by D Server

Created on: July 11, 2009

Roger Staubach's career, and for that matter, his life, almost sound too good to be true. But he was a Heisman Trophy winner, a military veteran and a pro football hall of fame quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.. All the while raising a family and giving to the community. The one trait he had which doesn't quite fit with all those niceties was his competitiveness. Near the end of his career, his team was losing a regular season game in Los Angeles to the Rams, the Cowboys main rivals in those years for a Super Bowl berth. While the Rams were celebrating near the end of the game, Staubach went over to their bench and yelled at them, apparently using some strong language, that the Cowboys would see them again in the playoffs. Which they did, with the Cowboys winning, 28-0.

Staubach won the Heisman Trophy as a junior playing for the Naval Academy. After graduating from Annapolis, he headed off to serve in the navy, a five-year stint which included time in Vietnam. His football exploits were pretty much forgotten when he became a civilian, but after his senior year, the Cowboys used a draft choice to obtain his rights, even though they knew he would be going away for many years. When he first joined the team, he was hardly an overnight sensation. In fact, he was the backup quarterback for a couple of years, behind Craig Morton, who had backed up Don Meredith for several years and had finally become the starter when Meredith retired after the 1968 season. The Cowboys were in the midst of a long run of successful seasons when Staubach joined them in the late sixties and that success continued with Morton as the starter. But there was one other streak the Cowboys were still dealing with and that was never winning the big game. They had lost two NFL championship games to the Packers in 1966 and 1967 and then lost playoff games to Cleveland in '68 and '69. Finally, in 1970, they made it their first Super Bowl game, but in a mistake-plagued game, they lost to the Colts on a late field goal.

In 1971, the Cowboys' season seemed in trouble. After seven games, with Morton at quarterback, the Cowboys had a record of just 4-3. Then Tom Landry made the pivotal decision to switch quarterbacks. He put Staubach in as the starter for the eight game and the Cowboys did not lose again the rest of the season, eventually winning their first Super Bowl. The decision to switch to Staubach not only worked for that season, but for the whole decade of the seventies. Staubach retired after the 1979 season, and in his nine years as starter, the Cowboys won two Super Bowls, played in two others (losing after tough battles with the mighty Steelers) and made the playoffs eight times.

Not only were the Cowboys of the seventies known for their success, but they were also celebrated for their exciting play. Staubach engineered many last-minute wins throughout his tenure, including the most famous one in a playoff game in Minnesota in 1975, the so-called "Hail Mary" game. There was another famous last minute win for the Cowboys in Staubach's last regular season game in 1979 against the Redskins,

Roger Staubach was elected to the hall of fame as soon as he was eligible 1n 1985, as he took his rightful place among the greats of the game.

Learn more about this author, D Server.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.