced Golic when they played for Penn State and Notre Dame, respectively. Golic remembered him as one of the toughest opponents he had faced.
Heller stopped directly in front of Brown. In Golic’s telling, he tried to put the practice dispute behind them: “Hey, Jerome. All good. Practice, whatever.” Brown answered with expletives and made it clear he was still angry. Heller squared up as more offensive linemen came out of the showers.
“It was like West Side Story, but one group was naked,” Golic said.
Golic had considered what he might do if the groups fought.
“I would’ve used my cleats in a very, very bad way against a naked man,” he said.
No one got that far. The sight of one line in pads facing another fresh from the showers broke the tension. Golic said the players laughed, the defensive linemen went to their lockers, and the offensive linemen finished showering.
The stories offered a glimpse of the practices over which Buddy Ryan presided in Philadelphia. Ryan encouraged fighting, according to Golic, who joined the Eagles in 1987 partly because he wanted to play for a coach known for his defense. The roster included Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, and Brown up front; Seth Joyner at linebacker; and Eric Allen in the secondary.
Ryan later called a defensive front featuring White, Simmons, Brown, Mike Pitts, and Golic the best he had coached. He previously coordinated the Chicago Bears’ celebrated 1985 defense. His Eagles reached the playoffs three straight seasons from 1988 through 1990, though they never won a postseason game under him.
The defense continued to dominate after Ryan’s tenure ended. In 1991, the Eagles allowed the fewest total yards in the NFL. Brown earned the second of his two first-team All-Pro selections. He died in a car crash in June 1992 at age 27, and the Eagles later retired his No. 99 jersey.
Golic has told the shower story before. But on Tuesday, he also recalled the threat-filled fight between Solt and Brown that preceded it. That day’s work ended in a locker room full of players laughing at how close they had come to fighting again.
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