2021 season countdown thread

[Jake]

Some other memorable players who wore #56 are Eugene "the hitting machine" Lockhart and Bradie James. Current player wearing #56 is Bradlee Anae.

I forgot about Lockhart. Just looked him up now and see he recently spent 54 months in prison for mortgage fraud - didn't know that.

He did pretty well for himself as a 6th round pick but his final season in Dallas was 1990, just before the winning began.

 

[Hagman]

up and eventually he became a motivational speaker and a $28 million lottery winner in Texas. I'm not sure, but I think he hit the lotto twice - can any Texans confirm?
56 days to Tampa Bay

Yep. Won $28 million, And a few years after that won $50,000.
When somebody ask him what he did every day now that he won the lottery he famously replied “not a damn thing, and I don’t start that until after noon.”

 

[Hagman]

Every Dallas Cowboy Who Wore #56

 

[garyo1954]

Fun Fact: Lawrence Taylor once said he wore 56 because he was inspired by Thomas Henderson.

Gene grew up about an hour and a half SE of Dallas in Crockett, Texas. (Kenny Rogers mother lived there until her passing)

 

[maryquality]

I forgot about Lockhart. Just looked him up now and see he recently spent 54 months in prison for mortgage fraud - didn't know that.

He did pretty well for himself as a 6th round pick but his final season in Dallas was 1990, just before the winning began.

My daughters and I met him at a stadium tour we took the day before a game we attended at Texas Stadium in 2008. He and his son were at a table giving out autographs. My daughter was wearing a shirt that said : "My Rules - #1. I don't follow rules #2. See Rule#1". He laughed about it, and she talked for a little bit with his son. The next day at a Tailgate party in the Stadium parking lock, he showed up. He was very nice, and was talking to everyone. He recognized my daughter, and called out to her "Hey Rules!!". He put her on his shoulders and was prancing around!! He then proceeds to call his son and then hands the phone to my daughter, and tells her, "here, talk to my son!". She talked to him for a while. LOL
I believe it was a year or so later, when he was arrested for fraud. I have a picture of my daughter on his shoulders. Wish I could post it!! LOL

 

[maryquality]

 

[DoctorChicken]

Every Dallas Cowboy Who Wore #56

Bradlee Anae is obviously the best of these guys.

 

[Jake]

Did not realize Jack Patera was the original #56 for the Cowboys. Dallas selected him from the Cardinals in the expansion draft.

I remember Patera as the first coach of the Seahawks, so he did the expansion thing as a player and then a head coach.

 

[Hagman]

Bradlee Anae is obviously the best of these guys.

The only reason that he's not in the Hall of Fame is the strong anti-Cowboys bias of the voters. Well, that and he's a rookie.....but someday.

 

[Bobhaze]

For me, #56 immediately means Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. What a character. Fantastic athlete but never reached his full potential due to drugs and shenanigans. I haven't seen anyone else run a reverse handoff to a linebacker on kickoffs, much less have it turn into a big gain, since Henderson was doing it for Dallas. In SB X, Henderson did such a reverse on the opening kickoff. His 48 yard gallop got the ball to Pittsburgh's 44 yard line.

Henderson wasn't exactly highly recruited. He originally joined the Air Force out of high school but quit before being sworn in. He walked on to the football team at Langston University, became an NAIA All-American at defensive end, and ran 100 meters in 9.5 seconds. Dallas took him in the first round of the 1975 draft. Lawrence Taylor said he wore #56 because of Thomas Henderson.

Henderson ended up in prison thanks to cocaine and stupidity. But that experience sobered him up and eventually he became a motivational speaker and a $28 million lottery winner in Texas. I'm not sure, but I think he hit the lotto twice - can any Texans confirm?

56 days to Tampa Bay

Hollywood could have had a ROH career if he hadn’t gotten messed up. Two plays I recommend anyone look up on YouTube to see his unbelieveable athleticism-
1. The kickoff return he had against Pitts in SB X.
2. The pick six he had against the Rams to seal the victory in the 1978 NFC championship game.

IMO, Hollywood Henderson had the most raw talent of any LB to wear the Star.

 

[Jake]

55 days to Tampa Bay

The first #55 for me is Lee Roy Jordan, someone for our current #55 (LVE) to aspire to become. Jordan spent his entire 14 year career as a Cowboy and is a member of the Ring of Honor, having all of the accolades that go with it. The only thing missing from Jordan's resume' is Hall of Fame membership.

 

[Hagman]

 

[maryquality]

55 days to Tampa Bay

The first #55 for me is Lee Roy Jordan, someone for our current #55 (LVE) to aspire to become. Jordan spent his entire 14 year career as a Cowboy and is a member of the Ring of Honor, having all of the accolades that go with it. The only thing missing from Jordan's resume' is Hall of Fame membership.

I would like it if LVE can at least be as good as these other 55's: Jack Del Rio, and Rolando McClain (without the purple drank- LOL).

 

[Hagman]

Lee Roy Jordan played for Bear Bryant at Alabama with Joe Namath as his quarterback. He was part of a royal line of succession at middle linebacker for the Cowboys that went from Jerry Tubbs, to him to Bob Breunig. He was a ferocious player at perhaps the most brutal position during that era---when hits were allowed that would get players multi-game suspensions today. I remember watching games back in the 1960s where defenders would reach out their arms and clothesline running backs coming through the line. Their heads would stop moving as their feet flew up in the air.

Eagles fans and media blame Lee Roy and a clothesline hit on one of their players in 1967 for starting the intensity of the Dallas- Eagles rivalry. As the Eagles tell it, Dallas was mad that running back Timmy Brown had gain so much yardage against them previously. Then late in the game in a Cowboys blow-out victory the Eagles sent Brown out for a pass:

Brown looped out of the backfield on a pass route. Quarterback Norm Snead overthrew him. At 6-foot-1 and 221 pounds, patrolling the middle of the field, Jordan was two inches taller and 23 pounds heavier than Brown, and he straightened his arm and dropped Brown to the ground with a clothesline tackle. How late the hit was depends on which player you ask about it.

"It numbed me," Brown said. "I was in shock, I suppose. I wasn't ready for any kind of a real blow."

"Both of us were up in the air. I think I remember it that way," Jordan said. "The ball was in the air, and both of us were going for the ball. Whatever reflexes I had, it ended up affecting him."

The Eagles finished 6-7-1 in 1967, the first of 11 straight seasons for them without a winning record. The Cowboys won two Super Bowls, reached two more, and won 74 percent of their regular-season games over the same period - the resentment over Jordan's hit and Dallas' rise into a dynasty building here as time passed.

The media reported that the blow knocked out 4 of Brown's teeth. Brown says that it actually cost him 9 teeth. He was on a liquid diet for about two months afterwards.

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/spo..._that_started_the_Eagles-Cowboys_rivalry.html

So I always think of that song "Bad,Bad Lee Roy Brown" when I think of Lee Roy Jordon, He was badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junk yard dog.

 

[Techsass]

Excuse me for showing my ignorance (again!), but what does that last AV column signify?

 

[Hagman]

Excuse me for showing my ignorance (again!), but what does that last AV column signify?

I’m getting all this from a site called pro-football- reference. The AV for them is something called the approximate value of the player. Honestly I care so little that I haven’t bothered to figure out what their ranking system means or how it’s put together. I just found it to be a good quick source to identify every Cowboy there has ever been with a certain number.

 

[Bobhaze]

55 days to Tampa Bay

The first #55 for me is Lee Roy Jordan, someone for our current #55 (LVE) to aspire to become. Jordan spent his entire 14 year career as a Cowboy and is a member of the Ring of Honor, having all of the accolades that go with it. The only thing missing from Jordan's resume' is Hall of Fame membership.

The great Lee Roy Jordan played in 19 playoff games in his career; 5 NFC championship games and 3 SBs, and had 4 career INTs in playoff games.

 

[Hagman]

Jack Del Rio was a journeyman linebacker in the NFL. Drafted by the Saints out of USC in 1985, he also had stints with the Chiefs, Vikings and Dolphins As a Cowboy from '89-91--having been claimed off waivers--he started 12 games at strongside linebacker in '89 and started all 16 games in 1990. The next year he was allowed to leave via free agency. He was head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for 9 years and for Oakland for 3 years, also serving as an assistant coach--usually defensive coordinator for Baltimore, New Orleans, Carolina and Denver. He currently is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Whatchamacallits.

So thanks for your years as a Cowboy Jack, and I wish you the very worst in your current employment.

 

[Jake]

54 days to Tampa Bay

Chuck Howley is one of my favorite Cowboy stories. A tremendous athlete, Howley lettered in 3 sports in high school while also participating in gymnastics. A first round draft pick of the Bears in 1958, Howley injured his knee in 1959 and played in only 3 games. Thinking his career was over, Howley went home to West Virginia and ran a gas station while missing the entire 1960 season. After a year of that he decided he needed to try a comeback in pro football: "I went back because I decided there were better things to do than run a gas station."

The Bears, thinking his knee injury had ended his playing days, jumped at the opportunity to trade his rights to the Cowboys for second (Steve Barnett) and 9th (Monte Day) round draft picks. Suffice to say the Cowboys got the better of that deal as Howley became a five-time All Pro, member of the 1960s All-Decade team, SB MVP, SB champion, and enshrined in the Cowboys Ring of Honor. He's the only SB MVP to win the award in a loss but he got his ring the following season.

The Manster, Randy White, began his college career at Maryland as a fullback before moving to defensive end in his sophomore season. By his senior year he had won the Outland Trophy, Lombardi Trophy, and the ACC Player of the Year. Dallas selected him second overall in the 1975 draft and spent the next 2 years trying to turn White into a middle linebacker. In 1977 he moved to defensive tackle and the rest is history. White missed one game in his entire career and his last game as a Cowboy was also Tom Landry's last, ending an incredible run for both of them.

College All Star game, introducing himself to Terry Bradshaw.

 

[Hagman]