Phillip Epps

PHILLIP EPPS?

One of the fastest and smallest players ever to play for the Packers, Epps spent seven years with the team, including three as a starting wide receiver.

Selected in the 12th and final round of the 1982 draft, Epps became the third wide receiver that season and was selected the team's rookie of the year.After backing up James Lofton and John Jefferson for two more seasons, Epps became a starter in 1985.
...
Epps stood 5 feet 9 inches and weighed 165 pounds.After the 1987 season, he finished second to Ron Brown of the Los Angeles Rams in the World's Fastest Man competition.As a collegian at Texas Christian, Epps won the 200 meters in the 1982 NCAA track championships and ran the fifth fastest 60-yard dash in the history of U.S. indoor track.

Epps ranks 17th on the Packers' list of all-time leaders in pass receptions.

"It was a big thing about who was the fastest guy in the NFL," Epps said."It was held in Palm Springs, Calif., every year.A nice vacation.It was a big deal to the guys who came.Myself, Darrell Green, Herschel (Walker), Willie Gault, we were all track guys and we knew if we were going to go, we had to be prepared to run.We didn't go just to have fun."

...
Epps, 43, lives in Desoto, a suburb of Dallas, and is semi-retired.After being released by the Packers in training camp in 1989, he joined the New York Jets and played one more year.After returning to Texas, he worked for the Tarrant County Juvenile Probation Dept.

GAME TO REMEMBER

PACKERS VS. PANTHERS, Sept. 30, 2001