Tuesday 11 November 2014 17:25, UK
They’re one of the most iconic teams in American sport, in world sport in fact, and now ‘America’s Team’ are in London as the NFL really gets serious about spreading the game to the UK, so what’s behind the story of one of the NFL’s major forces?
While recent polls in America have suggested that the Cowboys aren’t the most popular any more, there’s no team that attracts more attention, steals more of the limelight and grabs more of the headlines than Dallas.
The glitz and glamour of the NFL is perfectly summed up by the Cowboys, and in particular their outspoken and flamboyant owner Jerry Jones.
They’re also the most valuable team in the NFL, and the fifth most valuable sports team in the world according to the latest Forbes listings which values them at $3.2 billion.
Like them or not the Cowboys are box office, they’re big business, and they’re in the UK this Sunday to play at Wembley, so let’s look at the history of the Dallas Cowboys…
Owners Clint Murchison and Bedford Wynne were awarded an expansion franchise in 1960 when they joined as a ‘swing’ team, playing every other team in the league once. Stocked with players from other teams, they duly lost 11 of their 12 games with just one tie against New York to their name.
They won their first game at the start of their second season against Pittsburgh at the Cotton Bowl, but head coach Tom Landry soon got them into shape as they made their first Super Bowl in February 1971 where they lost to the Baltimore Colts at the Orange Bowl, but they returned a year later to win their first Super Bowl title against the Miami Dolphins.
Three more appearances in the big game followed in just four years, although they were only able to win one of those Super Bowls – a 27-10 win over Denver – but the spell of success had firmly put them on the map as an NFL powerhouse.
After such a period of success the Cowboys had become huge, and everywhere they played around the NFL there seemed to be as many fans in silver and blue as there were home fans – and this fact was picked up by the crew at NFL Films who were getting footage of every team for end of season highlights packages.
After winning the Super Bowl in February 1978, the following season the Cowboys went 12-4 and returned to the big game, only to lose out agonisingly to the Steelers. When writing the intro for the Cowboys highlight film, Bob Ryan, noticing such success, strength in depth of the team and their huge following, wrote..
“No matter where they play, their fans are there to greet them. Their faces are recognised by fans all across this country. The sum total of their stars are a galaxy. They are the Dallas Cowboys…America’s team.”
Their first coach and man who built them up to become the team that they are – the famous fedora-wearing Tom Landry stood on the Dallas sidelines for 29 years, leading them to unparalleled success during his time, including five Super Bowl appearances in nine years and two wins.
A defensive strategist, he moulded the famous ‘Doomsday Defence’ in Dallas which their success was built on. He won five NFC titles, 13 divisional crowns and more impressively a record 20 consecutive winning seasons, while also winning a record 20 playoff games.
Landry’s fortunes declined and his third straight losing season in 1988 turned out to be his last as he was fired by new owner Jerry Jones after a 3-13 record. Landry’s parting gift to Dallas was that the league’s worst record that year at least gave them the No 1 Draft pick, which they used on a certain Troy Aikman.
Jones bought the Cowboys off HR 'Bum' Bright for $140m in February 1989, and in a sign of things to come made the immediate decision to axe coach Landry and replace him with his former Arkansas team-mate Jimmy Johnson, and a few months later assumed control of football decisions, and to this day he remains the most ‘hands-on’ owner around.
Despite winning back-to-back Super Bowls Johnson left his post in 1994 after a fall-out with Jones, as the owner also wanted more say over personnel matters. Barry Switzer replaced Johnson and also won a Super Bowl, but leaner times have followed.
Jones has continued to grow the Cowboys though, and built a huge new stadium, nicknamed ‘Jerryworld’ as it also represents his larger-than-life persona. Fans and commentators have often criticised Jones for getting too involved in team matters, but love him or hate him there’s no doubting his passion for the Cowboys.
Another huge move made by Jones and coach Johnson was the controversial trade of running back Herschel Walker at the height of his powers to the Minnesota Vikings. The biggest trade in NFL history saw the Cowboys pick up five players and six draft picks from the Vikings to help rebuild the team after a woeful 1-15 season.
Through the veteran players brought in and quality additions in the next few drafts, notably running back Emmitt Smith, ‘The Trade’ is widely recognised as the turning point for Dallas and the move that propelled them to domination during the 90s.
The glory years of the Cowboys came with they became the first team to win three Super Bowls in four years, led by the three-pronged attack of quarterback Tory Aikman, receiver Michael Irvin and running back Emmitt Smith.
They could have made it four in four had they not lost the NFC title game to San Francisco in 1995 but with Aikman throwing passes, Irvin making all the catches and Smith setting records as the NFL’s top runner of the time, these three were as good a combination as the league has ever seen.
As synonymous with the Cowboys as anything are the team’s cheerleaders, who started in the inaugural season in 1960 and are the most recognised group in the NFL. They’re so big they even have their own reality TV show in America!
Battling to get into the 36-member team of cheerleaders is highlighted on their TV show, as the competition is almost as fierce as it is to make the playing squad. General manager Tex Schramm first started to change the image of the group for the 1970 season and by 1972 the look was similar to that seen today.
Everything’s bigger in Texas, and that’s definitely Jerry Jones’ motto when it comes to the shiny new Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) which opened for the start of the 2009 season at a cost of $1.3 billion and held Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
The old Texas Stadium and it’s famed hole in the roof “so God can watch his favourite team play” was always going to be hard to replace, so Jones knew he had to think big to try and move on from such an historic building. And he’s certainly done that.
With the world’s largest column-free interior space, a capacity of 105,000 for NFL games, a retractable roof and huge 60-yard wide HD screen suspended over the field, it’s a truly awe-inspiring site from inside and out. Bagging a naming rights deal with AT&T worth $500m also helps.
