The History of the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys organization is the most recognized and
profitable sports franchise in the history of sports and are known as America’s
Team. In 1960 the NFL awarded an expansion team to the city of Dallas. The team
was first known as the Dallas Steers, Dallas Rangers, and the Dallas Cowboys
all before playing their first game. The owner of the Washington Redskins
(George Preston Marshal) opposed adding the team in Dallas because his teams
fan base was in the south and feared the Expansion team would steal them away
for a team closer in location to them. The Pending owners of the Cowboys (Clint
Murchison Jr and Bedford Wynne) decided to ensure that they got awarded the
franchise so they went and bought the rights to the Redskins fight song. The
song Hail to the Redskins had been played before every Redskins game was not in
jeopardy unless they no longer opposed the expansion franchise and the Redskins
Conceded.
In 1960 after the Dallas was awarded the franchise the new
owner’s first action was to hire Tex Schramm as general manager. Tex hired
Personal Director Gill Brandt and started looking for a coach when a Defensive
coordinator from the NY Giants caught their eye in Tom Landry. The first year as a expansion team with no
draft was absolutely terrible finishing 0-11-1. It would only go up from there
in 1966 and 1967 The Cowboys made the playoffs but lost in the championship
game to the Packers who would go win super bowl 1 and 2. In 1970 the NFL and
AFL merged to make one league it was also a change for the Cowboys who lost key
members of their 1966 and 1967 team in Meredith and Perkins. In 1970 they found
their way back into the new NFC Championship game against the San Francisco
49ers and this time they would not be denied beating the 49ers 17-10 but ultimately
losing in the Super bowl 16-13 to the Baltimore Colts.
In 1971 The Cowboys moved
from the cotton bowl to a new stadium in Arlington Texas a suburb of Dallas.
The new stadium had a whole in the roof and Linebacker D.D. Lewis was quoted
saying “Texas Stadium has a hole in
its roof so GOD can watch His favorite team play” The Cowboys would go on to
and win the Super bowl in 1971 over by crushing the upstart Miami Dolphins 24-3
and getting rid of the Stigma of “Next Year’s champions” from 1972 to 1978 the
cowboys would reach the Super bowl 3 more times winning 1 in 1977. In 1978 The Cowboys were dubbed Americans
Team BY Bob Ryan an NFL films editor and that name has stuck until present day.
In 1984 the Cowboys were sold to a Dallas Oilman named H.R “Bum” Bright after
the previous owners came across hard time’s doe to a collapse of oil prices. In
1985 the Cowboys made the playoffs but were shut out and sent home by the Rams
20-0 and didn’t have another winning season under Tom Landry.
February of 1989 was the end of an Era Mr.
Bright Sold the Cowboys to an Arkansas business man Jerry Jones and he really
shook up the franchise. The first thing he did was fire legendary coach Landry
and hire Jimmy Johnson which had the fans in an uproar. It again escalated again
when Tex Schramm and Gil Brandt let the team as well. Their First ever draft
pick was Troy Aikman and went 1-15 in the 1989 season but that wasn’t the big
headline of that season. After 5 games the team was struggling to be
competitive so Jerry jones and Jimmy Johnson constructed the “Great Trade
Robbery” when they traded Hershel Walker to the Vikings. The trade is still the
largest trade in NFL history the trade was for a total of 18 players or draft
choices and it turned the Cowboys Franchise around. They won 2 super bowls with
Jimmy Johnson in 1992 and 1993 before he parted way with the Cowboys due to
disagreements with Jerry Jones. Barry Switzer took over the team and led them
to another super bowl win in 1995 and they had very little success after that
until Bill Parcells took over in 2003. In 2002 Emmitt Smith broke the all-time
Rushing record of Walter Peyton with 18,355. Since the dynasty of the 90’s
there have been some good teams but have not made it back to a super bowl since
the 1995 season.
The League is more popular today than it ever has been and
leading the charge to that is HOF owner Jerry jones in the beginning of his
tenure he made some unpopular choices but it turned into 3 super bowl
championships so he much know what he was doing. Currently according to Forbes
the Dallas Cowboys are the most Valuable sports franchise with an estimated
Value of over 4 Billion Dollars. The NFL rating’s for when the Cowboys play
verse when other teams play are at an all-time high Proving that the Cowboys
are not only America’s Team they are also the Worlds Teams thanks for listening
and have a great day.
