warning: this is long
So everybody knows SB 45 will be at Cowboys Stadium. To ramp up fundraising and awareness there are going to be a lot of events in the DFW area.
Today they had one called Legends of the Fall, to honor all the great football played in North Texas over the last 100 years.
They are going to pick the Top 100 moments in football, high school, college and pro for the North Texas Area by letting people vote out of 250 moments assembled by a panel.
I went primarily just to see the Cowboy greats of old but was interested in the other former players of this area. The event was held at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, the only public high school in the country that can boast of having 2 Heisman Trophy winners, Tim Brown and Davey O'Brien.
Brad Sham was the MC so you already know it was great.
They had some true greats on the stage and they discussed their memories of playing football in this area.
There was Mean Joe Greene representing the University of North Texas; Sooner legend Billy Sims, whose exploits in the Texas-OU rivalry cemented his legacy; Abner Haynes of the AFL’s Dallas Texans, by way of UNT; One half of the Pony Express, Craig James of SMU; Woodrow alum Tim Brown representing North Texas high school football; and Davey O'Briens son.
The Cowboys who were there were Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Michael Irvin and Daryl Johnston.
All-in-all, that group tallies 16 Super Bowl rings, four Heisman Trophies and five Hall of Fame busts (with Tim Brown eligible to join that HOF group for the first time this year).
Abner Haynes talked about the racial struggles he faced playing football in that era and said how it made their UNT team closer. His was the most serious talk of the day and was very good.
Brad Sham asked Tim Brown of his memories of playing football at Woodrow Wilson and the crowd cracked up when he said they were horrible, 4-25-1.
Brad Sham who had been talking about the 1912 UT-OU game being the first of those played in Dallas, was teasing Staubach about the 1964 Cotton Bowl, which Navy lost to Texas and Staubach joked back at Sham, " how did you like that 1912 game". There was great banter between the two of them and you could tell they were comfortable with each other.
Another interesting note, Mean Joe Greene who grew up in Texas said he grew up a Cowboy fan ! I never knew that. Brad Sham said in spite of his nickname Joe was a great guy and Tony Dorsett stated "sure he was, he gave that kid his jersey" in reference to the famous Coke commercial.
Mean Joe told a story about how he once creamed Fran Tarkenton after chasing him all day along the sidelines and then said something like (how do you like me now) and Fran just replied back, " Look where we are Joe" (out of bounds) and then Joe saw the flag flying.
Moose Johnston got his "moose" call when he was announced.
Troy said the first Super Bowl win was his favorite because of how far down they had been and then won it all. He also said it was a huge advantage for him for the Cowboys to practice at UCLA and then play at the Rose Bowl because he was already comfortable with both places having played a lot of his college games at those stadiums.
The event was held in the high school auditorium which of course had those hard wood back folding seats. This created my best moment of the day.
I was seated across the aisle from Rayfield Wright. After Brad Sham introduced him he had to work really hard to get back into that little folding seat and as he was sitting down he looked at me and shook his head and laughed. When the event was over I said " Mr. Wright they shouldn't make grown ups sit in these", he started laughing and said " Nate Newton wouldn't ever fit in there". I was cracking up.
It was a great thing to be at. There were a lot more stories told by each of the players and it was almost like sitting in a living room and listening to the greats I watched on TV just talk and cut up. If you are a football fan it was heaven on earth.
All those guys looked great and seemed happy. Sorry this was so long but trust me it could have been even longer.
Here is what Tim Brown and his Heisman arrived in
The group representing the various categories of the greatest moments
bottom row, left to right : Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Tim Brown and Davey O'Briens son.
top row left to right : Billy Sims, Joe Greene, Daryl Johnston, Michael Irvin, Craig James and Abner Haynes
A plaque presented to the school by the committee honoring their 2 Heisman winners.
Troy, Joe, Moose and Roger are listening to Tony Dorsett talk about going to the Super Bowl as a rookie.
Brad Sham talking with Charean Williams and Rich Gosselin about how the 250 moments were chosen, Sham also managed to put in a plug to get Charles Haley into the HOF. They are both voters. Sham is a very funny guy and a great MC.
The 2 great Cowboy quarterbacks were so relaxed I had to include this shot. Thats pretty much how it felt there and I loved every second of it.
Sorry this was so long winded but I had to share this with other football fans.
For the official version of the event go here http://www.northtexassuperbowl.com/news/legends-fall
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