Landry remembered as man of faith, kindness

DALLAS (AP) -- Tom Landry's friends and fellow churchgoers at Highland Park United Methodist Church remembered him Sunday as a devout Christian who learned how to appreciate life and taught others

Sunday, February 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) -- Tom Landry's friends and fellow churchgoers at Highland Park United Methodist Church remembered him Sunday as a devout Christian who learned how to appreciate life and taught others to do the same. The Rev. Mark Craig focused his sermon on making memories. The theme was based on a sermon Landry gave several years ago, one Craig called the best he'd ever heard. "He talked about joys and pain and happiness," Craig told more than 1,000 worshippers. "Through all the good and the bad he said he was thankful God gave him another day. If you want great memories, you need to live each day fully and thank God for another day."

Landry died around 6 p.m. Saturday at Baylor University Medical Center surrounded by his immediate family. He was 75 and had been fighting a form of leukemia since May. Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years, from their birth in 1960 until Jerry Jones bought the team Feb. 25, 1989. He maintained a low profile in retirement, but he remained one of the most beloved members of the community. Faith was more important to Landry than football. He became a born-again Christian in 1959 and was a member of Highland Park United Methodist for 43 years.

Craig met with Landry's family early Sunday to discuss memorial and funeral services. Details are expected to be released Monday. Throughout the Dallas area, fans paid their own tributes. At team headquarters, several mourners left tributes outside the main entrance. The makeshift memorial included individual flowers, bouquets, candles and cards. "Coach Landry, Thank you for being so kind," read one card. An index card placed in the ground behind several candles read: "Coach Landry, We will always love you. You were a great person first and a great coach. We know you are in heaven and in peace. Thank you for everything."

At Texas Stadium -- which one local columnist suggested Sunday should be renamed Landry Stadium -- another gathering point was beneath a giant photo of Landry that is among many pictures surrounding the facade. Delores Castorena purchased a blue flag featuring the team's helmet at a concession stand in the parking lot, wrote "A legend never dies" near the star, signed her name and attached it and a photo to the chain-link fence under Landry's image.

The gathering point in Mission, Texas, Landry's hometown, was the downtown mural located on a street named in his honor. "He's one of our heroes," said Marco Ramos, who visited the painting with his mother and brother. "He's a role model and example for all of us."

Landry was respected throughout the country so much that when he was fired by Jones in February 1989, President George Bush was among those who called to offer their best wishes. On Sunday, his son, Gov. George W. Bush, offered his condolences to the Landry family. "Tom Landry represented what makes Texas great -- faith in God, commitment to family and a competitive spirit based on character, hard work and determination," Bush said in a statement. "He touched the heart and soul of Texas, and he left the world a better place."

Landry would've blushed at such statements. He often downplayed his success in football, preferring instead to concentrate on his spiritual life, Craig said. "He talked about his accomplishments in life modestly, which is hard to do," Craig said. "He talked of winning one Super Bowl and then a second. And then he stopped and said it was nothing. He said it wasn't until he realized how great God was and what God did in his life that he lived."

Dr. Bryan Frank, 43, who heads up the medical outreach for the church, said his first memories of Landry were his lectures to members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes when Frank was a teen-ager running track. "In a world of celebrity and ego, coach Landry was really a man of faith, charactegrity and dignity," Frank said.