Meet the Cowboys T he greatness of a sports team can be measured in many ways Championships are one way to do it Or you can count the number of superstars who have played for the team You can also look at how many fans root for those superstars and their teammates By any of these measures the Dallas Cowboys are one of the most remarkable teams in sports The Cowboys take winning seriously They may be fun loving off the field but on the field every player and coach is focused on achieving victory This tradition started more than 50 years ago It is stronger than ever today This book tells the story of the Cowboys They have been called America’s Team because they have fans all over the country However when the day is done the Cowboys aren’t playing for America They are playing for pride and to win championships Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware celebrate a game-changing play 5
Glory Days F ootball fans in Texas had a lot to talk about when the 1960 season began One year earlier there were no professional teams in the state Suddenly there were three The National Football League NFL was expanding and placed a team in Dallas called the Cowboys The American Football League AFL did the same and put a team in Dallas called the Texans The AFL also started a team in Houston called the Oilers A businessman named Clint Murchison owned the Cowboys He had made millions of dollars in the oil industry Murchison originally had a deal to buy the Washington Redskins but it fell through That began a long rivalry between the Cowboys and Redskins In 1960 however Murchison and his team had other things to worry about The Cowboys did not win a single game in their first year Meanwhile the Texans had a 6
winning record and the Oilers took the AFL championship The Cowboys still had an advantage Their fans were crazy about the team and filled the stadium for every game The Texans got the message and moved to Kansas City where they became the Chiefs The Cowboys had one of football’s most brilliant coaches Tom Landry He got plenty of help from Gil Brandt and Tex Schramm who ran the team’s business off the field Together these three built Dallas into a winner by the end of the 1960s The Cowboys had loads of talent during this time Their stars on offense included Don Meredith Craig Morton Don Perkins Dan Reeves Bob Hayes and Ralph Neely The defense was led by Bob Lilly Jethro Pugh Chuck Howley Lee Roy Jordan and Mel Renfro They helped Dallas reach the NFL Championship Game in 1966 and again in 1967 Cowboys fans had to wait until the 1970s before they got to watch their team play in the Super Bowl Dallas advanced to the big game five times during the decade and won the championship twice LEFT Bob Lilly ABOVE Tom Landry poses with quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Craig Morton 7
