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© 2025 COLD WIRE MEDIA. THE COLD WIRE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COLD WIRE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USE OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY

Sunday, May 3, 2026

The Life And Career Of Tom Landry

Ben Donahue
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The Life And Career Of Tom Landry
(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

 

Tom Landry is one of the winningest NFL coaches in the history of the league.

The “Man in the Hat” roamed the sidelines of the Dallas Cowboys for almost three decades and left the sport with 270 victories.

When he was fired before the 1989 season, Landry had the second-most wins of all time.

Since then, he has been bumped to the fifth overall spot.

Not only was Landry an exceptional coach, he was a man of strong principles, great leadership and tremendous courage.

Before he played a down of college ball, Landry enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and flew in 26 combat missions as a copilot during World War II.

His example of leading men to battle (literally and figuratively) was on display as he stoically led the Cowboys to five Super Bowls and two NFL Championship games.

This is the story of Tom Landry.

 

Growing Up in Mission

Thomas Wade Landry was born in Mission, Texas on September 11, 1924.

He was the second of four kids to parents Ray and Ruth.

Young Tom almost didn’t have a chance to grow up when he was struck by an automobile and nearly died.

Despite the frightening setback, Landry healed to the point where he could resume his usual activities.

Ever quiet and humble, he served as his class’s president and played on the Mission High School baseball and football teams.

Initially, Landry was a center on the gridiron before Coach Bob Martin switched him to quarterback.

It turned out to be a wise decision as he led the team to a 6-4 record during his junior year.

Not only was Landry adept as a signal-caller, but he played several other positions for the Eagles including punter, kicker, receiver and in the secondary.

During his senior year in 1941, everything clicked for Landry and Mission High as they went 12-0 and took down Hondo, 33-0, in the state Class A championship game.

“That autumn of glory, shared with my boyhood friends… remains perhaps my most meaningful season in my fifty years of football. The game was never more fun, the victories never sweeter, the achievement never more satisfying,” Landry wrote in his autobiography.

The QB was named All-Region and selected to play in the Texas High School All-Star contest.

(Landry was later chosen for the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame).

He played well in the game and was offered a scholarship to play for the Texas Longhorns.

 

Landry Leaves School for the War Effort

After matriculating to Texas in 1942, Landry left following his first semester to take part in the war effort.

By then, World War II was in full swing and Landry wanted to serve, especially after watching his older brother, Robert, enlist after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Unfortunately, Robert Landry was killed when the B-17 he was in crashed near Iceland.

Devastated, Tom enlisted in the Army Air Corps and signed up to be a co-pilot.

He paid attention to detail during his training and called upon his studies when his first official flight went bad.

Shortly after takeoff, Landry saw that the lead pilot was in a panic.

It turns out that the plane’s engine had died and both pilots worked furiously to land it.

For the remainder of the war, Second Lieutenant Landry’s crew flew in 30 bombing missions over Adolf Hitler’s Germany with Landry taking part in 26 of those missions.

The men who served in the B-17 bombers were never promised a return home and death was always around the corner.

However, except for a crash in Belgium due to his plane’s fuel running out, Landry and his mates made it back every time.

When the war finally ended in 1945, Landry was promoted to first lieutenant and discharged from service.

 

Back to UT

Now that the Axis Powers were defeated, Landry returned to Texas to finish what he started.

Joining new head coach Blair Cherry in 1947, Landry was switched from quarterback to the secondary and also played running back.

Cherry already had a bona fide all-star QB in Bobby Layne who led the ‘Horns to a 10-1 record and a thumping of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl that year.

That season, Landry took home All-Southwest Conference honors for his play.

In 1948, Texas went 7-3-1 as Landry was selected as a co-captain.

During the 1949 Orange Bowl, the Georgia Bulldogs entered the contest with only one loss and were favored to win.

However, Landry filled in for the team’s injured starting fullback and led both teams with 117 yards rushing on the way to a 41-28 Texas upset.

 

Heady Pro Player

When the calendar turned to 1949, Landry got married to Alicia Wiggs, and then got his Business degree in May.

He then embarked on a pro career with the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) New York Yankees who had selected Landry in the 1948 draft.

Following the season, (where Landry led the league in punting yards) the AAFC folded and a few of the league’s teams were absorbed by the NFL.

The Yankees weren’t one of the teams and Landry ended up staying in the Big Apple to play for the Giants.

New York had originally selected Landry in the 1947 NFL Draft, but he chose to stay in school.

During his first season with the G-Men, the franchise went 10-2 and it was apparent that Landry had a knack for coaching.

As he was playing well in the secondary, he talked to head coach Steve Owen about developing an exotic (for the time) 6-1-4 defense.

Owen was so fascinated with the idea that he asked his young player to explain the concept to his teammates.

Not only was Landry adept at defense, he displayed his proficient punting ability and led the NFL in punting yards in 1952 and 1955.

 

Player-Coach

In 1953, the Giants suffered through a 3-9 record and Owen was fired as a result.

Jim Lee Howell was hired, and in turn, Howell hired former Army Assistant Vince Lombardi as his offensive coordinator.

That season, New York won seven games with Lombardi overseeing the offense while Landry was playing and running the defense.

During a contest against Philadelphia, Landry intercepted no less than three passes and was later picked as a first-team All-Pro and voted to the Pro Bowl.

Then, in 1955, the Giants went 6-5-1 and Landry put a wrap on his playing career.

As a player for both the Yankees and the Giants, Landry hauled in 32 interceptions for 404 return yards and three touchdowns.

Remarkably, he had eight picks each during the 1951, 1952 and 1954 seasons.

Landry also scooped up seven fumbles during his career, returning two for scores, 131 yards and a touchdown rushing and 109 yards receiving.

His work as a punter resulted in 15,900 yards and he had 242 yards as a punt and kick returner.

 

Transition to Full-Time Coach

It goes without saying that Coach Howell couldn’t have asked for a better staff.

Lombardi’s offense ranked fifth in the NFL in 1956 while Landry’s defense was fourth overall.

(Howell said years later that Landry was “the greatest football coach in the game today.”)

The Giants had running back Frank Gifford pacing the offense while rookie linebacker Sam Huff more than held his own.

Initially, Huff nearly left New York when Howell couldn’t find a position for him.

He changed his mind when Lombardi tracked him down at the airport and talked him into returning.

Then, Landry drew up plans for an updated 4-3 defense that fit Huff like a glove.

The result of the tinkering helped the G-Men go 8-3-1 and crush the Chicago Bears in the NFL Championship 47-7.

It was the franchise’s first NFL title since 1938.

After missing the championship in 1956, New York was first in the NFL in defense in 1957 and took a 9-3 record into the postseason.

Since the Giants and Cleveland Browns tied for the Eastern Conference lead, the two teams played each other in a conference playoff with New York shutting out Cleveland 10-0.

In the NFL Championship game, the Baltimore Colts ended New York’s season.

Following the loss, Lombardi was coaxed away to coach the Green Bay Packers.

Then, when the Giants lost to the Colts again in the title game a season later, it was Landry’s turn to leave.

 

Cowboys Hire Landry

Dallas Cowboys helmet
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

 

In 1952, the Dallas Texans played in the NFL for one season.

As hard as it is to believe now, especially in football-mad Texas, the team sputtered and the local populace lost interest, leading to the franchise shuttering after one year.

Then, in early 1960, the NFL granted Texas businessman Clint Murchison Jr. an opportunity to try again in Dallas.

Murchison liked Landry’s ability to coach and it just so happened that Landry had an off-season insurance business in the Dallas area.

When the owner approached him to lead the new franchise, Landry accepted.

Since the Cowboys were an expansion team, there were bound to be growing pains, and sure enough, Dallas went 0-11-1 in its first year.

Despite the winless record, the organization had begun assembling a strong foundation, led by rookie quarterback Don Meredith.

In 1961, the Cowboys improved to four wins before increasing the number to five in 1962.

Dallas took a step back in 1963 with a 4-10 record.

Nobody would have blamed Murchison if he decided to fire Landry and look elsewhere.

However, the owner decided to double down and give his coach a 10-year contract before 1964.

Armed with Meredith, linebacker Chuck Howley and a fantastic rookie in Mel Renfro, Dallas won five games in ‘64.

Thankfully for Murchison and fans of the franchise, that would be the last losing record for a very long time.

 

Landry Rights the Ship

Before the 1965 season began, the Cowboys took quarterback Craig Morton and defensive lineman Jethro Pugh in the NFL draft.

The organization made it to .500 with a 7-7 record.

Then, in 1966, Dallas began 4-0-1 before finishing with a 10-3-1 record that brought Landry accolades as the NFL Coach of the Year.

Qualifying for its first NFL Championship game, the Cowboys and Landry (by now known for his Fedora hat) lost to Lombardi and the Packers, 34-27.

Dallas entered the newly formed four-team postseason in 1968 after nine wins.

A defeat of Cleveland in the Conference playoff led to another loss against Landry’s friend, Lombardi, in the NFL Championship.

“All of us who were privileged to work for Coach Lombardi, or play for Coach Lombardi, had an immense respect for Coach Landry, because we saw early how much respect Coach Lombardi had for Coach Landry,” Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr said. “We knew going in what a great team we were facing, and they were.”

Both losses in the Championship games preceded the first two Super Bowls and both losses were also boiled down to two plays in Green Bay’s favor.

“So the Cowboys were only two plays away from it being the Landry Trophy instead of the Lombardi Trophy,” former Packer and Cowboy Herb Adderley said.

In 1968 and 1969, Dallas went a combined 23-4-1 but lost to the Browns both times in the Conference round.

 

Innovation and Super Bowls in the Early 70s

super bowl

 

The 1970 Cowboys had a loaded roster that included Morton and Roger Staubach at quarterback and a backfield of Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and future NFL coach Dan Reeves.

Dallas’s receiving room included “Bullet” Bob Hayes, Lance Rentzel and former Bears tight end Mike Ditka.

Landry’s defense was one of the best in the business and the heady coach constantly tinkered with the D to make it lethal.

He developed what was called the “Flex” defense to better counter running teams and stuff the ground game.

In ‘70, the offense was ranked 10th in the league while the defense was fourth and a 10-4 record morphed into wins against Detroit and San Francisco in the playoffs.

Finally reaching their first Super Bowl, Landry and the Cowboys were defeated by the Baltimore Colts, 16-13, in the final seconds of Super Bowl V.

Despite the loss, Howley was voted the day’s MVP based on his two interceptions and forced fumble.

A year later, Staubach (who was actually drafted by the franchise in 1964, but didn’t join the team until his Navy service ended) was the primary starter.

Landry, recognizing his quarterback’s ability to use his legs if he got into trouble, broke out the shotgun formation that had been largely mothballed by the NFL at the time.

This time around, the Cowboys ranked first in the league in offense while the D ranked seventh.

Dallas won 11 games and advanced to meet the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.

At long last, Landry and his team finally got a championship and defeated Miami, 24-3, while Staubach took home the MVP award.

“I still see that image of him being carried off the field,” Staubach said years later. “I think that was a big deal to him, the best in his life. Seeing that smile on his face showed how happy he was to finally get over that hump.”

 

“America’s Team”

After losses in the NFC Championship game in 1972 and 1973, and missing the postseason despite a winning record in 1974, Landry’s boys were back in 1975.

Known for his defensive acumen, the coach also worked on the offensive side of the ball.

One of the signatures of the team was the offensive line which squatted down, stood up, then went down into a three-point stance before each play.

Landry had the line stand as one to fluster the defense by limiting its field of view and see who was in motion.

In the coach’s mind, he was always trying to overcome the game plan of coaches similar to Lombardi, even though Landry’s pal had passed away in 1970.

“The difference, of course, between them is that Lombardi ran the same basic plays hundreds of times in practice and basically said to opposing teams, here it is, stop us. Landry, though, was so interested in his offense, he studied the films until he felt he had mastered them to the fullest extent. Then he would create his game plan on the basis of, ‘If they do this, we’ll do this; if they line up like this, here’s the play we’ll run.’ Landry basically made football into a game of chess and no one was ever better,” said former Dallas quarterback Eddie LeBaron.

Dallas lost Super Bowl X after the ‘75 season to rival Pittsburgh, 21-17.

However, in 1977, the Cowboys took a second-ranked offense (led in part by rookie Tony Dorsett) into Super Bowl XII and beat former teammate Craig Morton and the Denver Broncos, 27-10.

By then, Dallas was affectionately known as “America’s Team” (although Landry didn’t always like the moniker).

Landry’s stoic, robotic demeanor on the sidelines and the Cowboys’ consistent winning delighted its fans, but upset most of the rest of the country.

None of the Dallas players seemed to care, though, and the franchise returned to the NFL’s biggest game in 1978.

That year, after a second consecutive 12-win season, the ‘Boys lost to the Steelers, again, in Super Bowl XIII, 35-31, despite a top-ranked offense and third overall defense.

 

Beginning of the End

In 1980, quarterback Danny White and Dallas hit the 12-win mark for the third time in four years yet lost in the NFC Championship game to Coach Dick Vermeil and the Philadelphia Eagles.

One season later, another 12-win season was undone when San Francisco’s Dwight Clark snagged “The Catch” with 58 seconds left to beat Dallas in the NFC title contest.

A player’s strike abbreviated 1982 to nine games, but the Cowboys won six times and traveled to Washington for the NFC Championship before losing again.

Dallas fans were incensed when their team went 12-4 in 1983 then were stunned by the LA Rams in the wild-card round.

The Cowboys failed to make the playoffs despite nine victories in 1984 and were blanked by the Rams in the 1985 playoffs after a 10-6 season.

Disaster struck in 1986 when Dallas began the year at 6-2 and the offense was humming along as the best in the NFL.

Then, in a Week 9 contest against the New York Giants, linebacker Carl Banks tore through the Dallas line and crushed White with a vicious hit.

The quarterback ended up with a broken wrist and torn ligaments and missed the rest of the season.

Even with Dorsett and Herschel Walker sustaining a decent ground attack, the Cowboys lost all but one of their remaining games to finish 7-9.

Things got so bad that Landry was pulled from a Week 14 date with the Rams when team security learned of a threat to his life.

After retreating to the locker room, he returned later sporting a bulletproof vest and finished the game unharmed.

 

Jones Fires Landry

Dallas’s 7-9 record was the first losing record for Landry in 20 years and there were rumblings from inside and outside the team that the coach was losing his touch.

That didn’t matter to team owner “Bum” Bright who bought the franchise from Murchison in 1984.

Bright gave Landry a three-year extension before 1987 then watched as a 5-4 start ended 7-8 during another season shortened by a player’s strike.

Dallas and Landry hit a new low when the team won just three times in 1988, the lowest win total for the organization since the inaugural 0-11-1 team in 1960.

In the following offseason, Bright sold the franchise to Arkansas businessman Jerry Jones.

It’s now well known that former Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm wanted to replace Landry in 1986 but the coach ultimately stayed on the sidelines.

When Jones bought the team, his first order of business was to fly to Dallas, fire the organization’s only head coach and hire Jimmy Johnson, Jones’s former Arkansas Razorback teammate.

“There is no right way to fire Tom Landry,” commented Brad Sham, a Cowboys radio personality in 2017. “Yet it was what everybody wanted done, and what everybody agreed had to happen. They just wanted him to step away gracefully, but he didn’t want to.”

Although he was shocked by his sudden dismissal from the Cowboys, most of the pro football world knew it was time.

During his career in Dallas, Landry was 270-178-6 overall and he had 20 consecutive winning seasons.

Remarkably only two of those 20 seasons resulted in the organization missing the playoffs.

“As a boy growing up in Mission, Texas, I always dreamed of being a cowboy. For 29 wonderful years, I was one,” Landry said.

The Cowboys under Landry won 13 division championships, five NFC Championships and two of five Super Bowls.

When he departed from the sidelines, Landry owned the second-most wins in NFL history.

He is now fifth behind Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.

Landry’s coaching tree includes the likes of Mike Ditka, Dan Reeves, Ray Berry, Gene Stallings and John Mackovic.

 

Landry Passes Away

funeral with coffin

 

For the next decade, Landry spent time speaking at events across the nation and was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 and chosen for the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Landry and Jones patched things up so that the “Man in the Hat” was added to the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor in 1993.

Then, in 1999, Landry was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia and he passed away from the disease on February 12, 2000, at the age of 75.

“He will always rank as one of the all-time great coaches and as an architect of one of the most successful teams in sports history,” former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. “He will be remembered for many special reasons, including his record as a coach, the innovations he brought to our game, and the personal integrity he displayed.”

 

References

https://www.texasfootball.com/hof-tom-landry

https://texaslonghorns.com/hof.aspx?hof=687

https://www.rgvshof.net/1988-landry-thomas-tom

https://www.dmagazine.com

https://www.dallascowboys.com

https://www.espn.com

lonestarflight.org

https://www.newson6.com

https://www.espn.com/nfl/landry/jaworski.html

https://www.encyclopedia.com

https://www.dallascowboys.com

coachfore.org

texasstandard.org

https://www.sportscasting.com

https://www.tshof.org/store/p191/Tom_Landry.html

missiontexas.us

https://www.pro-football-reference.com

https://www.nfl.com

https://www.pro-football-reference.com

https://www.profootballhof.com/players/tom-landry/

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Ben Donahue
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Over 25 years of experience in sports including coach, athletic director, game day operations, media relations, football operations, and scout. He is [...]

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