| Whoever is responsible for heaven’s dress code, please
be advised: Let Tom Landry continue to wear the fedora. The halo will still shine
brightly.
Landry, who had been fighting a form of leukemia since last May, died early Saturday
evening (Feb. 12) at the age of 75 with his beloved family — including Alicia Landry,
his wife of 50 years — at his bedside.
From a football standpoint, he was quite simply one of the greatest NFL head coaches
the game has known.
And with the possible exception of Paul Brown, certainly the most innovative — a
quality never easily detected behind his seemingly icy demeanor.
What’s more important to remember, though, is Tom Landry the person —
a model citizen who walked the walk, a born leader who embraced his family and faith first
and foremost.
And still had enough of himself left over to make the Dallas Cowboys one of the
NFL’s most successful franchises during his amazing 29-year stint as the team’s
head coach.
In this day and age, with head coaches coming and going like there’s no tomorrow
— the Cowboys recently hired their fourth different coach since owner Jerry Jones
unceremoniously dumped Landry in 1989 — Landry wouldn’t have lasted a season.
His first Cowboys team went 0-11-1, the NFL’s worst record in 18 years, but that
hardly phased Clint Murchison, the Cowboys’ original owner.
Four years into the job, Landry was languishing along with a 13-38-3 record. All
Murchison did was grant him a 10-year contract extension.
Smart move.
After all was said and done, Landry compiled 270 victories, the third most in NFL
history. In a span of 20 straight winning seasons — 1966 to ’85 — his teams
won 13 divisional titles and made 18 playoff appearances. During that span, Landry coached
five Hall of Famers (QB Roger Staubach, RB Tony Dorsett, DB Mel Renfro and DLs Bob Lilly
and Randy White) and 36 Pro Bowl participants.
And while Landry’s demeanor never wavered, one of pro football’s all-time
creative minds came up with a constant stream of ideas and formations on both sides of the
ball that remain at the core of today’s game.
Off the field, he made Gary Cooper look like Alice Cooper. Landry was a model citizen
who didn’t smoke, drink or curse. He was a B-17 co-pilot who survived 30 missions and
a crash in Europe during World War II. He became a born-again Christian in 1959 and spent
the next 40 years working diligently with religious organizations, especially the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
He was pure class, pure and simple — a quality he went out of his way to exhibit
both on and off the field.
While his coaching exploits became the stuff of legend, perhaps the greatest measure of
the man was demonstrated after Jones sent him packing.
If Landry was bitter — and those who know him will tell you that certainly was the
case — he never once showed it, although his decision to stop attending Cowboys games
after his dismissal spoke volumes.
He remained typecast in the strong, silent mode, concealing his raw emotions in a
shield of unflappable professionalism, quietly moving on with his life with dignity and a
devotion to God.
Sure, he could be cold and calculating to an extreme. But even quirky Cowboys players
like Don Meredith, who didn’t hesitate to poke fun at his stoic coach, "came to
love the man" with the passing of time.
Meredith is not alone. Tom Landry was a truly special breed. |
