Earl Campbell's Record-Setting Season

Hall of Famer rushes for 200 yards four times in '80

Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell was one of the most powerful runners in National Football League history. Although the Houston Oilers’ and New Orleans Saints’ star rushed for more than 1,000 yards in five of his first six seasons, his finest season came in 1980. That year the former Heisman Trophy winner ran for an incredible 1,934 yards, the second best rushing performance in pro football history at the time, behind only O.J. Simpson's 2,003 yards in 1973.

The bruising back from Tyler, Texas, nicknamed the "Tyler Rose," rumbled for more than 200 yards in a record four games in 1980, including a personal best 206 yards against the Chicago Bears. His outstanding single-season performance earned him all-pro, Pro Bowl, and NFL Player of the Year honors. It was also the third consecutive season in which he led the league in rushing. Only the legendary Jim Brown had previously accomplished that feat. Still, the soft-spoken Campbell admitted after his record-breaking 1980 season, that he was "still learning." "I’ve learned how to give a guy a shoulder, how to give a leg and take it away and use a stiff arm now and then," he said modestly.