Why Did I Become a Dallas Cowboys Fan?

My Dad Made Their Uniforms!

When I was a little boy, I was not really interested in football, unless I was playing the game with friends. Watching college or pro games on television was a “bore” to me, and I was glad when they were over so that Dad didn’t care if I found better shows to watch, such as The Little Rascals or The Three Stooges or Superman. The only time I really was forced to be interested in college games was when it was time for the University of Texas vs. the University of Oklahoma shoot-out in the Cotton Bowl. The “Forney Themers” were Texans, and nearly all of our relatives were Oklahomans, so you may understand what that meant when they came to stay at our house to go to the game or when we were in Oklahoma for some family event when the game was being played. I was forced to endure “us against y’all” in the backyard re-plays of the games—and the left-over guys and sometimes even some girl cousins were relegated to “Longhorn duty.”

But, when I was a little older, my Dad began to take an intense interest in a new professional team in Dallas— The Cowboys! Some of the few times I saw my Dad interested in having the radio “on” in the car or on the cabinet on Sundays occurred when “the game” was being telecast, and it was not being carried on local channels. Even during the long drives (about 300 miles) to Oklahoma or back home, if they occurred on Sundays after Church was over, Dad found a way to tune in the car radio or a “hanging near a window transistor radio” so that he could listen to the Cowboys game! Needless to say, but in those early days, Marian, Don, and Ann often dozed during the games!

The Dallas Cowboys became an “expansion” team (well, sort of) in 1960, and the team spent more than five years just trying to win half-a-dozen games per season. They also lost a few million dollars when that was not just “pocket change” for investors! The team did not have the benefit of a college draft—can you imagine that? The first season they lost all but one game, which was a “tie.”

However, from the mid-‘60s to the mid-‘80s, fortunes changed, and the team ran off winning seasons for twenty years! Some of the “higher-ups” included Clint Murchison, Sr.—Clint Murchison, Jr.—Tex Schramm—Tom Landry—Gil Brandt—“The Cotton Bowl.”

About this same time, there was another Dallas football team that played in the Cotton Bowl—Lamar Hunt’s team was called The Dallas Texans and was more popular and exciting than the Cowboys. The Texans won the American Football League Championship

in 1962, when they had a “local player” from North Texas State University—Abner Haynes! About a year after this great over-time game, during which Reggie Scheu and I and the men of Hope Lutheran Church were pitching horseshoes with all ears attentive to the game, the Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs and left the Cowboys as the lone NFL team to call the Cotton Bowl, “Home.”

Some early 1960s Cowboys players I remember include (1960) Offensive Ends, Frank Clarke and Billy Howton—Quarterbacks, Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith—Running Back, Don Bishop—(1961) Defensive Tackle, Bob Lilly— Running Back, Don Perkins— Linebacker, Chuck Howley—(1963) Linebacker, Lee Roy Jordon—(1964) Cornerback, Mel Renfro— (1965) Wide Receiver, Bob Hayes and Running Back, Dan Reeves. In 1965, the Cowboys reached the record of 7 wins and 7 losses. In 1966, they shone with a 10 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie season and won the Eastern Conference! My favorite three of these earliest players were Eddie LeBaron, Don Perkins, and Mel Renfro. And, I still remember the day that Bob Lilly and Buddy Dial spoke to the Forney High School students at an assembly, and then they even fielded questions from the student body!

But back to Dad—as time had passed, and I had begun to understand that Southland in Terrell, Texas (the place Dad worked and oversaw buying and much of the production/sales), was actually Southland Athletic Manufacturing Company and that they made the Dallas Cowboys uniforms, I also began to understand why Paul Themer was so interested in the Dallas Cowboys Football games and why we periodically had seats at one of the games each year.

A little history: Southland had its origination in Forney, Texas, during the late 1940s after World War II, and Dad had left his job at Larry Black Sporting Goods in Enid, Oklahoma, to come to a little Texas town to work in a new sporting uniforms manufacturing factory, owned by Mr. J. M. Warlick. Before the mid-1950s the company packed up all its equipment and moved to Terrell, Texas, because “Forney” did not think it prudent to sell the company land and provide more utilities so that they could expand. The old “Southland Building(s)” became an additional part of Margaret Mitchell Furniture.

Epilog: Dad retired at age 70 and remained a true fan of the Dallas Cowboys and a Tom Landry admirer and also continued to be on the Southland Board of Directors, recording minutes of annual meetings until he was about 90 years of age!