johnnash@thewiltonvillager.com

WILTON — Tony Dorsett has a Super Bowl ring. He has a Heisman Trophy, too.

And, of course, his bust resides in Canton, Ohio, as a 1994 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Yet the one moment he cherishes the most from a long and distinguished career of playing football is one every single member of the Wilton High School football team can understand.

Dorsett, the former Dallas Cowboy, was in Wilton on Saturday, March 8, visiting Bruce Bennett Nissan, where he signed autographs for an estimated 250 people.

Dorsett's high school world isn't something any Warrior football player could really comprehend.

"I was bussed out of the hood, so to speak," said Dorsett, who attended Aliquippa's Hopewell High School. "There were two high schools: One predominantly black, the other predominantly white. I lived in two different worlds. I went to high school in a white world and when I got out I was back in the hood with my buddies."

Aliquippa, even back then, was a power in high school football, but it was Dorsett and Hopewell that got to have the final word.

So while Dorsett's world might be foreign to them, any Warrior football player can comprehend and appreciate a game against an arch-rival (read Ridgefield) and what a victory would mean.

"I've got pretty strong roots back in Pennsylvania and I love where I come from," said Dorsett, whose name now adorns the stadium where Hopewell plays its home games. "That's where it all started. (Friends had Aliquippa) had the upper-hand for so many years and to be able to be out on the street talking to smack to them was fun."

It was success that would just be starting for Dorsett.

He attended the University of Pittsburgh, winning the Heisman Trophy and National Championship in 1976. He also became the Dallas Cowboys No. 1 pick in 1977 and led America's Team to a back-to-back Super Bowl championships, winning in his rookie season.

He played 10 years with the Cowboys and one extra year with the Denver Broncos before hanging up his cleats. By the time all was said and done, Dorsett had gained 12,739 yards rushing; had caught 398 passes for 3,554 yards, and had scored 91 touchdowns.

Now closing on 54 years old — his birthday is April 7 — and the owner of a series of Texas-based companies, including both restaurants and a mortgage business, Dorsett still looks as though he could gain 100 yards on 20 carries in today's NFL.

As a former player, he appreciates out the league has grown into the mammoth entity it is currently.

"From a marketing standpoint, it's gotten bigger and better," Dorsett said. "Other than that, the game is still a great game."

Dorsett was especially candid when talking about this year's two Super Bowl participants — the New York Football Giants and the New England Patriots.

"It just shows you what can happen when you get on a roll," Dorsett said. "Anybody can beat anybody at any given time in this league. The Giants got on a run at the right time, just like the Stealers did with (Ben) Roethlisberger a few years ago. It was fortunate for them, but unfortunate for the Patriots. They were on a historic run. It was something a lot of people wanted to see and something a lot of people didn't want to see."

Dorsett, as a former Cowboy, knows what it's like to be part of an incredibly successful organization.

In this day and age, he says, the Patriots are doing it right.

"They've done it second to none," he said. "You can't do anything but congratulate Belichick and Mr. Kraft on a job well done. You can't deny what they've done."

Dorsett said he still looks at the Patriots roster in amazement.

"You go down looking at their defense and you're like ... slow ... old," he said. "But when you talk about the team concept they do it better than anybody in the history of this league. You just plug different guys into the system and it has worked for them."

With his own NFL career is far behind, Dorsett said he is enjoying the time he gets to spend at home with his three daughters (his son, Anthony, Jr., played in the NFL for eight years, retiring in 2003).

Still, thanks to his friendship with the Bennett family, he'll keep coming back to Wilton whenever he can.

"It all started through the Heisman and its relationship with Nissan," Dorsett said. " A couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk and from that conversation I've almost become a regular here. Until Bruce tells me I can't come back, I'll keep coming back."