PUMPING IRON AND PUMPING GAS : Rams’ Irvin Gasses Up for Life After Football

Get that windshield for you, ma’am?

It figures that a man who once collected $1.20 a day for picking 60 pounds of cotton would worry about where his next meal was coming from, even after hitting the big time.

LeRoy Irvin is an All-Pro cornerback for the Rams who drew a salary of $250,000 last season.

He also pumps gas at a service station in Fullerton these days.

Pumps gas, cleans windows, shoots the bull with the customers--the whole service-with-a-smile gig.

Irvin, who lives with his wife, Roxanne, and their three children in Fullerton, is learning the gas-station business from the ground up. He doesn’t have to be there--he wants to.

“I could have laid down some cash, bought a place and had someone run it for me, but I would have probably gone broke,” he said. “I want to know what I’m doing before I put my money into it.”

So, for the last three weeks he has spent nine hours a day, six days a week, on the corner of Nutwood and Placentia, darting between service islands in a pair of worn pants and an oily blue shirt that says his name is Vic.

“I’m still waiting for my shirts to come in,” the 28-year-old Irvin said.

Along with his ship. Irvin believes that his future is now, that too many football players wait too long to decide what they’re going to do after that last snap.

“A lot of guys never think about what comes when their playing days are over,” he said. “Then they get pushed up against retirement or being cut, and they’re trying to squeeze out another year because there’s nothing else. I don’t want to go that way.”

What he wants is surprisingly simple for so industrious a man.

“The only thing I wish from this life is that my family and I never have to go to bed hungry,” he said. “If I get through life without going hungry, I’ll be satisfied.”

Be advised that LeRoy Irvin has never gone hungry. His father, LeRoy Irvin Sr., made a comfortable living for his family as a major in the Army.

And as Irvin leans against the hood of his candy-apple red Mercedes convertible, a greasy rag stuffed in his back pocket, there seems little chance that the wolf will ever get anywhere near his door.

But memories of traveling to South Carolina in the summers of his early teens to visit his grandmother--and to pick cotton--are still fresh.

“I got two cents for every pound I picked,” he said. “Most of the times it was over a hundred degrees and humid. It was awful.”

Nice weather we’re having, wouldn’t you say sir? Fill it up?

As far as LeRoy Irvin is concerned, King Solomon was a pretty sharp guy.

“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,” Irvin recites from the Old Testament’s Book of Ecclesiastes. “I think about that all the time.

“We put athletes on such a pedestal in this country. Some guys I play with actually get caught up in that. They think they’re better than other people. I’m just trying to get by like everybody else.

“People think if you’re a professional athlete, you shouldn’t work. But what happens when you’re not a pro anymore. What happens when you’re not on that pedestal?”

What happens was brought home to Irvin with amazing clarity one sunny afternoon on a golf course.

He was playing in a charity tournament that featured an auction. Ram players’ jerseys were among the auction items.

Vince Ferragamo’s jersey, which had gone for $4,000 the previous year, came up.

“Vince didn’t have such a great season and his jersey went for $400,” Irvin said. “Actually, no one would bid on it, so Isiah Robertson (former Ram linebacker) said he’d buy it for $400. That opened up my eyes quick.”

Irvin’s approach to business is one part old-time religion, one part Dale Carnegie.

“You give people good service, treat them right, and they’re going to come back to you and give you their business again,” he said.

He practices his philosophy with the zeal of a true believer.

Take this pump-side encounter between Irvin and a female customer after Irvin had spilled a few drops of gasoline on her car:

Irvin: “Oh, I’m sorry ma’am, let me clean that off for you.”

Woman, handing Irvin money: “No, that’s all right.”

Irvin: “No, really ma’am, I want to.”

Woman, walking away: “No, really , that’s all right.”

Irvin, resolution in his voice: “I’m going to clean that for you ma’am.”

Woman, scurrying to her front seat: “ Really , it’s all right.”

Irvin, scurrying back to the car with a water hose: “Here we go ma’am.”

Irvin wins, and the gas is washed away.

The woman smiles politely. Another satisfied customer.

Another satisfying day for LeRoy Irvin.