Roger Staubach

Football Player

• Born: February 5, 1942
• Place of Birth: Cincinnati, Ohio

SPORT: Football

Early Life

The only child of hardworking and devout Roman Catholic parents, Roger Thomas Staubach was born on February 5, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, a salesman in the shoe and leather business, was a large man of German ancestry. His mother was a tall, stately Irish woman. Staubach acquired from his parents a strong physical build, a vibrant Christian faith, and a fiercely competitive spirit.

Young Staubach began playing organized sports at the age of six. A gifted athlete, he excelled in all sports. As a preteen, he starred as a catcher in baseball, a guard in basketball, and a halfback and an end in football. During his sophomore year at Purcell High School, Staubach's coach told him to switch to quarterback. Staubach protested this change, but his coach's order prevailed. When he graduated in 1960, he was considered one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country.

The Road to Excellence

Deciding what college to attend troubled Staubach. Although he was recruited by approximately forty schools, the college he liked most, the University of Notre Dame, expressed little interest in him. He seriously considered Purdue University but finally decided on the US Naval Academy. His verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were below Annapolis standards, and so before he could attend the Naval Academy he had to complete a year at a college prep school. In the summer following his graduation, he played in a final high school football game, the Ohio all-star game. After the game, Notre Dame offered him a full scholarship. Having already given his word to the Navy coaches, he rejected the belated offer. In the ensuing fall, he attended the New Mexico Military Institute, his way station to a fabulous collegiate career at the Naval Academy.

At Navy, Staubach distinguished himself as a center fielder in baseball and a quarterback in football. An excellent runner with a strong, precise arm, he was a lethal threat whenever he touched the ball. As a junior, he led the 1963 Midshipmen to nine victories—including wins over the Universities of Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame, as well as archrival Army—and a second-place national ranking. His spectacular season earned him the Heisman Trophy, an honor rarely bestowed upon a junior athlete.

The Emerging Champion

In the spring of 1964, Staubach was drafted in the tenth round by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). Though he had won the Heisman, his selection was somewhat of a surprise. After all, he still had one year remaining in college and then a four-year commitment to the Navy to fulfill. No matter how talented, few athletes are able to compete in the NFL after such a prolonged layoff.

Staubach was no ordinary athlete. In 1969, after fulfilling his commitment to the Navy, which included a tour of duty in Vietnam, he reported to training camp as a twenty-seven-year-old rookie. A determined competitor, he worked extra hard to regain his playing form and to learn the Cowboys' complex offensive system. Success did not come quickly. He played backup to Craig Morton for two and a half years before Coach Tom Landry named him the Cowboys' number-one quarterback. He responded to the opportunity by leading the Cowboys to ten straight wins and a Super Bowl victory, the team's first, in 1972. At the end of his first year as a starter, Staubach was the NFL's leading passer; a dangerous, opportunistic runner who averaged 8.4 yards per carry; and an inspirational leader of a team that was destined for greatness.

Continuing the Story

Throughout the 1970s, "Roger the Dodger" personified the Dallas Cowboys, widely called "America's Team." A master of the two-minute offense operating out of the shotgun formation, he performed best in pressure situations. Twenty-four times, he guided the Cowboys to come-from-behind fourth-quarter victories. On fourteen of these occasions, the go-ahead scores took place inside the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime. Five times, Staubach was rated the NFL's top passer. His greatness, however, is best measured in team success rather than in individual statistics. During his extraordinary career, the Cowboys made eleven consecutive playoff appearances, won eight division titles, and brought home two Super Bowl championships.

After twenty concussions and seventeen shoulder separations, Staubach announced his retirement after the 1979 season. Leaving the playing field for the business world, he founded a firm to buy and sell land and to represent clients in the market for office space. By 1990, the Staubach Company, with offices in six cities across the country, was generating revenues estimated at $19 million a year. He also worked a great deal as a corporate representative.

In 2008, Staubach sold his real-estate firm, which included sixty-eight offices and almost two thousand employees, to JLL for more than $600 million. He became the executive chairman of the merged company, a position that entailed managing client relationships and developing new businesses. Still following and cheering for his old team, he expressed concern in 2015 over the NFL's response to defensive end Greg Hardy being accused of domestic abuse. He stated that he did not believe the organization had given Hardy a strict enough punishment, publicly condemning the player's conduct off of the field as a kind of "sickness" that should not be tolerated.

In 1985, the first year of his eligibility, Staubach was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He invited his former coach, Tom Landry, to introduce him during the induction ceremonies. Five years later, he returned to Canton, Ohio, this time at Landry's request, to help induct his former coach into that distinguished hall of honor. Staubach continued to earn admiration over the years, culminating in 2018 when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, by President Donald Trump. In 2023, Staubach was featured in the sports documentary The Perfect 10 (2023).

Summary

At the time of his retirement, Roger Staubach ranked as the leading passer in NFL history. His storybook career affirms perseverance pays, even as it rebuts the often-stated assumption that good guys always finish last.

Bibliography

Garrison, Walt, and Mark Stallard. Then Landry Said to Staubach: The Best Dallas Cowboys Stories Ever Told. Triumph, 2007.

Pennington, Bill. The Heisman: Great American Stories of the Men Who Won. Regan, 2004.

"Roger the Dodger." Heisman, www.heisman.com/heisman-winners/roger-staubach. Accessed 20 June 2024.

Schultz, Brad.The NFL’s Greatest Day: Roger Staubach, Franco Harris, and the Story of Immaculate Saturday. McFarland & Company, Inc, 2019.

Staubach, Roger. Time Enough to Win. Waco: Word, 1980.

Stowers, Carlton. Staubach: Portrait of the Brightest Star. Triumph, 2010.

Wolfe, Alexandra. "Roger Staubach, America's Quarterback." Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones, 29 Aug. 2014.