50 Most Memorable Super Bowl Moments, No. 18: ‘Refrigerator’ Perry scores
As the NFL approaches its highly anticipated golden anniversary Super Bowl, Yahoo Sports takes a look back at some of the most memorable moments in the game’s history.
In our rankings, the moments go beyond the great scores and plays. We also take a look at entertainment performances, scandals/controversies and other events associated with corresponding Super Bowls.
Here’s a look at moment No. 18:
‘Fridge’ scores
In the nearly 50-year history of the event, no player embodied those truths more than William “Refrigerator” Perry. The sight of the 325-pound Chicago Bears defensive tackle scoring a rushing touchdown in Super Bowl XX remains one of the signature moments in the game’s history and has kept Perry a household name 30 years later.
“That one registered 3.8,” NBC broadcaster Dick Enberg said as Perry plowed his way past New England Patriots defenders and rumbled over teammates. “Another Super Bowl record: The first refrigerator to score!”
“And the largest running back ever to score,” added color analyst Merlin Olsen.
Significant physical and financial problems have affected Perry, now 53, since retiring from the NFL more than 20 years ago. But the gargantuan rookie out of Clemson was on top of the world in 1985, a force not only on the Bears’ vaunted defense, but also in the offensive backfield and in the imaginations of football fans across the country.
Perry became an overnight sensation in October when Bears coach Mike Ditka gave him the ball for a touchdown during a Monday night win over the Packers. Perry would score twice more during that regular season, catching a pass against the Packers and running for another against Atlanta.
Perry’s size and gap-toothed smile made him a fan favorite. He starred in the Bears’ prophetic Super Bowl Shuffle (“I may be large, but I’m no dumb cookie”), landed on the cover of Time as well as David Letterman’s set and was paid to pitch products as big as McDonald’s and Coke.
The Bears dominated the Patriots so much in New Orleans that Super Bowl parties soon turned into a debate on who would score for the Bears and when.
Up 34 points in the third quarter, the Bears had first and goal from the New England 1-yard line. Perry had served as a decoy on one of quarterback Jim McMahon’s two touchdown plunges earlier and some had a momentary thought he might do the same for Walter Payton as both men lined up in a split backfield.
That thought, however, died as Ditka went for the big splash. McMahon handed the ball to Perry, who flattened Patriots linebacker Larry McGrew and rolled over teammate Jim Covert on his way into the end zone. After quickly picking himself up, Perry spiked the ball and made his way to the sidelines with the Bears leading 44-3. A group of teammates mobbed The Fridge and some chased down the ball so he could have it.
There was one notable absence from the crowd around Perry, however.
Walter Payton.
As the years have gone by, Perry’s touchdown has also been remembered by Bears fans as the moment that stole a deserved touchdown from their Hall of Fame running back. Though Enberg speculated on the broadcast that maybe the Bears “had a whole quarter” to get Payton his touchdown, that opportunity never came. Disappointed by the perceived slight, Payton hid out in the trainers room after the victory and later expressed frustration that he hadn’t been able to score.
Payton died from liver disease in 1999 and Ditka has often said in ensuing years that the biggest regret of his career was giving Perry the ball instead of Payton. Perry has also said he wished that Payton would have gotten the call and would’ve gladly given up the opportunity.
“When they called the play for Perry to go in, I should have just ignored it and given the ball to Walter anyway,” McMahon told reporters a few days after the game. “If anybody deserved it, he did. He should have been mad.”
Yet hindsight is 20/20. Maybe Payton should have gotten the ball, but it shouldn’t take away from Perry’s moment in the sun. It also shouldn’t spoil the fun of what is one of the most unique moments in sports history.
Thirty years later, it remains literally the biggest highlight in America’s biggest game.
