However, he battled through a lot of controversies during his career despite his stellar play on the field. "The nickname stuck.Terrell Owens is considered one of the best football players and wide receivers of his era. "Our assistant equipment manager, Jerry Fowler, said, `He's bigger than the Fridge-he's the Kitchen,'" Sham said. Newton began his career just after William "Refrigerator" Perry became a cultural icon of sorts with the Bears. "A lot of people thought Nate was just a big, fat guy, but offensive line coach Jim Myers saw that he had fast feet and great potential," Sham said. Both were refugees from the USFL, where Newton had played with the Tampa Bay Bandits after being cut by the Washington Redskins. He recalled Newton arriving at the Cowboys' training camp in 1986 in the considerable shadow of Herschel Walker. Sham last saw Newton at a reunion of ex-Cowboys players last summer.
Irvin showed support for Newton by attending the unsuccessful bond hearing. "Hopefully, God can save him," said Irvin, who recently completed probation for a drug charge. He has had previous brushes with the law, however, having faced charges ranging from drunken driving to illegal dog fighting. Sham is among those stunned by what has happened to a player known as "loud, funny and affable, something of a celebrity in a good way." Teammates Irvin, Lett, Erik Williams, Sherman Williams and the late Mark Tuinei all had well-publicized drug issues while in Dallas, but Newton was never linked to the incidents that led to the Cowboys being known as "South America's team." Nate's timing for getting arrested was not too good." "Early in the week I got a call asking me if I had a new analyst yet. "We were using a different ex-Cowboy as guest analyst on every game, and Nate was going to join us for the Cowboys-Atlanta Falcons game that coming Sunday since he lived near Atlanta," Sham recalled. He was "extremely optimistic" about his case and said other detainees know who he is "and wonder why I'm not out on bond."īrad Sham, the Cowboys' veteran play-by-play announcer on KVIL-FM in Dallas, was among the first to learn of Newton's Nov.
"I picked the Patriots before the game."Ĭonditions in the facility are "OK, but I need to have a bigger bed." He has not had or wanted visitors other than his attorney. On Friday, responding to questions relayed by his attorney at the Seagoville Detention Center, Newton said he watched the last quarter of the Super Bowl in the recreation room with other detainees. The order placing Newton in detention describes the father of two as divorced and "currently unemployed." That is a far cry from the big spender who followed the team bus to Super Bowl practice in a $1,000-a-day limousine with teammates Irvin, Leon Lett and Erik Williams. Newton was charged with two female suspects in the Louisiana case. He and three other suspects were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana. He said arresting officers found about 170 pounds of marijuana in the car and $10,000, but no drugs, in the truck Newton was driving. 12 in Texas by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents who had his pickup truck and a car under surveillance after an informant's tip, according to a court affidavit from DEA Special Agent Andrew Joe Pearce. now everybody drafts a bunch of fat guys." He took all those 235-pound weaklings out of the game. In those days Newton jokingly praised Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's stance against steroids, saying Tagliabue "made it so the fat man had a chance. And his December appearance before Stickney, who called him "a danger to the community," was no place for the broadcast verve or confident comic demeanor that made him a favorite of NFL reporters. Indeed, the 2000 season found Newton on ESPN Radio as an NFL commentator, and he did college football commentary for BET television last season.īut that was temporary. That seemed to equip him for a future in broadcasting. After 14 years in the NFL, 13 as a Cowboy and one final year with the Carolina Panthers, Newton retired in 1999 with a reputation as a jovial, plain-spoken big man.
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