Anecdotes about Landry

(Dallas-AP) -- Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry died Saturday after a battle against leukemia. Here are some anecdotes about him from some of those who knew him best. <br><br>--Former Dallas quarterback

Monday, February 14th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Dallas-AP) -- Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry died Saturday after a battle against leukemia. Here are some anecdotes about him from some of those who knew him best.

--Former Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach: "One time, I came over to him on the sidelines and he was looking at the hole in the roof of Texas Stadium. I was waiting to get the play and after a long time he finally gave it to me. I said, `I always wondered where you got those plays from.' He didn't even crack a smile. He was so serious on the field and dedicated to winning."(Roger Staubach was as close to Landry as the coach allowed any player to get. Their relationship became even stronger after Staubach retired in 1979, with each introducing the other during their Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions.)
------

--Former Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson: "In 1976, he had to cut some good players and some good people because so many rookies had made the team. He came in and was announcing to the team the players who had been cut and he couldn't finish. He actually stood there and cried. We were all shocked. We'd never seen that side of him. He had to leave the room. We al felt like we wanted to cry because he did. That showed the compassion and care he had for all his players."
------

--New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, whose family owned the team when Landry was a player and a player-coach in 1950-59. "Regardless of what happened on the football field, we always felt he could handle it. I remember one time when Tom presented the defensive game plan for that particular week, and Sam Huff asked what if they do something other than you just described, and Tom said, 'Sam they won't.' Sam persisted, and finally Tom said, 'Sa if that happens, call a timeout and we'll figure out how to deal with it.' That's how Tom was. You always had complete confidence he could handle anything, and to my knowledge he always did."
------

--Former Dallas tight end and assistant coach Mike Ditka: "A group of us went out to play golf. Coach Landry wasn't there, it was just a few players. So we're playing a hole and it had water and some trees on the other side of the water and I hit just a God-awful shot, but I knew it went over the water. It went over by the trees. I saw some guys over there and said, `I'd better hurry up and get my ball before someone picks it up.' So I started around there and hollered, `Hey, did anybody see a ball come over there?' And a voice comes back, `Yeah, I found your ball Ditka, butI threw it in the water.' And I said, `Well, I'm coming over there and I'm going to throw you in the water.' So coach Landry walks out and he said, `Yeah, and I think you're going to like Buffalo a lot."'
------

--Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, whose team began as the Dallas Texans the same time the Cowboys were getting started: "This is not very well known, but I talked to Tom before he became the head coach of the Cowboys. He was recommended to me to become the first head coach of the Texans. This was in the fall of 1959. I didn't really offer him a job -- it was just a meeting and I was in no hurry to hire anyone at the time."
------
--Former Dallas safety Charlie Waters: "He would give us 'The Look.' It was something we all feared. It was like he was saying, 'What in the world are you doing out there?' He never screamed or reprimanded us. He just gave us 'The Look.' Believe me, 'The Look' spoke volumes. In this case, the whisper was a lot louder than the roar."
------

--Former Dallas safety Obert Logan, who played for the Cowboys in 1965-66: "The thing I remember most about my rookie season was he asked us players on the first day of training camp what our priorities were. He said, 'I don't know what your priorities are, but mine are God, family and the Dallas Cowboys.' That made quite an impression on me, because I thought football was going to be his top priority."
------

--Don Bentsen Senior of McAllen, who played football with Landry for three years at Mission High School, on attending a Fellowship of Christian Athletes rally where his longtime friend was keynote speaker: "Tom, my grandson and I were deep in conversation and it was obvious that my grandson's friend was feeling shy and left out. Suddenly, Tom interrupted the conversation and told my grandson, 'I want to meet your friend.' My grandson's friend was beaming, grinning from ear to ear. That's just the kind of man Tom Landry was. He was very thoughtful. The fact of the matter is, you don't have the room to write all the good things about Tom Landry."
------

--Former Dallas defensive back Dennis Thurman: "He loved to dress. Most people don't understand how much he really enjoyed dressing. I think he just got a kick out of surprising us with some type of jacket or some different type of hat or top coat when it was cold. When we played in the NFC Championship Game up there in Philadelphia against the Eagles in 1981, he came out with a matching coat and hat. He enjoyed that much more than I think people realized. He had a bit of an ego too, but he hid it well. He enjoyed winning. He enjoyed competing."
------

--Former Dallas linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson: "One of the fondest memories I have of him is as a 22-year-old rookie for the Dallas Cowboys at training camp in Thousand Oaks, Calif. We had t sprinter. Over 20, 30, 40 yards, I'm faster than anybody. But when it came to distance running, I didn't like it. I didn't want to do it. But you did it, because you were a Dallas Cowboy, and that's what we had to do. So I'm trying to run this thing, and I'm not doing so good. You know, I'm in last place. Tom Landry had a knee injury when he played professional football, and he sort of had a gimp. He was a gimp limp when he ran. It was pretty funny to see him do it. It was even funnier for a 22-year-old, world-class athlete to be trying to run up that hill two miles, and Tom Landry passing you and then on the way by says, 'Come on, Thomas. Come on.' All you can do is just sort of watch him gimp limp past you like Chester on 'Gunsmoke."'
------

--Former Dallas player personnel director Gil Brandt: "I traveled through Europe with him, and I was just amazed by the amount of people that recognized him and asked for his autograph. He did a good job in making everybody feel that they were important, which is a big thing. There are a lot of people if you ask them for an autograph will ask, 'Why are you bothering me?' Tom was always obliging."
------

--Former Dallas assistant coach Jim Myers: "We were playing the Chicago Bears in 1964. They were the Monsters of the Midway back then. Coach Landry was walking on the field with coach (George) Halas right before the game started. These big ol' Bears come lumbering out there. They just kind of jogged over to the sideline. Then, the Cowboys came roaring out of the tunnel and sprinted to the bench. Coach Halas said, 'Tom, how'd you ever get your guys to do that?' Tom looked at him and said, 'Coach, I just told the squad that the last ones to the bench had to start the game against the Bears."'