Silver and BlueBlood

He was a world famous athlete before he joined the Dallas Cowboys. Already a world record holder in the 100 meter dash and the owner of an Olympic gold medal, “Bullet” Bob Hayes was known as the the fastest man in the world. In 2009, he remains the only man to ever earn an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.

The Bullet!

Bob Hayes changed the game of football. He was fast, sure, but as former Cowboys master scout Gil Brandt pointed out, he was not a track man who tried his hand at football; he was a football player who excelled on the track field.

Bob Hayes impacted the game of football immensely. In a day when the run was dominant in the NFL, Hayes averaged twenty yards per reception. He scored a touchdown every five times he touched the football. Eighteen times, Bob Hayes scored touchdowns of fifty yards or more. And even though he retired in 1974, and has been succeeded by wide receiver greats like Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin, Hayes still holds the Dallas Cowboys’ record with 71 career touchdown receptions.

It is a shame of monstrous proportions that Bob Hayes was posthumously enshrined in pro football’s greatest fraternity. Hall of Fame voters, though they may never admit it aloud, held his post-career legal problems against him. He did some hard time for drug trafficking and that was all the excuse the anti-Cowboys faction in the northeast needed to rob him of the honor he has long deserved. The NFL Hall of Fame is supposed to consider the on-the-field contributions of players – that and nothing else. If they had done that with Bob Hayes, he would have been in Canton to personally accept the honor and see his bust where it belonged.

Of course, the same Hall of Fame voters ignored the drug problems of New York Giants’ great, Lawrence Taylor, and enshrined him as quickly as possible. He deserved the honor. So did Hayes. Both men changed the way the game was played. Taylor redefined the position of linebacker, especially as it related to rushing the quarterback, and Hayes is credited with prompting the implementation of the bump-and-run defense because of his blazing speed.

While Cowboys fans everywhere understand that this is a time for celebration, we are also reminded of the backlash from being fans of a team that plays in Dallas and counts three major east coast media markets as its chief rivals. The evidence is too great to ignore the bias that kept players like Hayes and Rayfield Wright out of the Hall of Fame for so long…and continues to deny players like Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson their place among the all-time greats of the NFL. It is telling that Bob Hayes is only the eleventh Dallas Cowboy to be enshrined in Canton…especially when you consider the great teams the Cowboys fielded in the late ’60s, the ’70s, the early ’80s, and the early to mid ’90s.

Bob Hayes’ biography on the official site of the NFL Hall of Fame includes the following paragraph:

Hayes demonstrated time and again that he possessed tremendous football skills and instincts that helped him to develop into a terrific NFL wide receiver. Still, his world class speed was a major factor in his and the Cowboys offensive successes. “Bullet Bob” terrorized defensive backs and demanded the kind of deep double coverage rarely seen in the NFL at that time. It is often said that the bump and run defense was developed in an attempt to slow down the former Florida A&M running back.

Kind of makes you want to ask the voters, “Did you just now figure that out? Or did you know it all along and vote him down anyway? Why did it take the old-timer’s voters to finally get “Bullet” Bob the recognition he deserves?”

They were only about thirty years late. Better late than never just doesn’t seem quite good enough.

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In this third installment of the SilverandBlueBlood Top Ten Top Ten, I turn my attention to the top ten plays in team history. In selecting the plays, I considered several factors:

1. How memorable was it?
2. What impact did it have on a game, a championship, or a career?
3. Was it extraordinary?

As you might imagine, a franchise of this caliber, with nearly fifty years of history, has provided more than its share of memorable plays and water-shed moments. I have dutifully sorted through every play in team history (anyone who believes that stand on your head) to compile my list of top ten plays in Dallas Cowboys’ history.

Romoriffic

Number 10: Greatest four-yard run in Team History. On September 30, 2007, Tony Romo chases down a snap that sails way over his head versus the Rams. He scoops up the ball, avoids chasing defenders, and gains four yards and a first down on what should have been a 30-yard loss.

Number 9: Larry Allen, the sprinter? On Monday Night Football versus the New Orleans Saints in 1994, Aikman throws a pass that is tipped into the arms of Saints’ linebacker Darion Conner. Conner streaks down the sideline on what appears inevitably to become a seventy-one yard touchdown interception return. Instead the 315-pound offensive lineman caught him at the sixteen yard line, and a legend was born.

Number 8: Emmitt gets the record. By 2002, the glory was fading. The team of the 90’s was floundering. Smith, however, had one more milestone – the biggest of his career – to pass. On October 27th, in a 17-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Smith broke through in the fourth quarter with an eleven-yard gain. With that run, he surpassed Walter Payton, becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

Number 7: Butch Johnson’s circus catch in Super Bowl XII. Dallas dominated Denver and it was the defense that shined that day. But the number three receiver on the roster, Butch Johnson laid out in the end zone to haul in a spectacular 50-yard touchdown pass from Staubach.

Number 6: Meredith to Hayes. Cowboys 31, Redskins 30. November 13th, 1966, Don Meredith hooked up with the receiver who at one time had been recognized as the fastest man in the world, Bob Hayes, for a 95-yard touchdown pass. Hayes had 246 receiving yards that day, a Cowboys record that has yet to be seriously threatened.

Number 5: Aikman to Harper: A Dynasty is Born. With a tenuous four-point lead in the 1992 NFC championship game and just 4:14 left in the game, everyone expected Jimmy Johnson to give the Niners a heavy dose of Emmitt. What he gave them was a 15-yard Alvin harper slant that went for seventy-one yards, putting the Cowboy on the opponent’s nine-yard line and setting up the game-sealing score.

Number 4: Clint Longley, the Mad Bomber. On Thanksgiving Day, 1974, rookie QB Clint Longley came off the bench to replace an injured Staubach. He rallied the Cowboys from a 23-3 third-quarter deficit to a 24-23 victory. His 50-yard TD pass to Drew Pearson in the final seconds remains one of the most memorable plays in Cowboys lore. Offensive Guard Blaine Nye called Longley’s unbelievable performance “the triumph of an uncluttered mind.”

Number 3: Bob Lilly’s Super Sack. In Super Bowl VI, the incredibly tenacious and gifted defensive tackle known as Mr. Cowboy chased the weaving and bobbing Miami quarterback, Bob Griese, finally corralling him for a 29-yard loss. It was the signature moment in the Cowboys’ breakthrough game. For the first time in team history, they were Super Bowl champions…and no longer the bridesmaid.

Number 2: Tony Dorsett 99-yard scamper. On January 3rd, 1983, before a Monday Night Football national audience, Tony Dorsett broke off a 99-1/2 yard run from scrimmage. It remains the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history, and is a record that may someday be tied, but can never be broken. “Dandy” Don Meredith’s commentary during the run is classic. To further the legend, due to a sideline mixup, the Cowboys only had ten men on the field for the play.

Number 1: The Hail Mary. Oddly enough, the top two plays in team history came against the same team. No play in team history is more famous than the Hail Mary pass from Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson with just 24 seconds left in the 1975 wildcard playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. On the verge of losing the game, Staubach heaved a last-second bomb, which Pearson caught by trapping it with one hand on his hip. He danced into the end zone to seal the 17-14 victory.

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