Oops I slipped the above post ... here's the 2nd best post about Mansperger, drat I've lost the best one ... just compare the Cboys best years against his years with the Boys ... and how he and Ackels brought the Seahawks to the playoffs in a couple of years ... before free agency was a reality ...
April 29, 1992
Mansperger quits as Cowboys' scouting director
Author: Mike Fisher; Star-Telegram Writer
IRVING - Dick Mansperger yesterday resigned his position as the Dallas Cowboys' director of college scouting to enter private business and praised the new regime for invigorating "both me and the Cowboys."
"That's why it may seem strange to be doing this now," said Mansperger, who after 28 years of National Football League scouting will "pursue a lifelong dream" by owning and operating an instructional clinic for coaches. "(Coach Jimmy Johnson and owner Jerry Jones) have been super. They are awesome. Jimmy is truly brilliant. Jerry's kindness is overwhelming. He has all the right stuff.
"I want to leave while you can feel the positive, winning vibes around here. I don't want to be the old heavyweight hanging on, drawing a pension check," said Mansperger, 58.
The Cowboys would not say if there are plans to replace Mansperger, who joins former pro personnel director John Wooten as the second executive to leave the department! in a year. Jones said he might seek to retain Mansperger as a consultant.
"I'll do anything I can for Jerry Jones," said Mansperger, who then joked, "I don't know what in the world anybody would need to consult me about."
After coaching at the college level, Mansperger joined the Dallas staff as a scout in 1965. He coached at Iowa in 1966 before returning to the Cowboys, where he worked until 1976, when he took the personnel director job with the Seattle Seahawks. He returned to Dallas in 1984, and four years ago was put in charge of college scouting.
"My appreciation for Dick's work is a direct reflection of the quality of drafts we've had since we became part of the Cowboys three years ago," Jones said. "We will miss him."
In his years with both the Seahawks and Cowboys, Mansperger was credited by his peers as having an encyclopedic knowledge of college players, a talent that earned him national media recognition. His memory served! him well when asked about his most notable moments in pro football:
"When I shut my eyes, I can see our games in the Cotton Bowl, Bob Hayes setting records, Jim Boeke jumping offsides in a championship game, fans mobbing our bus so Calvin Hill can't get in, Don Meredith getting hit to cost us a championship, Walt Garrison getting out of a hospital bed to play brilliantly, Jimmy Taylor getting flipped by Mike Gaechter, Steve Largent beating world-class sprinters while he was the slowest receiver in the league . . . Bubba Smith recovering a phantom fumble, Bob Lilly chasing Bob Griese in the Super Bowl, Bob Hayes moving up his wedding date so he wouldn't get called into (military) duty. I can close my eyes and see a lot of things."
Mansperger will run the business with longtime friend Gene Felker, a former Dallas Texans player who recently served as an NFL Alumni executive. The coaching clinics will kick off June 5-7 in the Hurst-Euless-Beford area and will concentrate not only on how to teach people to teach sports, but als! o on youth-related topics such as drugs and gangs. The sessions will be videotaped by Panasonic, which is underwriting the project, and made available to interested coaches.
"It's a chance to give something back," Mansperger said. "It's an idea we've been cooking up for 30 years. And really, my enthusiasm for the venture was reinforced by Jimmy and Jerry. They've refreshed in me the feeling I grew up with - that if you refuse to be beaten, it makes you a tough mark."
Mansperger called the first clinic "an off-Broadway event" and said the goal is to expand to six clinics nationwide. Cowboys officials said there is no doubt Mansperger will succeed.
"Dick is a very disciplined individual, an extremely hard worker," said Cowboys executive Bob Ackles, a friend for 16 years. "He was so devoted, he had no home life whatsoever."
Part of that may change now, Mansperger said.
"Maybe now I'll find time to plant a rose, or to go see a m! ovie," he said. "Because I never made the time outside of work, I have n't seen a movie in a theater since I was a little kid."
Briefly
While the Cowboys continued the process of signing their top five picks, they began dealing with agents of the other 10 picks yesterday. . . . The draftees will be in Dallas tomorrow to participate in a minicamp Friday through Sunday at Valley Ranch. The teams' veterans will stay on through May 8 for quarterback school. . . . The Cowboys agreed to terms with seven rookie free agents: running back Michael Beasley of West Virginia; defensive lineman Swift Burch of Temple; guard Melvin Evans of Texas Southern; tight end-tackle Patt Evans of Minnesota; tight end Harold Heath of Jackson State; defensive back Michael James of Arkansas; and Terry Tilton of Angelo State.
Copyright 1992, 1994 STAR-TELEGRAM INC.
Record Number: FWST87016
