We are almost a month away from that annual pro football gathering known as training camp. The time when 32 teams start the beginning of football season with hope for a season of glory. The time when most of us fans get excited about guys that may never do anything in this league. Training camp “stars” that become “ghosts”, lol.
And in the daily grind of boring practices and repetitive drills, several newspaper beat writers will spin multiple articles about some “spare” who is “having a great camp”. It will usually be a late round pick or UFA with a great personal story that becomes everyone’s favorite underdog. And they usually never amount to much if they even make the team.
So for fun, I thought I would dust off the names of some former “Training Camp Stars” who burned bright in August only to see the Turk in September or fizzle out in a short career often while languishing on the bench.
Some former TC “stars” of Cowboys history:
1. In 1963, former TCU QB Sonny Gibbs raised some eyebrows in TC. Gibbs was the team’s 2nd round pick in ‘62. Some writers were hailing his camp performance and even said he might pass Don Meredith to become the starting QB. Yeah... He never played a down in Dallas and was out of football by 1967 or 68. I remember as a little kid hearing that Sonny Gibbs was pressing Meredith to start. One other fun tidbit: Gibbs was 6’7”, a full foot taller than the “original” Cowboys QB, 5’7” Eddie LeBaron!
2. In 1970, the Cowboys were in a contract squabble with Bob Hayes who was asking for an outrageous $40,000 a year contract, lol. Gil Brandt brought in a speedy kid from Canadian football named Margene Adkins. Not surprisingly, Adkins was touted by the writers in TC as “having a great camp” and was even being talked about as a possible Hayes replacement. Adkins went on to catch 19 passes in 3 NFL seasons, two with Dallas. Hayes went on to the ROH and HOF.
3. In 1974 an UFA RB named Doug Dennison impressed everyone in TC and made the team. Landry even said he was the best goal line runner they had. Dennison was even proclaimed by some to be the future at RB. The great RB Preston Pearson was having great years in Dallas 75-76, but he got hurt in 76 and Dennison got his shot. He rushed for 542 yards and 6TDs in 76. But then the Cowboys drafted some guy named Dorsett the next year....
4. How about the 80s TC star and fan favorite QB Kevin Sweeney? A 7th round pick who became the darling at TC and a fan favorite, especially during the strike season of 1987 when the NFL played multiple games with rookies, former NFL rejects, etc. Sweeney lulled many Cowboys fans into thinking his solid play in replacement games would translate when regular NFL players returned. Despite his popularity, he played his last game in 1988, going 10-28 for 94 yards in 43-3 loss to the Vikings. He left the NFL for good in ‘89.
5. Who could forget the great 90’s TC star, RB Beau Morgan? An Air Force Academy kid who played QB in college but was an UFA expected to be converted to a RB. Because he had his military commitment, he actually participated in 3 TCs. One of the guys hailed as “having a great camp” each year by writers, Morgan had several good preseason games, even had writers like Randy Galloway impressed. But Beau could only make the practice squad and was eventually unceremoniously cut after being the star of 3 TCs.
These days, we could probably say OTA and TC superstar Rico Gathers is our most recent “ghost”. Anyway, it’s always fun to see who the guy is every year at TC that is hyped and hailed only to fizzle soon after.
Any good TC “ghosts” I left out? Any predictions on who will be the new Training Camp HOFer this year?
,,,about everytime when I cut across sign of yer' posts, come to think about it?
