Mark Ribowsky - The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry

CONTENTS

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the
Transformation of American Sports

Hes a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock & Rolls
Legendary Producer

Slick: The Silver and Black Life of Al Davis

Dont Look Back: Satchel Paige in
the Shadows of Baseball

The Power and the Darkness: The Life of Josh Gibson
in the Shadows of the Game

A Complete History of the Negro Leagues, 1844 to 1955

The Complete History of the Home Run

Crazy and in Charge: The Autobiography of Abe Hirschfeld,
by Abraham Hirschfeld with Mark Ribowsky

Eleven Days of Hell: My True Story of Kidnapping,
Terror, Torture and Historic FBI and KGB Rescue,
by Yvonne Bornstein with Mark Ribowsky

The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams,
Success, and Betrayal

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey
of Stevie Wonder

Aint Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and
Enduring Soul of the Temptations

On a hot, dewy afternoon in Austin, Texas,
late December 2011 .

O N THE DAY ALICIA LANDRY turned eighty, she was still as fetching as a Bluebonnet Belle, the high honor for which she was a finalist at the University of Texas back in 1949. That was a most memorable year, it also being when she and the Longhorns fullback and co-captain, a stony-faced fellow with wavy black hair, got hitched. She and the fellow, whom she still calls Tommy, would stay married for fifty-one years, until he died. She is wafer thin but not at all fragile, blonde hair shimmering as if the sun shines directly on her wherever she goes, eyes sharp and piercing when she looks straight at you, which she does, intently, as she speaks of him. Encountering her for the first time, you realize why Sam Huff, the worlds first star middle linebacker and the embodiment of Landrys preternatural theories about playing suffocating defense, would recall long after, still with great envy, He has the most beautiful woman in the world.... She has to be the best draft pick Tom ever made.1

As she proves, being the widow of Tom Landry carries a certain gossamer, of charm and clat. She was always his alter ego, the better half who had no compunction saying what he was bound by duty and courtliness not to say. That she reveled in that role may explain why she hasnt been invited to many Dallas Cowboys functions, it being the apparent inclination of Jerry Jones to keep the memory of Tom Landry as incidental as possible to the current teams operations. Writing Landry out of the teams purview, impossible as that is, requires going to tacky levels, something Jerry Jones is quite adept at. For example, after Landry was forced out as the Cowboys head coach in 1989, he was seen at Texas Stadium only three times over the next decade, not as a fan but to receive belated tributes. His last visit was in 1999. Alicia Landry has generally avoided the new venue, AT&T Stadium, ne Cowboys Stadium. Ask her why her presence has been so scarce, and she tells you something that strains credulity, or would, if it did not involve a man whose name makes her facial muscles tense.

Well, she says, as if delivering a punch line, Jerry Jones never asked me. Well, one time. When they blew up Texas Stadium they had a big lunch over there and invited me to come and speak, and I did a little speech. But I didnt go out for the blow-up. And then at the new stadium, Ive never been to a game, but Roger Staubach has a box out there and they had some musical group that performed in the stadium, and Roger had a party and asked me to come to have dinner and watch this group. So Ive been in the new stadium one time, but never for a game.

The obvious questions burgeon: Is there a reason for her exile? Bitterness? Antipathy for Jones?

A lack of interest.

That, she adds, applied to the old coach, who after his dismissal was expected not to be present any longer in the stadium he made possible. Men cut from the stock that Tom Landry was do not beg; rather, he considered himself no longer tied in any way to the team.

As she remembers, The time they inducted Bob Hayes into the Ring of Honor, he went to that, and of course when they put Tommy in there he went. But other than that, he really didnt have any dog in the hunt. A football game is good if you care who wins. He didnt. It wasnt his job anymore. A pause. Thats why I watch Giants games. I want em to win so I get involved in watching their games, as did Tommy. We loved the Maras the way we loved the Murchisons. After that, well... it wasnt the same.

These are remarkable words coming from a woman who was the first lady of Dallas, the queen of the rodeo. They stab at the air with such ironic punch that for a visitor the room fills with a fragrant acridness, not to mention incredulity. Can it be that one consequence of Jerry Joness reign was that Tom Landry, son of the South, came away cheering the invaders from New York when they played the Cowboys? Is it merely chance or a hidden hand from the beyond that explains why, coming into the current season, Jerry Jones had not tasted victory in four games against the Giants in his very own stadium? Remember: the old man always did know how to settle a score.

So you dont like the Cowboys? the visitor wonders.

Well, there are no Cowboys, she avers, as if such a thing is obvious. Its not the name of the team, its the players in the game, and I dont know anyone playin today.

But what about the first few years after he left the team? He knew the players. But both of you didnt ever go back there.

Well, we didnt have any seats. That would be one reason why. They took away our box.

Now incredulity crashes its way into seeming impossibility. The visitor is truly shaken.

Wait a minute. I cant believe what I just heard. They took away your box?

Yes... we werent payin for it. [In addition to the box] our son Tom Jr. for years had bought six 50-yard-line tickets, and when Tommy retired Tom thought hed still have those seatsand they took away those too.

So they took away the box of the only coach the Cowboys had for their first twenty-nine years?

It was a very nice box too, right next to the press box. Pause. I guess they really needed it.

Oh, right. Because they needed space in an eighty-thousand-seat stadium.

Whatever the reason, we didnt have seats.

What if Jerry Jones gave you back that box?

I dont even know if Id want to go. Its not important to me.

Do you know Jerry well?

I dont know him at all. I really dont. I know what he looks like. Ive seen him a few times and we say hello to each other in a friendly way. But I dont know him.

I think I understand now why the new place wasnt going to be named Tom Landry Stadium.

Eh, Tommy wouldnt have cared. I dont think he would have even wanted that because the bond wasnt there anymore. I certainly dont care about it. And it isnt what it isnt. Its not the same Dallas Cowboys. I didnt really want the new stadium to be named after Tommy anyway. They call it Jerrys World, which is more about what it is than anything Tom Landry was.

So the Cowboys arent your family anymore.

The Giants are still like family. I still have dinner with Ann Mara [Wellington Maras widow] when she comes in. We did that just last week. She waits, then, The Giants never stopped being our family. 2