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How team chemistry came to the 1960 Cowboys
By Ray Buckrbuck@star-telegram.com
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No history. Zero chemistry. No surprise they finished 0-11-1.
It was the Dallas Cowboys’ inaugural season, a hodgepodge of castoffs and has-beens from other NFL teams, a rookie head coach (Tom Landry), a one-time newspaper guy (Tex Schramm) as team president/general manager.
A former baby photographer (Gil Brandt) had been put in charge of gathering talent. Good luck with that one.
The 1960 Cowboys were thrown together too late for the ’60 NFL draft. It’s still the only franchise in league history to kick-start its first year of operation sans a college draft.
Instead, Landry, Schramm and Brandt were provided an expansion draft — three picks from each of the 12 existing teams’ unprotected list — as a means to build a 33-man roster to play a 12-game schedule in ’60.
Built on hand-me-down players from other teams and a few "street" free agents, the starter-kit Cowboys became the consummate strangers in the night.
Today’s Cowboys should be ashamed if chemistry is seen as a problem for them.
Frank Clarke vs. T.O.
Just for comparison sake, let’s look at the wide-receiver position:
Terrell Owens, 35, just completed his 13th NFL season and owns a bigger-than-life persona that transcends whatever he does on the field. He has racked up Hall of Fame numbers, including 14,122 career receiving yards and 139 career TD catches.
Frank Clarke, 74, played 11 NFL seasons (’57-59 as a bit player for the Cleveland Browns; ’60-67 as a star player on mostly sub-par Cowboys teams). He retired with 5,426 career receiving yards and 50 career TD catches.
Clarke’s club record of 14 TD receptions in '62 stood for 45 years until T.O.’s 15 TD catches in ’07, so they do have something in common.
Yet, their individual goals come from two different planets.
"My mindset was the same three things every year," said Clarke, now living in Durham, N.C. "I wanted to run a good 'Landry Mile’ — that’s anything under six minutes. I wanted to survive two-a-days. I wanted to make the team."
Today, Owens wants more catches, more involvement, more attention. Conversely, Clarke wanted to make Tom Landry happy.
"It was like in the movie Rocky," said Clarke, changing his voice to imitate Sylvester Stallone’s. "Adrian, when the bell rings after the 15th round, I just still want to be there. Because then I’ll know I ain’t just another bum from the neighborhood."
This modest goal — still to be standing — went a long way toward bringing chemistry to an expansion team, according to Clarke.
"You can build a lot of great things if you just concentrate, be in the moment, just do one thing at a time," Clarke said. "That’s what we did."
Losses mounted but individuals bonded. After all, these 33 guys had only themselves.
"We had no expectations ... and that part was fulfilled," said Clarke, laughing. "I don’t know; we were just surviving."
Individuals occupying that first Landry locker room became a team, and eventually won games, and later Super Bowls.
Handpicked leaders
There was hardly time for the upstart Cowboys to know each other — except for a guy or two who came over from the same team through the expansion draft.
But Clarke had nobody. He supposedly was joined from Cleveland by a pair of veteran running backs: Leroy Bolden and Ed Modzelewski.
Bolden, a Michigan State All-American who played on Biggie Munn’s ’52 national championship team, was a 28-year-old halfback with two NFL seasons lost to the military. He never reported to Dallas.
Ditto for Modzelewski, a 31-year-old fullback who decided eight years in the league was enough, when his option was moving to North Texas to be with an expansion outfit.
"I guess those two guys were done with football," recalled Clarke. "Anyway, we started to get the [Bob] Lillys and [Lee Roy] Jordans and [Mel] Renfros of the world, and that’s when we began to turn the corner."
And that’s when bonding-on-the-fly became so much easier.
"The whole thing about football is trust," said Brandt, Cowboys’ player personnel director for 29 years (1960-88). "Guys like Lilly, Lee Roy and Mel not only were good football players, they were good leaders."
I consider Brandt an expert witness on the subject of finding team chemistry. It began with Landry. The man’s moral code and pristine character led to the acquisition of high-character players.
Soon, Landry, Schramm and Brandt were deciding only on guys who ran fast, played smart ... and mixed well.
"We’d hold a team function around May 15 every year, and invite all the players and their families to Royal Oaks Country Club," Brandt recalled. "We’d sit around the pool, play golf, play volleyball, hit golf balls into buckets. That’s how guys got to know one another."
From the ’65 draft, Jethro Pugh, an 11th-round defensive tackle from Elizabeth City State, became great friends with Mitch Johnson, a 17th-round offensive tackle from UCLA.
Clarke and Eddie LeBaron. Clarke and Dandy Don Meredith.
Lilly and George Andrie were a tag team on the field — and just as close off the field.
Free golf, free meal
Landry’s philosophy was simple: Team chemistry on the barbie.
As familiarity spread, players and coaches soon knew the first names of wives, kids, even family pets. In fact, Landry knew how each player on the team liked his steak cooked.
Don’t laugh.
"Tom and I used to cook steaks on the grill every year at the country club," said Brandt.
Brandt, 75, keeps a hand in today’s NFL by writing two columns a week for NFL.com. He’s particularly adept at grading young talent coming into the league.
He knows all about bigger, stronger, faster. He doesn’t wallow in the past.
But Brandt will tell you firsthand: "It was a lot easier to build chemistry [in the ’60s] because players didn’t have the money that they do now. A free round of golf and a steak dinner was really quite appealing to them."
The ’60s players weren’t prone to mutiny, either, just because the coach hadn’t won a playoff game or his play-calling didn’t always work.
Landry was a 35-year-old family man with no head-coaching experience at any level when he arrived in Dallas. But he commanded respect.
He already had made a name for himself with the New York Giants. He already had flown 30 or so B-17 bomber missions over Europe in WWII, and survived at least one crash landing.
To this day, the Landry Era Cowboys who are interviewed for Old ’Boys Club almost systematically recite two fond memories about playing in Dallas: 1) How their feelings toward Landry went beyond football and 2) how their relationships with teammates have lasted a lifetime.
Player-egos were much smaller then.
So was Dallas-Fort Worth.
"We used to meet at the Holiday Inn on North Central Expressway," Brandt recalled. "You know what? I don’t know any of the guys lived more than 15 minutes away."
A step backward
So you ask: Why did it take the Cowboys so long to have a winning season (’66)? Or so long to capture a Super Bowl (January ’72)?
Said Brandt: "Things came together our second year, but then we regressed a little bit our third year ... then we took off."
Don Meredith was part of those early growing pains.
"I think part of the reason we regressed is that it was so much harder for a quarterback in the ’60s to come in," Brandt said. "Coaches at the collegiate level today do a much better job developing quarterbacks, plus they emphasize pass-blocking and route-running.
"Meredith probably threw the ball 18 times a game at SMU," Brandt added. "Today’s guys do that in one quarter."
Turning-point game for the early Cowboys?
"We went into Pittsburgh [Oct. 31, 1965] and lost [22-13]," Brandt replied. "Tom was so disappointed after that game. We had started out 2-0, but now we were 2-5. We played a game similar to the game Dallas just played at Philadelphia.
"But our [’65 loss at Pittsburgh] did more for us than anything. Players saw how much it meant to Tom ... and I think that catapulted us into success."
Epilogue
Today’s Cowboys haven’t a playoff game since 1996. Part of the problem seems to be a lack of chemistry and locker-room leadership.
The ’60 Cowboys were missing the same key elements, but they had a reason. They were thrown together virtually overnight.
"Chemistry is important in today’s game, I know it is," Clarke said. "But I have to say we weren’t thinking about chemistry in the ’60s. We just played the game."
Distractions are aplenty in today’s NFL.
"But players today should appreciate being where they are — and what they do," said Clarke. "Because it all goes so fast."
Landry, Schramm and Brandt built trust on their teams. They acquired solid citizens who could play good football. They assembled players who could lead ... and players who could follow strong leadership.
That plan worked four decades ago for the Cowboys. Maybe it can work today.
Next week: There were two pro football teams and plenty of tickets available at the Cotton Bowl in the early ’60s.
By Ray Buckrbuck@star-telegram.com
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No history. Zero chemistry. No surprise they finished 0-11-1.
It was the Dallas Cowboys’ inaugural season, a hodgepodge of castoffs and has-beens from other NFL teams, a rookie head coach (Tom Landry), a one-time newspaper guy (Tex Schramm) as team president/general manager.
A former baby photographer (Gil Brandt) had been put in charge of gathering talent. Good luck with that one.
The 1960 Cowboys were thrown together too late for the ’60 NFL draft. It’s still the only franchise in league history to kick-start its first year of operation sans a college draft.
Instead, Landry, Schramm and Brandt were provided an expansion draft — three picks from each of the 12 existing teams’ unprotected list — as a means to build a 33-man roster to play a 12-game schedule in ’60.
Built on hand-me-down players from other teams and a few "street" free agents, the starter-kit Cowboys became the consummate strangers in the night.
Today’s Cowboys should be ashamed if chemistry is seen as a problem for them.
Frank Clarke vs. T.O.
Just for comparison sake, let’s look at the wide-receiver position:
Terrell Owens, 35, just completed his 13th NFL season and owns a bigger-than-life persona that transcends whatever he does on the field. He has racked up Hall of Fame numbers, including 14,122 career receiving yards and 139 career TD catches.
Frank Clarke, 74, played 11 NFL seasons (’57-59 as a bit player for the Cleveland Browns; ’60-67 as a star player on mostly sub-par Cowboys teams). He retired with 5,426 career receiving yards and 50 career TD catches.
Clarke’s club record of 14 TD receptions in '62 stood for 45 years until T.O.’s 15 TD catches in ’07, so they do have something in common.
Yet, their individual goals come from two different planets.
"My mindset was the same three things every year," said Clarke, now living in Durham, N.C. "I wanted to run a good 'Landry Mile’ — that’s anything under six minutes. I wanted to survive two-a-days. I wanted to make the team."
Today, Owens wants more catches, more involvement, more attention. Conversely, Clarke wanted to make Tom Landry happy.
"It was like in the movie Rocky," said Clarke, changing his voice to imitate Sylvester Stallone’s. "Adrian, when the bell rings after the 15th round, I just still want to be there. Because then I’ll know I ain’t just another bum from the neighborhood."
This modest goal — still to be standing — went a long way toward bringing chemistry to an expansion team, according to Clarke.
"You can build a lot of great things if you just concentrate, be in the moment, just do one thing at a time," Clarke said. "That’s what we did."
Losses mounted but individuals bonded. After all, these 33 guys had only themselves.
"We had no expectations ... and that part was fulfilled," said Clarke, laughing. "I don’t know; we were just surviving."
Individuals occupying that first Landry locker room became a team, and eventually won games, and later Super Bowls.
Handpicked leaders
There was hardly time for the upstart Cowboys to know each other — except for a guy or two who came over from the same team through the expansion draft.
But Clarke had nobody. He supposedly was joined from Cleveland by a pair of veteran running backs: Leroy Bolden and Ed Modzelewski.
Bolden, a Michigan State All-American who played on Biggie Munn’s ’52 national championship team, was a 28-year-old halfback with two NFL seasons lost to the military. He never reported to Dallas.
Ditto for Modzelewski, a 31-year-old fullback who decided eight years in the league was enough, when his option was moving to North Texas to be with an expansion outfit.
"I guess those two guys were done with football," recalled Clarke. "Anyway, we started to get the [Bob] Lillys and [Lee Roy] Jordans and [Mel] Renfros of the world, and that’s when we began to turn the corner."
And that’s when bonding-on-the-fly became so much easier.
"The whole thing about football is trust," said Brandt, Cowboys’ player personnel director for 29 years (1960-88). "Guys like Lilly, Lee Roy and Mel not only were good football players, they were good leaders."
I consider Brandt an expert witness on the subject of finding team chemistry. It began with Landry. The man’s moral code and pristine character led to the acquisition of high-character players.
Soon, Landry, Schramm and Brandt were deciding only on guys who ran fast, played smart ... and mixed well.
"We’d hold a team function around May 15 every year, and invite all the players and their families to Royal Oaks Country Club," Brandt recalled. "We’d sit around the pool, play golf, play volleyball, hit golf balls into buckets. That’s how guys got to know one another."
From the ’65 draft, Jethro Pugh, an 11th-round defensive tackle from Elizabeth City State, became great friends with Mitch Johnson, a 17th-round offensive tackle from UCLA.
Clarke and Eddie LeBaron. Clarke and Dandy Don Meredith.
Lilly and George Andrie were a tag team on the field — and just as close off the field.
Free golf, free meal
Landry’s philosophy was simple: Team chemistry on the barbie.
As familiarity spread, players and coaches soon knew the first names of wives, kids, even family pets. In fact, Landry knew how each player on the team liked his steak cooked.
Don’t laugh.
"Tom and I used to cook steaks on the grill every year at the country club," said Brandt.
Brandt, 75, keeps a hand in today’s NFL by writing two columns a week for NFL.com. He’s particularly adept at grading young talent coming into the league.
He knows all about bigger, stronger, faster. He doesn’t wallow in the past.
But Brandt will tell you firsthand: "It was a lot easier to build chemistry [in the ’60s] because players didn’t have the money that they do now. A free round of golf and a steak dinner was really quite appealing to them."
The ’60s players weren’t prone to mutiny, either, just because the coach hadn’t won a playoff game or his play-calling didn’t always work.
Landry was a 35-year-old family man with no head-coaching experience at any level when he arrived in Dallas. But he commanded respect.
He already had made a name for himself with the New York Giants. He already had flown 30 or so B-17 bomber missions over Europe in WWII, and survived at least one crash landing.
To this day, the Landry Era Cowboys who are interviewed for Old ’Boys Club almost systematically recite two fond memories about playing in Dallas: 1) How their feelings toward Landry went beyond football and 2) how their relationships with teammates have lasted a lifetime.
Player-egos were much smaller then.
So was Dallas-Fort Worth.
"We used to meet at the Holiday Inn on North Central Expressway," Brandt recalled. "You know what? I don’t know any of the guys lived more than 15 minutes away."
A step backward
So you ask: Why did it take the Cowboys so long to have a winning season (’66)? Or so long to capture a Super Bowl (January ’72)?
Said Brandt: "Things came together our second year, but then we regressed a little bit our third year ... then we took off."
Don Meredith was part of those early growing pains.
"I think part of the reason we regressed is that it was so much harder for a quarterback in the ’60s to come in," Brandt said. "Coaches at the collegiate level today do a much better job developing quarterbacks, plus they emphasize pass-blocking and route-running.
"Meredith probably threw the ball 18 times a game at SMU," Brandt added. "Today’s guys do that in one quarter."
Turning-point game for the early Cowboys?
"We went into Pittsburgh [Oct. 31, 1965] and lost [22-13]," Brandt replied. "Tom was so disappointed after that game. We had started out 2-0, but now we were 2-5. We played a game similar to the game Dallas just played at Philadelphia.
"But our [’65 loss at Pittsburgh] did more for us than anything. Players saw how much it meant to Tom ... and I think that catapulted us into success."
Epilogue
Today’s Cowboys haven’t a playoff game since 1996. Part of the problem seems to be a lack of chemistry and locker-room leadership.
The ’60 Cowboys were missing the same key elements, but they had a reason. They were thrown together virtually overnight.
"Chemistry is important in today’s game, I know it is," Clarke said. "But I have to say we weren’t thinking about chemistry in the ’60s. We just played the game."
Distractions are aplenty in today’s NFL.
"But players today should appreciate being where they are — and what they do," said Clarke. "Because it all goes so fast."
Landry, Schramm and Brandt built trust on their teams. They acquired solid citizens who could play good football. They assembled players who could lead ... and players who could follow strong leadership.
That plan worked four decades ago for the Cowboys. Maybe it can work today.
Next week: There were two pro football teams and plenty of tickets available at the Cotton Bowl in the early ’60s.
