NEW MADRID FINALLY HAS ITS `EARTHQUAKE'; NATIONALLY RANKED KELVIN ANDERSON RATTLES GRIDIRON AND HIS HOMETOWN

NEW MADRID - A piece of wood fashioned to depict the Show Me State, with a tiny gold bell to indicate New Madrid, rests quietly against a wall at Haps bar and grill.

Etched into the pint-size piece of wood are the words "Earthquake alarm."

The alarm was expected to peal for the myriad of media gathered on the scene at New Madrid in 1990. But nothing, save the whoosh of media leaving this town of 3,350 Bootheel inhabitants, stirred the stultifying calm on this December day.

Iben Browning's infamous prediction never came to pass. Still, New Madrid made a few bucks on the hype and hoopla surrounding the non-event. Some merchants have even prospered beyond the quakeless date. In fact, you can still get a Quake Burger at Tom's Grill, just around the corner from Haps.

Asked about the connection being made between what might have been and what looks like the real thing, Southeast Missouri State sophomore running back Kelvin "Earthquake" Anderson, a native of New Madrid, flashed a smile of approval.

"All of the attention to the earthquake put my hometown on the map and some people made some money," said Anderson, resplendent in a baseball cap with the Dallas Cowboys stitched prominently above the bill and a familiar Texas star on the side. Anderson is an avid fan of NFL football in general and the Cowboys' Emmitt Smith in particular. "I like watching Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders on television," said Anderson, a 5-foot-10, 196-pound sophomore tailback who ranks third in the nation in all-purpose rushing in Division I-AA competition. "I like watching little guys do well."

He added, "As far as calling me Earthquake Anderson, well, if it helps the team, why not?"

According to Kelvin's grandmother, Esteena Brown, the Earthquake Anderson hype is an innocent gimmick that doesn't threaten to tarnish the family's dignity. "I just laughed when I first heard about it," said Brown, who stepped in to raise Kelvin after his mother was stabbed to death in a dispute at work 19 years ago.

"They just let her lay there waiting for the police to arrive and she bled to death," said Brown, her eyebrows pinching the middle of her forehead as she recalled the horrifying scene that marked her daughter's departure.

"I've raised Kelvin since he was just over 1 year old," said Brown. "I showed him the newspaper article about his mother when he was old enough. I wanted him to know about his mother, how much she loved him and how much he meant to her."

Said Anderson, "Esteena is really my mother now. She's the one who took care of me and taught me how important it was not to ever get in trouble. I've never been arrested," he said, flashing a smile that revealed a gap between his two middle teeth.

Esteena Brown peers out of lavender-rimmed glasses that blend in well with her gray and pink shirt that contains the message, "No. 1 Levis."

She remembers when Kelvin went by the nickname Rabbit. "Kelvin used to run out of the house and into the fields when he thought he was going to get a whuppin," she said. "He was so fast we needed the car to catch him. So the old man next door called him Rabbit."

Anderson says he's always been fascinated with the sport of football. "He's always taken to football for some reason," said Brown. "The only thing I told him was, if he was going to play football, to do the best he could. I also told him he needed a trade or something to fall back on in case he got hurt from the football."

Anderson suffered his first serious injury as a high school freshman. "I broke my leg and was out for about six weeks," said Anderson. "I was lucky it wasn't real serious or anything."

Actually, New Madrid High coach Ronnie Jones indicated the break was quite serious. "It was a spiral type break that ran along his leg," said Jones. "You have to remember that this is a 15-year-old kid. Some might have decided to give up football. Not Kelvin. So I decided that Kelvin needed to be brought along slowly from that point on."

So Jones taught Anderson a poignant lesson about patience. "I was in Carlos Cain's shadow when I was a junior and then I knew it was my time as a senior," said Anderson, who earned all-state honors his senior campaign.

Jones recalls with crystallized clarity the moment he realized Anderson had come of age as a gifted athlete. "We had an overtime game against Caruthersville," said Jones. "They got the ball first but fumbled the snap and we took over," recalled Jones. "Before I could even get a play called, Kelvin, who stayed on the field because he was going both ways, just pointed to himself. He was saying, "Give me the ball. I'll get it done." Anderson scored the winning touchdown.

George Hunt, a defensive tackle who starts for the University of Missouri was one of Anderson's teammates on that 1989 Eagle team. Jones thought Anderson was good enough to sign at Mizzou, along with Hunt. "I told Missouri's running back coach that he needed to take a look at Kelvin, but he said he was too little," said Jones. "I told him he needed to look at some film, but there was never enough interest to get to that point."

Jones likens Anderson's ability to Billy Warren, who went on to become an All-American tailback at the University of Arkansas. "Kelvin's cut in the same mold," said the New Madrid High coach.

According to Jones, Anderson has his feet planted firmly on the ground, despite getting plenty of media attention of late.

"Kelvin is humble enough to know this is all very special, but he's also smart enough to know it can all end as quickly as it started," said Jones.

Jones is happy Southeast Missouri State coach John Mumford saw things differently. "Southeast stuck with Kelvin from Day One and that meant a lot to him," said Jones.

Due to his eye-popping exploits on the Southeast gridiron, talk of another earthquake has surfaced once again. But this time it manifests itself in a pair of legs that can cover 40 yards in 4.3 seconds. This time the "Earthquake" that answers to the name of Anderson has enhanced his strength and muscle mass since his senior year in high school to the point of bench pressing 225 pounds 12 straight times. Kelvin "Earthquake" Anderson has an astounding vertical leap of 33 inches.

A Proposition 48 casualty two years ago, Anderson spent his time away from the classroom clinging vigorously to a work ethic he learned from his grandmother, bench pressing his way to a new source of speed and strength.

"Kelvin always loved the football," said Brown. "I remember when he was about 7 years old he got injured; he did something to his collar bone. But it healed and he was right back out there playing that football."

Asked what it feels like to shift into a gear no one on the gridiron can match, Anderson merely smiled and replied, "It feels like I've got a weapon that needs to be used to win a football game."

Jones, who thinks the world of Anderson's ability, was somewhat surprised to see that his star running back was even faster than he remembered during his senior season, the year he gained 300 yards against Jackson.

"The fastest I can remember clocking him was 4.5," said Jones. "I couldn't believe it when I saw Kelvin the summer before he was due to start his first game at Southeast against SIU (Southern Illinois University).

"He put on 30 pounds and was actually faster and stronger. I attribute that to the weight program he's been on at Southeast for the last two years. Coach Mumford has told me that Kelvin really worked hard in the weight room."

Anderson, who gained over 2,000 yards at New Madrid, winning all-state honors his senior season, couldn't wait to hit the collegiate gridiron in 1991 after sitting out all of 1990. But the NCAA notified Southeast that Anderson was still short of hours necessary to play football the night before he was to start against SIU.

"I couldn't believe it," said Anderson. "I had half of New Madrid sitting in the stands and there was no way I could explain what happened until after the game. It was very embarrassing."

Anderson planned to make up for that by becoming the first Southeast running back in the school's history to surpass 1,000 yards on homecoming. "I thought that's when I would break it, but now I don't know," he said. "It looks like I'll do it before homecoming."

Anderson has already gained 759 yards on 118 carries and has scored eight touchdowns in five games. If he would maintain his average (151.8 yards per game), Anderson would set the new mark before the Oct. 31 homecoming game against the University of Tennessee-Martin.

Kelvin's grandmother doesn't care when the records are set. She just wants her grandson to fulfill his dreams. "If he can take football as far as possible and still have something to fall back on for his future, I'll be happy," said Brown. "I'm already proud of what he's done to this point. The whole town of New Madrid is proud of him. They talk about him all the time."

Indeed, the Earthquake alarm finally tolls for Kelvin Anderson after being silent for two long years.