Still the greatest Thanksgiving

[jackrussell]

The Mad Bomber

 

[Sarge]

The Mad Bomber

 

[panchucko]

I remember that game. it was sweet.

 

[DallasEast]

:laugh2: Agreed! Longley went off that day! Hopefully, we'll have that kind of game today, but without the need of the backup quarterback having to play.

Who would've ever thought that Longley was a nut? I've watched NFL Films for years and this is still one of my most favorite passages of all-time (audio of the entire conversation--> thanksgivingdayaudio.mp3 or thanksgivingdayaudio.wav ):

"He said something about me one day and I told him don't, don't ever say anything about me to any of my teammates. Say it to me or to my face." - Roger Staubach

Those were definitely the days when teams handled their internal disagreements, real or imagined, behind closed doors! "Selling carpet remnants out of the back of a van in Martha Texas!" Priceless!

 

[jackrussell]

http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/112...

Past tense: 30 years later, Longley still an enigma
09:08 PM CST on Saturday, November 20, 2004

By MATT MOSLEY / ***BANNED-URL***

CORPUS CHRISTI - Clint "The Mad Bomber" Longley is doing 80 mph in his
beat-up green Ford pickup truck.

The former Cowboys quarterback, whose name was immortalized on Thanksgiving
Day 1974, is barreling down a narrow beachside road in an attempt to throw a
reporter off his trail.

Courtesy
Clint Longley (second from right) and former Cowboys linebacker D.D. Lewis
(second from left) at a Corpus Christi restaurant. Lewis has prayed for a
reconciliation between Roger Staubach and Longley. He succeeds.

Longley, 52, hasn't granted an interview in 20 years and intends to keep it
that way. He was a 22-year-old rookie when he replaced a woozy Roger
Staubach early in the third quarter and led the Cowboys to a stunning 24-23
comeback victory over George Allen's Commanders 30 years ago on Thanksgiving.

Offensive lineman Blaine Nye famously described Longley's performance
(11-of-20 for 203 yards and two touchdowns) as "the triumph of an
uncluttered mind."

In an otherwise undistinguished NFL career that lasted just over three
years, that game was enough to make Longley a folk hero among Cowboys fans.

Unfortunately for Longley, the story doesn't end here.

Less than two years after that memorable day, Longley was traded to the San
Diego Chargers after he landed a blindside punch on Staubach during training
camp in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The infamous "sucker punch," as most former Cowboys describe it, occurred
two days after Longley and Staubach had fought over a derogatory remark
Longley made about receiver Drew Pearson.

Also Online
Multimedia: Audio interviews, original DMN coverage, more (large file
requires Flash player)

Game summary: Cowboys 24, Commanders 23
Staubach eventually said he'd "knock those Bugs Bunny teeth" out of
Longley's mouth, and Longley was up the challenge.

"They put me in charge of distracting [assistant coach] Dan Reeves so he
wouldn't break up the fight," said former quarterback Danny White, who was
in his first season with the team. "I started trying to make stuff up to
talk to him about and then we looked back up the hill and Roger was just
waling on Clint."

Safety Charlie Waters was having lunch with Longley two days later when
Longley told him he had figured out how to get traded.

"I asked him how," Waters said, "and he told me I'd find out that
afternoon."

Waters knew how unpredictable Longley could be. The season before, Waters
had agreed to let Longley keep his new pony on three acres of land he'd
purchased near the team's practice facility.

AP
Clint Longley carries the game ball after leading Dallas to an improbable
24-23 victory over Washington on Thanksgiving Day 1974. "He pulls up in a
1957 Cadillac," said Waters, "and the horse's head was sticking out one of
the back windows and its *** was hanging out the other side."

Hall of Fame defensive tackle Randy White, in his second year, said Staubach
was trying to slip his shoulder pads over his head when Longley threw the
punch that caused Staubach to crash into a nearby set of weight scales.
Defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones and linebacker D.D. Lewis restrained
Staubach, who still has a scar above his left eyebrow.

"Clint looked like Donald Duck the way he was flopping around in Randy's
arms," said Waters, who had rushed over from his locker. "Randy asked what
we should do with Clint. When we decided to let him go, he sprinted back to
the dorm. The whole thing was premeditated."

The headline in The Dallas Morning News on Aug. 14, 1976, read "Clint says
he hates Roger" and the story quoted Longley saying, "If Roger wants me,
I'll be in Dallas next week and he knows where he can find me. If he wants
to go 15 rounds in Memorial Auditorium, he can even promote it."

Staubach, who recently said he's forgiven Longley, hasn't spoken to him
since the altercation.

Of all the former Cowboys players interviewed for this story, offensive
tackle Ralph Neeley was the only one who seemed to sympathize with Longley's
role in the fight.

"He was in a no-win situation," Neeley said. "I don't believe that it was
premeditated. I mean if the same thing happened between two offensive
linemen, no one would've ever heard about it."

Former Cowboys fullback and current director of alumni affairs Robert
Newhouse said he's made a "couple of runs" at Longley over the years, but
never has been able to reach him.

Lewis thinks he may be the only former Cowboys player to have seen Longley
over the past 28 years. A suitemate of Longley's when he used to shoot
prairie dogs with a .22 rifle out of his dorm room, Lewis was on a fishing
trip when he tracked down Longley in Corpus Christi just over a year ago.

The former teammates posed for pictures and signed autographs at a local
Italian restaurant. Lewis said his curiosity got the best of him so he asked
Longley why he had punched Staubach.

Like several other Cowboys, Lewis always figured Longley was upset because
Staubach bonded so quickly with White.

Lewis got a different answer.

"Clint told me he never had any animosity toward Roger," Lewis said. "He
just decided that punching Roger was the best way to get traded."

Lewis now wants to facilitate reconciliation between Staubach and Longley.

"I even prayed about it," he said.

Cuts off contact

Staubach isn't the only one who hasn't spoken to Longley in a long time.

Longley last spoke to his 46-year-old brother, Kevin, and his sisters, Kathy
and Cozette, at his father's funeral two years ago.

None of them has heard from him since.

Family members say he hasn't talked to his mother, Lois, in years.

Until his father died, Clint did maintain a relatively close relationship
with his stepmother, 75-year-old Billie Longley, who now lives in Dallas.

"Clint was a great comfort to me when Howard died," said Billie, who was
married to Clint's father for almost 25 years. "He spent a week with me and
then drove home and has never talked to me again."

Wally Bullington coached Longley when he led an Abilene Christian team that
included future Philadelphia Eagles running back Wilbert Montgomery and
boxer turned actor Randall "Tex" Cobb to an NAIA national championship in
1973.

Bullington, now a fundraiser for the school, chuckled at the mention of his
former quarterback's name. He said Longley could sidearm a ball 70 yards. He
still holds the school's season passing record with 3,167 yards in 1973.

Bullington, who used to fish with Longley when he was in school, hasn't
heard from him in more than 15 years.

"I've called him several times over the years," Bullington said. "We just
kind of lost him. But we'd take him back in a heartbeat."

Jim Reese, now an assistant coach at ACU, was Longley's backup and roommate
in college. He was thrust into action when Longley left school a year early
and declared for the NFL's supplemental draft.

He said Longley and his constant sidekick, "Diamond Jim" Sullivan, now a
farmer in Ennis, captured rattlesnakes, which they kept in a trash bags
inside the dorm. Longley wore boots, a cowboy hat, cutoff jeans and a
holster with two .38 pistols when he was hunting.

"I'll never forget how Clint answered the phone," Reese said. "He either
answered, 'This is the magnificent Clint Longley, This is the Purple
Vindicator or Longley's house of pleasure.' "

According to Reese, Longley called up co-eds and identified himself as
"Clint Longley, the quarterback at ACU" before asking them out.

"Sometimes it worked," said Reese, "but the smart ones said no."

A strange path

Longley's post-NFL career has taken many turns: Oil; real estate, a sports
writing gig in Rockwall; managing a bar; taxidermy and selling Chevys in
West Texas.

AP
Abilene Christian quarterback Clint Longley holds two Western Diamondback
rattlesnakes in 1973. Longley even played lead guitar in a country band
called Shade Tree.

Lt. Larry Frymire, now in charge of the Abilene police department's youth
division, was a 24-year-old patrol officer in 1978 when he first met
Longley, who had just finished his NFL career.

"It seemed like every time I heard about a fight at a local bar," Frymire
said, "He was right in the middle of it."

Frymire said Longley often greeted him by saying, "Don't you know I'm Clint
Longley?"

"I told him I knew exactly who he was," said Frymire, who watched many of
Longley's games in college.

A few years later, Longley began managing a bar in Abilene called Western
Swing. To help lure patrons, he built a boxing ring in which he and Cobb
wrestled black bears.

"I'd say they were about six foot when they stood up on their hind legs,"
said Vince Rangel, who used to frequent the bar. "Clint would stir up the
bear with a few punches and next thing you know the bear would pin him to
the mat."

According to a search of state criminal records, Longley was arrested on
March 22, 1986, and later sentenced to 30 days in jail for a liquor license
violation while managing the bar.

Island life

In typical Longley fashion, he met his wife under the strangest of
circumstances. He was on a date with a different woman in West Texas one
night when he got pulled over for speeding.

The officer spotted several guns in Longley's car and asked if he could run
the serial numbers. Longley, who'd been on a hunting trip, quickly agreed to
the search, which revealed a stolen pistol. Longley produced a receipt for
the gun he'd recently purchased at a gun show in Fort Worth.

The gun was eventually returned to its original owner, who had reported it
stolen while displaying it at a gun show in Dallas.

That owner's name was Patti Hillman, and she's been married to Longley the
past 17 years.

Paul Iverson / Special to DMN
One of Longley's favorite Corpus Christi hangouts is Irma's 2 Seas Bar and
Grille, where a football autographed by the former Cowboy is displayed
during NFL games. Patti, who owned a pharmacy in the Fort Worth area,
eventually sold it to Eckerd's in the late 1980s in what Billie Longley
called the "deal of a lifetime."

In the 10 years before he and Patti moved to Corpus Christi, Longley worked
in the auction business. The couple also spent a lot of time traveling to
places such as Ruidoso, N.M.

The Longleys now live in a 3,000 square-foot home that backs up to the
Intracoastal waterway. About 7,500 residents live in this remote part of
Corpus Christi known to locals as North Padre Island.

Anyone wearing long pants is considered an outsider.

Patti works 12-hour shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a pharmacy and
Clint is retired. On most weekday mornings, they walk a street over and
shoot baskets at a public park.

Mo Herrera, who along with his wife, Irma, owns Irma's 2 Seas Bar and
Grille, said Longley stops by at least three or four times a week.

His regular drinking buddies include retired district judge Bill Johnson of
Victoria and a retired engineer know only as "Gentleman Jim." They rotate
among four bars on the island, but The Lighthouse seems to be their favorite
stop. Longley prefers Crown Royal and diet Coke.

Longley almost always wears his 1975 NFC Championship ring when he leaves
the house, although friends say he rarely discusses his playing days.

His stepmother said he often refused to give his real name when making
dinner reservations, but never seemed to mind when people asked for
autographs.

Each Sunday at 2 Seas, some of Longley's friends take a football signed by
him off the wall and place it in an area they call "Cowboys Corner" during
games.

Longley's best friend on the street, a Canadian named Randy Litwin, said
Longley still watches every Cowboys game. But he's more interested in the
History Channel these days.

Depending on whom you talk to on this street of stucco houses with slate
roofs, Longley is either the nicest guy on the block or the most annoying.

For at least two years, he seemed to get along with everyone. He transported
lime trees from his former home in the Fort Worth area and delivered baskets
of limes to his neighbors.

And when he mowed his yard, Longley would also mow several neighbors' yards.

"I was back in Canada," said Litwin, "and he took care of my yard without me
ever asking him to. I'd never had anyone do something like that for me."

Longley, who appears to be at least 40 pounds heavier than his 6-1,
195-pound playing weight, even took it upon himself to maintain a 40-yard
stretch of public property in the middle of the neighborhood.

According to neighbors, Longley spends hours watering his lawn each day and
is so meticulous that he sometimes uses scissors instead of an edger. They
even credit Longley's green thumb for increasing nearby land value.

But a dispute over dogs has divided the neighborhood in recent months. After
Longley made repeated requests for a neighbor to keep his dog out of his
yard, he had enough. He eventually reported the owner to animal control and
later posted a sign warning neighbors to leash their pets.

A few weeks later, the sign turned up missing.

Longley reported it to the Corpus Christi police and a story regarding the
theft showed up in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Longley used to show up at neighborhood parties and play country music on
his guitar. But the recent dispute has caused a decline in the number of
social events.

Less than a year ago, Longley actually answered the phone one afternoon. On
the other end was his former ACU tight end and roommate Greg Stirman.

"Clint?" Stirman said anxiously.

"Who wants to know?" Longley snarled.

Stirman tried to convince Longley to attend a 30-year reunion for the 1973
championship team, but Longley wasn't interested.

"I think his whole dream was professional football," Stirman said. "But his
dream collapsed and he didn't have another one."

CowboysZone

 

[DallasEast]

That's a good read, JR. There's a slim possibility that D.D. Lewis was correct in saying, "Clint told me he never had any animosity toward Roger. He
just decided that punching Roger was the best way to get traded." I extremely doubt that was his motivation, but other players have used very strange tactics to get traded before. Of course, that may have been exactly his motivation when you take into account that the guy had a 'Me First' personality and wasn't wired quite right in the head.

 

[Rick_Deckard]

I personally thought the '94 game where Garrett passed for 311 yards and 2 TDs to beat the Packers 42-31 was the best Thanksgiving game ever.

 

[DallasEast]

I personally thought the '94 game where Garrett passed for 311 yards and 2 TDs to beat the Packers 42-31 was the best Thanksgiving game ever.

That was a pretty good game too, but having your backup quarterback, who was playing at a level well-above his own ability, face your most hated rival, with under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, a 23-3 deficit, and win only a point at the end, is a better all-around satisfying win in my opinion.

 

[ZeroClub]

Longley's Thanksgiving game was unexpected and dramatic, but a bunch of it, up until the big finish, was frustrating.

I guess I'm too partial to Staubach ... he got knocked out of that Thanksgiving Day game ... Any game that ended with Staubach injured on the sideline just isn't one of my personal favorites.

 

[dbair1967]

Loved Garrett's game vs GB, but also loved the 1990 win vs Washington too. I think thats the day the team really turned the corner. And had Aikman not been injured early vs Philly, we win those two last games and make the playoffs that yr, rather than waiting till 1991 to do it.

 

[jackrussell]

That was a pretty good game too, but having your backup quarterback, who was playing at a level well-above his own ability, face your most hated rival, with under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, a 23-3 deficit, and win only a point at the end, is a better all-around satisfying win in my opinion.

Exactly. The freakin' Commanders...can't get better than that.

 

[MrKennedyKennedy]

That was a pretty good game too, but having your backup quarterback, who was playing at a level well-above his own ability, face your most hated rival, with under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, a 23-3 deficit, and win only a point at the end, is a better all-around satisfying win in my opinion.

I'll make a case for Garrett's 1994 game- the Packers were WAY better in 1994 than the Commanders in '74.

BTW, the incredible irony is that this great game happened in what was the one and only time Dallas missed the playoffs from 1966 to 1985.