The Secret Condition H.R. Bum Bright Had For Selling The Dallas Cowboys

[yimyammer]

I really didn't know much about Jones or Jimmy...but understood the simple truth that ole Tom had to go.

I didn't know a thing about jeri either (thus why I didn't have a problem with him...yet) but I was well aware of Jimmy and was thrilled he was hired. I've never been as confident in the direction of the team as I was when Jimmy was hired.......until this season when we received the gift from heaven known as Dak Prescott who I believe will give us 10+ amazing years of fun, highly competitive football (unless this has all been a cruel joke and he turns into a pumpkin at midnight).

 

[drawandstrike]

He owned the team from '84 to '89 and if you remember thats when we starting declining and when Toms streak of winning seasons ended. He put nothing into the team, fought with Landry, and then sold it in a fire sale also making sure Landry was fired in an embarrassing way. If we had a stronger owner maybe we wouldnt have gone through the 84-89 stretch.
Dont want to get into Jerry- there's good with the SB wins (but I think thats Jimmy). but bad -20 plus years after that with nothing and his constant meddling

You missed the point. Bright wasn't ALLOWED to have any input whatsoever. He spent 5 years being told his only role was to sign the checks, otherwise keep his mouth shut and let God's Coach handle the team.

It's true the impetus for him getting out when he did was the savings and loan crisis. His bank went under. He needed to sell the team to raise $$$. But let's not pretend he wasn't treated arrogantly by Landry & Schramm, who saw him as a nobody deserving of no respect whatsoever.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Pardon me for being 5 years old at the time of dawning of the Jones Era, but was there any reason why Bum couldn't have just fired Landry himself as his last operation with the team?

He was a coward.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Yes Sir. Thats the way it really was. I remember it well. He is a hero now and he should be. Thats not the way it was then. Strange old world.

I could imagine what it would have been like with the internet. I lived in NC at the time and I could tell the heat was getting to him. I had a hard time criticizing him because he was one of the main reasons I became a Cowboy fan in the first place. It's hard to go against a guy you really admire. What I got a kick out of was the people that wanted him gone where the same ones that threw him a parade and criticized Jerry for firing him. lol I think it was probably time for him to retire but he should have been treated better. I guess in time I got over it as we started winning those SBs.

 

[haleyrules]

He was a coward.

Worse. Because he really didn't need to be.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Worse. Because he really didn't need to be.

Worst owner we ever had.

 

[mmohican29]

Yes, Bright had a hard on for Landry after he felt like Landry gave him a cold shoulder at a team Christmas party. After the 1985 season, Landry's contract was winding down. Bright ordered Schramm to extend Landry with three one year contracts, with an out after each year. Schramm ignored him, and extended Landry three years. After the 1987 season, Bright wanted to fire Landry, and sat with Schramm to review the out in the contract. It was at that point that he found out that Schramm didn't do what Bright had asked, and it would cost Bright nearly $2 million to fire his coach.

With the S&L banking crisis hitting hard in the 1987-1988 timeframe, Bright's fortune was reduced by $300 million. He sold the team to get out of the crisis. He was able to keep a lot of it quiet by hiring Salomon Brothers to run the search for prospective owners, and the conditions were kept confidential. People such as Don Carter (the owner of the Mavericks at the time), Marvin Davis and Dr. Jerry Buss made offers on the team. All of them wanted to retain Landry. A Japanese contingent put an offer out, and were price indifferent. Bright, having fought in World War II, wanted no part of selling the team to the Japanese.

That left Jones. Who only found out about the team being for sale when he was hungover in Cabo San Lucas while on a marlin fishing trip with Stephen and some business friends. Jones skipped a fishing trip, and saw an article about the team being for sale. Ironic note: Tex Schramm's favorite passion was marlin fishing.

When Jones and Bright were near the end of negotiations, they were haggling over closing costs. They agreed to flip a coin to settle it. Jones called tails. He lost. After the sale was completed, Bright gave Jones a gift. It was the quarter that they flipped, affixed to a block of petrified wood. It had an inscription that read, "You'll never know if this coin was two-headed or not."

Bright offered to fire Landry before the sale was official, but Jones waved him off, because he wanted to handle all business in this case. Schramm led Jones into the PR trap at the golf course, where Landry was officially martyred.

Amazing knowledge of the situation. I think I've heard some of this in excerpts of books and Jones interviews (the coin flip).

I was a kid and remember those terrible late 80's Cowboys teams. I remember being thrilled when Jerry was hired and Landry was fired. I loved Tom but it was clear the game had passed him by. His teams were abysmal, and he kept washed up veterans far too long out of loyalty.

I remember reading JJ telling Randy White: "Randy, you were a great player but watching you get into a three point stance is like watching me get into a three point stance. It's time to move on."

 

[xwalker]

Yes, Bright had a hard on for Landry after he felt like Landry gave him a cold shoulder at a team Christmas party. After the 1985 season, Landry's contract was winding down. Bright ordered Schramm to extend Landry with three one year contracts, with an out after each year. Schramm ignored him, and extended Landry three years. After the 1987 season, Bright wanted to fire Landry, and sat with Schramm to review the out in the contract. It was at that point that he found out that Schramm didn't do what Bright had asked, and it would cost Bright nearly $2 million to fire his coach.

With the S&L banking crisis hitting hard in the 1987-1988 timeframe, Bright's fortune was reduced by $300 million. He sold the team to get out of the crisis. He was able to keep a lot of it quiet by hiring Salomon Brothers to run the search for prospective owners, and the conditions were kept confidential. People such as Don Carter (the owner of the Mavericks at the time), Marvin Davis and Dr. Jerry Buss made offers on the team. All of them wanted to retain Landry. A Japanese contingent put an offer out, and were price indifferent. Bright, having fought in World War II, wanted no part of selling the team to the Japanese.

That left Jones. Who only found out about the team being for sale when he was hungover in Cabo San Lucas while on a marlin fishing trip with Stephen and some business friends. Jones skipped a fishing trip, and saw an article about the team being for sale. Ironic note: Tex Schramm's favorite passion was marlin fishing.

When Jones and Bright were near the end of negotiations, they were haggling over closing costs. They agreed to flip a coin to settle it. Jones called tails. He lost. After the sale was completed, Bright gave Jones a gift. It was the quarter that they flipped, affixed to a block of petrified wood. It had an inscription that read, "You'll never know if this coin was two-headed or not."

Bright offered to fire Landry before the sale was official, but Jones waved him off, because he wanted to handle all business in this case. Schramm led Jones into the PR trap at the golf course, where Landry was officially martyred.

This is the real story.

 

[xwalker]

Fun fact of trivia showing how much useless information is in my head: When he owned the Cowboys, H.R. 'Bum' Bright made it condition that he would only sell the team to somebody who would fire Tom Landry. That condition caused all prospective buyers to back off and shut down negotiations except for ONE: Jerry Jones.

Every other prospective buyer freaked out at hearing Bright's condition. "Fire God's Coach? Are you freaking kidding me? I'd instantly become the most hated person in the state of Texas. I'd be more hated in Dallas than Lee Harvey Oswald!"

Far from backing off or balking at firing Landry, Jones actually responded enthusiastically to this condition for buying the team. He excitedly told Bright that he'd already planned to bring in his good friend Jimmy Johnson to coach the team if he became the owner. This is why despite the fact several other prospective buyers offered more money, Bright sold the team to Jerry Jones. Because Jones was the only one who promised Bright that he'd fire Tom Landry.

When he first bought the team in 1984, Bright was a huge fan of Landry. Over the next 5 years though, Bright found Landry and GM Tex Schramm to be incredibly arrogant. As the team's fortunes plunged in the late 1980's, Bright wanted to make some changes. He was told in no uncertain terms to mind his own business, keep his mouth shut and just keep signing the checks.

Landry was so big in Dallas, even when he began to fail, nobody could apply any pressure to get him to change how he was doing things. And Landry resented even having to deal with Bright or hear any criticism from him. Cowboy's owners were neither seen nor heard from, as far as Landry was concerned.

Landry fully expected to be the Cowboy's coach until he was good and ready to hang it up and retire on his own.

Landry let Bright know this, of course. Shut up, keep signing the checks, mind your own business, and when I'm ready to ride off into the sunset in my own sweet time, I'll let you know.

Bright came up with a way to fire Landry without his fingerprints every being involved where the public could see it.

Jerry Jones took all the heat at the time. Not until years later was it revealed that Bright had made firing Landry a condition of selling the team.

1 reason I respect Jerry: he could have shifted a LOT of the heat he took for firing Landry by telling the truth: Bright made it a condition of selling me the team. I had to do it or he wouldn't sell it to me. Instead Jerry kept his mouth shut and took all the heat.

For years it was just assumed to be an amazing coincidence that Bright sold the team to the 1 guy who had no problem firing Tom Landry and replacing him with an old college buddy.

I was totally onboard with Jerry/Jimmy and firing Landry from day 1.

By 92 I knew I had to go to training camp despite never having attended before.

Bright sucked and Landry was past his time.

Jerry could have fired Landry on the phone, but tried to do the right thing by immediately going to see Landry in Austin.

 

[d_dub88]

Bright also turned down Landry when he wanted to coach Texas A&M after Bear Bryant left for Alabama. I think Bright still wanted to prove he was a 'football man', when he bought the team, and getting the Cowboys on the cheap was his in.
I know it's been ages since Landry last coached but I feel a bit for Cowboys' fans that didn't get to watch his teams live. Video just ain't the same. It was an amazing form of football when they were on. And if they were off a bit one week, you never turned away because you just knew they were never out of the game even with seconds left.

 

[drawandstrike]

One problem with staying too long & having a showman like Schramm build you up into a seemingly irreplaceable icon is that once Landry declined as a coach the culture in the organization became dysfunctional.

A lot of people like to point the finger at Bum Bright and claim he's the reason Landry lost his mojo.

This is nonsense.

Bright had the same amount of influence and control over the franchise during his 5 year tenure that Clint Murchison Jr. had. Which was zero.

The Dallas Cowboys were the Tom & Tex show, period. That's the way Schramm built it, and as long as the team was successful there was no need for anybody to seek changes.

As the years rolled by however, towards the end Landry stopped putting in the 'football hours' and spent way more time doing speaking engagements and public appearances and so on. He became extremely detached from the actual job, and it showed during instances in which he became confused and sent in goal line plays at mid field. There are plenty of stories about Landry over the final few years in Dallas not knowing the names of his own starters and failing to grasp the game situation.

Even as this decline of Landry's actual coaching ability was occurring, Schramm was doing his best to hide it, to keep it all running smoothly. Even if that involved directly lying to the guy who owned the team. Schramm considered himself & Landry to BE the Dallas Cowboys, the heart of the franchise. This kind of viewpoint made it easy for Schramm & Landry to reject any kind of criticism or attempt to accurately assess where the franchise needed changes.

What ended up happening is that Schramm & Landry rubbed Bright's face in this once too often, how they were icons of the franchise and he was an anonymous nobody who should just quit rocking the boat and go along to get along and leave them alone.

 

[waving monkey]

Surprised something as controversial and as heated as that didn't get leaked to TMZ back in the day and Landry not finding out on his tablet.

Landry knew the team was for sale and left for Austin golfing. Landry received Jerry's phone call while golfing/

 

[bark]

Am I the only one here that finds it ironic that Bright had it out for Landry because he felt slighted by the coach and a few short yrs later jerry jones is in the same boat with jimmy Johnson.

IMO the wheels came off for Landry due a string of bad drafts in the mid 80's. Coaches don't forget how to coach and the drafting had started to pick up again. Don't forget that the team jimmy Johnson inherited had ken norton, Kevin Gogan, Nate newton and Michael Irvin in place and Landry had already met with Troy aikman at the cotton bowl.

The Cowboys organization has now had roughly the same amount of time with the jerry jones era as it had with Landry /schram

Reverse the two eras. Start the franchise with jerry coming in hot and winning three Super Bowls quickly and fading into mediocrity and many of you younger fans probably aren't even fans of the team. Cowboys certainly aren't Americans team.
It took many years of sustained success, 10 NFC championship games in 13 years to build that. We were the New England patriots of the 60-70 and early 80's.
Who knows what we have brewing right now. The future certainly looks bright and first and foremost I will always be a cowboys fan but make me choose and I'm choosing the Landry era every day all day long

 

[Doomsday101]

This is the reason I always blamed Bum Bright on the Landry situation instead of Jerry. As a new owner sure he is going to want to come in and bring in his people and the coach he wants. Landry worked for Bright it was Bright who should have told Landry what the deal was.

 

[Doc50]

I wasn't a fan during the Landry era, but I thought he was extremely well respected. ?

The book or movie "North Dallas 40" is fiction, but it paints a somewhat exaggerated picture of the coach as cold, aloof, arrogant, and self-righteous.
Many other characters in the book are representative caricatures of team members, such as Dandy Don and Pete Gent, the book's author.

Landry was actually a warm and engaging individual when away from the game.

 

[Doomsday101]

The book or movie "North Dallas 40" is fiction, but it paints a somewhat exaggerated picture of the coach as cold, aloof, arrogant, and self-righteous.
Many other characters in the book are representative caricatures of team members, such as Dandy Don and Pete Gent, the book's author.

Landry was actually a warm and engaging individual when away from the game.

Yes but did not have relations with players. Don Meredith once stated after being brought to the hospital with broken ribs that coach Landry never came to see him while others did. Don't get me wrong Landry was a great man but not one to get close to players.

 

[Plankton]

Yes but did not have relations with players. Don Meredith once stated after being brought to the hospital with broken ribs that coach Landry never came to see him while others did. Don't get me wrong Landry was a great man but not one to get close to players.

It was the exact opposite for Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson. When Staubach had shoulder surgery in 1972 after separating it, Landry sat with Staubach's wife in the hospital. When Pearson had the car accident that ended his career, he has said that the first three people that he saw when he came to after surgery were Harvey Martin, his best friend, Roger Staubach and Tom Landry.

 

[Plankton]

This is the reason I always blamed Bum Bright on the Landry situation instead of Jerry. As a new owner sure he is going to want to come in and bring in his people and the coach he wants. Landry worked for Bright it was Bright who should have told Landry what the deal was.

I actually blame Tex Schramm. If Schramm did what Bright ordered him to do with Landry's extension, this could have been avoided somewhat. Also, Schramm allowed Jones to make the trip down to the golf course in Austin to fire Landry face to face. Schramm completely took advantage of a PR rube in Jones, and then tried to play as if it were a great tragedy. This is the same man who forced Landry to hire coaches that he didn't want (Paul Hackett and Jim Erkenbeck), placed a feeler phone call to one Jimmy Johnson about potentially coming to work as Landry's defensive coordinator, and ultimately succeed him, and defied ownership when given a directive about contract terms. Yes, the buck stops with Bright, but Schramm deserves a ton of blame for how this all played out.

 

[erod]

I've never held that against Jerry. It was time for Landry to step down.

However, naming himself GM beyond Jimmy....that turned me against him. Thank God for Stephen.

 

[DallasEast]

At his very first press conference after buying the team, Jones kept saying over and over again that HE was now going to be the public face of the franchise. Not Tom Landry or Tex Schramm. You have no idea what a shock that was until you grasp just how invisible previous Cowboy's owners had been.

Amazingly, some people remain in the exact same state of disbelief nearly three decades later.