Solid Fridge Chills Out During 2nd Time Around Super Bowl Hero With Chicago Now Wears Crown With Monarchs

He was once a celebrated cult figure in another cold, windy city, but here as a member of the London Monarchs he’s nothing more than a curiosity item because of his still imposing weight that he insists is a mere 340 pounds.

“I’m recognized on occasion,” says William Perry, popularly known as The Refrigerator. “My wife and I were at a market the other day and a guy comes up to me and says, ‘You the ‘Fridge?’ And I say, ‘Yeah.’ And he says, ‘Thought so. Used to see you on TV once in a while.”’

It is all so different now for 33-year-old William Perry, who as a rookie in 1985 with a formidable Chicago Bears team gained widespread notoriety for being employed by his coach, Mike Dikta, as a running back in goal-line situations despite his massive girth.

“I think I scored a total of five touchdowns,” said Perry, who also was a defensive nose tackle of astounding strength and agility in those merry days. “I even got one in the Super Bowl against New England. Isn’t that something? The ‘Fridge has a Super Bowl touchdown to his credit and Walter Payton doesn’t. How do you figure?”

Because of his size, personality, skill and nickname, Perry became an overnight commercial superstar with the Bears.

“I endorsed everything but pantyhose,” laughs Perry, whose most high-profile gig was chomping hamburgers for McDonald’s.

“What fun I had.”

It is a classic London day as the skies are gray and threatening of rain and the chill in this forbidding spring weather is heightened by the swirling, angry winds that forever blow in from the North Sea.

Perry is seated on a bench next to his team’s practice field at Crystal Palace. The scene is a metaphor of Perry’s diminished athletic station because the last time I interviewed him was in January 1986 in New Orleans before Super Bowl XX. He was surrounded by dozens of reporters.

Now Perry works in obscurity as a part-time defensive tackle, part-time public relations man for the Monarchs, who are in the World League of American Football.

Perry finds himself far removed from the roots of his youth, Aiken, S.C., where he still resides, and from the glories of his adult years, Chicago, where for one memorable season he became almost a mythic figure on the American sporting orbit.

“I’m having my fun over here in London,” said Perry, who’s staying in Bromley with his wife Sherry and 3-year-old son, William Jr. (his two daughters, Latavia, 13, and Norie, 10, are staying with relatives in Aiken). “Obviously, the pressures aren’t as great. This is not the NFL I’m in, and the fans here are much more into soccer.

“The only reason I’m playing is to give my son an opportunity to play football. He was too young to understand what I was doing when I was in the NFL, and when the Monarchs called and asked me if I were interested in playing again, I said yes because of my son.

“I gave it up with the Philadelphia Eagles before the start of last season, and really had been enjoying retirement life, going fishing a lot and just taking it easy. But it’s fun playing football again.”

Perry’s duties with the Monarchs include not only terrorizing quarterbacks and running backs, but also spreading the gospel of the fledging pro league that has franchises throughout Europe.

“I’m going to Amsterdam tomorrow, a couple of days before the team does to meet with the press,” said Perry.

Perry wound up playing 10 seasons in the NFL eight with the Bears and two with the Eagles - but the consensus among gridiron pundits is that he would have had a longer, more productive career had he been able to keep his weight under control.

He shakes his head in disagreement at such a notion.

“People were always saying that I should have been playing at 280 or 290, but they were totally wrong,” he said. “I was 290 by the time I was 16. I’m a naturally heavy man. It’s a genetic thing. My dad was always around 320 and my mom was around 250. So how was I ever to get under 300? No way.”

“What’s the most you ever got up to?” I wonder.

“Three eighty,” he replies. “But I usually played between 325 and 340. I never counted calories, and I still don’t. When I’m hungry, I eat. No one’s going to ever change that habit. If I die at a young age because of my weight, so be it. I’ve had a great life, better than I ever thought possible.

“My goal when I came into the NFL was to only play for seven seasons. And I lasted 10. I exceeded all expectations and dreams. Listen, how many guys play on a Super Bowl champion as a rookie? And then score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. I have no regrets about my career. And I’m still enjoying myself.”