[Deathwatch] Tex Schramm, former NFL Cowboys GM, 83

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Former Cowboys GM Schramm dies
Posted: Tuesday July 15, 2003 10:29 AM

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2003/07/15/schramm_obit_
ap/

DALLAS (AP) -- Had Tex Schramm only built the Dallas Cowboys into
"America's Team," his contribution to pro football would've been
immense. Yet it was only part of his impact on the NFL. 

>From using professional dancers as cheerleaders to letting officials
correct calls through instant replay, Schramm's bold innovations and
keen eye for promotion made him one of the driving forces in turning
the NFL into a billion-dollar industry. 

Schramm, the first team executive elected to the Pro Football Hall of
Fame, died Tuesday at his Dallas home. The former Cowboys president and
general manager was 83. 

As the man who gave Pete Rozelle his first job in the league and the
chairman of the powerful competition committee for 25 years, Schramm's
contributions to league history run deep. "You would run out of ink if
you tried to write them all down," Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt
said. 

Yet Schramm always made it clear that the Cowboys were his top
priority. 

Hired before the team was officially given an NFL franchise, Schramm's
first move was hiring Tom Landry as the coach. Despite opposite
personalities, their "business relationship" -- as Schramm called it --
produced 20 straight winning seasons, 18 playoff appearances, 13
division titles, five Super Bowl appearances and two championships. 

"Tex was responsible for building the Dallas Cowboys and making them
the team that they were," said Wellington Mara, owner of the rival New
York Giants. "He built that franchise up and kept it running." 

Schramm left the organization in 1989, two months after Jerry Jones
bought the club and fired Landry. He went into the Hall of Fame two
years later, but a strained relationship with Jones kept him out of the
club's Ring of Honor.

For 12 years, Schramm was in the awkward position of being recognized
among the game's greats in Canton, Ohio, but not among the team's
greats in Irving, Texas. That changed in April when Jones decided the
man who created the Ring should be in it. 

Schramm will become the 12th honoree this fall, joining 11 people he
brought to the Cowboys. 

"I never gave up hope," he had said at a news conference announcing his
selection, his eyes filling with tears. "Things that should happen to
people that deserve them, usually do happen." 

Gil Brandt, the baby photographer tapped by Schramm to become the
team's top talent evaluator, said being given a spot in the ring meant
so much to Schramm that "it was like having a new grandchild." 

"This was every bit as important to him as being put in the Hall of
Fame or winning the Super Bowl," Brandt said. 

Jones said Tuesday that having Schramm's name on the facade of the
upper deck at Texas Stadium ensures "his spirit will be honored for
years to come." 

In a way, Schramm's spirit lives on wherever NFL games are played. 

It was his idea to put radios in quarterback helmets, to make the
sideline borders real wide and for wind-direction strips to dangle atop
the goalpost uprights. He also pushed the six-division, wild-card
playoff concept. 

While running the competition committee, he oversaw rules changes such
as using overtime in the regular season, putting the official time on
the scoreboard, moving goalposts from the front of the end zone to the
back and protecting quarterbacks through the in-the-grasp rule. 

"Tex will go down as one of the most influential figures in the history
of the NFL," said Don Shula, the league's winningest coach. "I truly
believe he had as much, or more, to do with the success of professional
football as anyone who has ever been connected with the league." 

Schramm's power base was aided by his close relationship with Rozelle. 


In 1952, Schramm had gone from publicity director of the Los Angeles
Rams to general manager. He hired Rozelle to take his old job, and when
Rozelle became commissioner, others in the league jokingly called
Schramm the "vice commissioner." 

At Rozelle's urging, Schramm played a significant role in negotiating
with Hunt the AFL-NFL merger in 1966. Soon after, Schramm headed off a
problem with the players' union, then in 1987 he pushed the use of
replacement players to break a strike. NFL players haven't gone on
strike since. 

"The NFL family has lost one of its giants," commissioner Paul
Tagliabue said. "Tex Schramm was one of the visionary leaders in sports
history -- a thinker, doer, innovator and winner with few equals." 

Texas Earnest Schramm Jr. was born June 2, 1920 -- but not in Texas. He
grew up in San Gabriel, Calif. Texas was his father's name, and where
his parents met. 

A 147-pound fullback in high school, Schramm earned a journalism degree
from the University of Texas and became a sports writer after a stint
in the Air Force. 

He worked for the Rams from 1947-56, then went to CBS-TV Sports, where
he learned the intricacies of wedding football and television. While
there he orchestrated the first TV broadcast of the Winter Olympics and
hired Pat Summerall to broadcast Giants football games. 

Schramm was 39 when he was hired to start the NFL team in Dallas. He
was 41 by the time they finally won a game. 

The team's began rising in the mid-1960s, then hit a heartbreaking
stretch in which they were mockingly known as "Next Year's Champions."
That era was typified by their loss to the Green Bay Packers in the
"Ice Bowl." 

In the 1970s, the Cowboys' blue star became among the most recognizable
images in pro sports. Schramm made it happen, mostly by daring to be
different. 

He let Brandt put together a scouting system that was ahead of its
time. He also agreed to risky draft picks, usually in the late rounds,
such as Olympic sprinter Bob Hayes, Naval officer Roger Staubach and
basketball players Cornell Green and Pete Gent. He also took Herschel
Walker while he was starring in the USFL. 

In 1966, Schramm volunteered to host a second NFL game on Thanksgiving
Day and drew the largest crowd in franchise history (80,259). The
holiday afternoon game remains a team staple and a national tradition. 


His most risque move was in 1972, when he replaced high school
cheerleaders with professional dancers. The seven-member squad forever
changed the sidelines. 

A few years later, an NFL Films producer working on the team's annual
highlight film noticed the Cowboys had throngs of fans wherever they
played, so he dubbed them "America's Team." 

Schramm loved the moniker and made it stick. It helped that he put
together a radio network that broadcast games on 225 stations in 19
states, plus a Spanish-speaking network with 16 stations in seven
states and Mexico. 

"Tex was the ultimate football-minded man," said Hall of Famer Bob
Lilly, the team's first draft pick. "He loved the game and he had a
flair about him of show business." 

Schramm's wife of 60 years, Marty, died in December. Their oldest
daughter, Mardee Anne Smith, died before them. 

He's survived by daughter Christi Wilkinson and son-in-law Bill
Wilkinson of San Antonio, daughter Kandy Court, and son-in-law Greg,
and six grandchildren. 

A private funeral will be held Friday, followed by a public memorial
service at 2 p.m. at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. 

"The world is not as lively a place without Tex," Baltimore Ravens
owner Art Modell said. "Above everything else, Tex was a great guy, a
person who could make you laugh and appreciate the moment."