Sixty years ago, before NIL deals and sponsorships, Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy, served in Vietnam, won two Super Bowls as a quarterback, made two Hall of Fames, built a company, and sold it for more than $600 million.
And it almost didn’t happen.
I was lucky enough to have dinner with Staubach a few years ago and he shared his story with me. I think about it every Thanksgiving for two reasons.
First, the Cowboys have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1966, and the games on Thanksgiving helped turn the Cowboys into a national brand. Second, Staubach has run maybe the greatest, coolest family flag football game for the last 35 years, which I’ll share at the bottom of the column.
But for right now, when you’re sitting around gorging yourself on stuffing and cornbread and green bean casserole on Thursday, read this and regale your family on the Roger Staubach origin story, because it’s improbable and awesome.
This is how one decision turned a Cincinnati kid into an NFL and business icon.
Spring, 1958. A high school coach in Cincinnati wants to revamp his team. He’s got players but not a leader. He’s tired of .500 football and wants to shake things up. He surveys his roster. He needs a new quarterback and his eyes settle on one name: a tall, athletic junior who has never played quarterback in his life.
Roger Staubach.
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Young Staubach is confused. He asks why they want him to play quarterback. “Because the other guys listen to you,” the coach says. “That conversation changed my life,” Staubach says now. “If they hadn’t seen me in that role, you wouldn’t be talking to me.”
Staubach goes full bore all summer. Kills himself during two-a-days to win the starting job as a senior. Loves running the huddle. Leading his peers. It feels natural. He graduates and plays quarterback for one year at the New Mexico Military Institute.
In 1961, Staubach enters the Naval Academy. He sits as a freshman. Early in his sophomore year the Midshipmen offense is sputtering. Flat. Lifeless. Staubach gets his shot and miraculously leads Navy to six touchdowns and a 41–0 victory over Cornell. The job is his.
As a junior, Staubach becomes a household name. He leads Navy to a 9–1 regular-season record. Plays for a national championship. Wins the Heisman Trophy. Gets the cover of Time Magazine when that was a life-changing honor.
After an injury-filled senior year, Staubach is drafted by the Cowboys, but he’s still got his commitment to the Navy to honor.
“I know I sound corny but there is no way in the world I was going to break my commitment to the Navy,” Staubach says. “They could have offered me a billion dollars.”
A trio of legends: Archie Manning, me, and Roger Staubach
With that, he puts the NFL on hold for four years.
Instead of commanding Dallas’ offense for Tom Landry, Staubach is in charge of several dozen enlisted men in Vietnam. He’s a Supply Corp officer. Practices leadership daily. “There’s a way to do things in life,” he says. “And there’s power in setting a good example.”
Staubach quarterbacks a few squads in the service to keep up his skills. He spends a year in Chu Lai. He has the Cowboys playbook and uses his military leave to practice with the team. In 1969, he officially joins the Cowboys as a 27-year-old rookie. He earns the starting spot in his second season.
Then comes 1972. The year everything happens for Staubach. A 10-game winning streak. A Super Bowl victory against the Dolphins. Super Bowl VI MVP. “Captain America” becomes the face of the NFL.
Roger Staubach goes on to play in four Super Bowls. He wins two and loses two, both to the Steelers. He becomes a six-time Pro Bowler and a member of the 1970s All-Decade Team. But quarterbacks (even superstars) in that era didn’t make big money. Far from it.
By the end of his career in the late 70s, Staubach has three kids and is thinking about his post-football life. He has been working in real estate in the off-season for the esteemed Henry S. Miller Company, preparing for this moment. He launches The Staubach Company.
The Staubach Company starts off strong. A few office buildings. Regional tenants. But Roger thinks bigger. He starts working with major corporate clients. Residential development. Apartment complexes. He quarterbacks his business the same way he did the Cowboys.
For 31 years the Staubach Company grows. Deal after deal after deal. Roger works with Jerry Jones, Ross Perot and iconic Dallas magnates. Then, in 2008, he sells the company for more than $600 million. He becomes the wealthiest retired NFL player and is given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.
All because a high school coach moved him to quarterback.
And here’s a cool Thanksgiving sidebar:
In 1980, when Staubach’s NFL career was over, he decided to continue playing on Thanksgiving. But instead of strapping on pads and a helmet, he threw on flags, grabbed his kids and neighbors and friends and his family, and he started his own Thanksgiving football game, complete with jerseys, drafts and rosters. Check out the NFL Films short video (4 minutes) about the Staubach Thanksgiving Family Flag Football game. They have quite the venue.
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Jon Finkel
Editor-in-Chief, Midlife Male
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Check out my latest books at jonfinkel.com
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