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Sunday, February 13, 2000

Former Cowboys coach Tom Landry dead at 75

By Jaime Aron
Associated Press

Associated Press

Dallas head coach Tom Landry walking the sidelines.

IRVING - Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboys coach who led America's Team to five Super Bowls and was famous for pacing the sidelines for three decades wearing a stone face, business suit and felt hat, died Saturday. He was 75.
   Landry had been undergoing treatment since May for acute myelogenous leukemia.
   Baylor University Medical Center called in Landry's family earlier in the day. At 7:45 p.m., the hospital issued a release in behalf of Landry's family:
   "Coach Tom Landry passed away today . . . at 6 p.m. He went peacefully surrounded by his loving family. He will also be missed by his many friends and fans, and he will never be forgotten by all of us whose lives he has touched so deeply."
   Landry, who coached the Cowboys for their first 29 years, won two Super Bowls with star quarterback Roger Staubach. His 270 victories are more than any NFL coach except Don Shula and George Halas.
   "Tom Landry's familiar presence on the Dallas Cowboys' sideline for three decades represented the NFL at its best," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "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. 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."
   Landry considered those innovations his greatest contribution to the game. His legacy continued through the coaches he produced, including Atlanta's Dan Reeves and former New Orleans coach Mike Ditka, who both went to the Super Bowl.
   Early seasons
   In Landry's first season, 1960, the Cowboys went 0-11-1. He didn't have a winning season until his seventh. But that began a streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons, 13 division titles and five Super Bowl appearances.
   After three straight losing seasons, Landry was fired by Jerry Jones the day he bought the team in February 1989.
   His final record was 270-178-6, a .601 winning percentage. And when he left, he was as much a symbol of the Cowboys as the star on their helmets.
   Landry was a college star at the University of Texas, then a defensive back for the New York Giants in one of the innovative defenses of the early '50s - "The Umbrella," the first to put four backs deep to counter the passing game.
   An unlikely pairing
   At 29, he became a player-coach in charge of the defense, a job now known as the defensive coordinator. He changed the front seven of the Umbrella from a 5-2 to a 4-3, essentially creating the middle linebacker position for Sam Huff. The system became such a success that Landry later had to devise the multiple offense to counter it. Both alignments remain standards at all levels of football, from Pee Wee to pros.
   General manager Tex Schramm was still trying to get the NFL to award Dallas a franchise when he introduced Landry as the team's first coach. Their agreement was that Schramm would run the business side and Landry would be in charge of football.
   A dynasty was formed through the unlikely pairing of the straight-laced, religious Landry and Schramm, the flashy showman.
   Doing things differently
   Landry's Xs and Os betrayed his bland persona. He thrived on doing things differently, especially if he could mix in deception.
   He created the "Flex" defense that placed one tackle a half-yard behind the other and he used gadget plays on offense, notably the quarterback throwback and the halfback pass.
   His offensive line also had a gimmick - it would often crouch down, raise up and then reset, a style often imitated by kids on playgrounds.
   "I really enjoyed the challenge of bringing a team to the game," Landry once said. "I enjoyed the challenge of that more than the actual game."
   Landry was emotionless on the sidelines and in the locker room. He avoided becoming close to his players for fear that friendship would interfere with personnel decisions. Instead, he ruled through a stare known as The Look.
   A different face
   Landry worked differently with his assistant coaches.
   "When you played for him, he's the boss," said Ditka, a tight end for four years and an assistant under Landry for nine. "When I coached for him he was the boss, too, but when you played for him there was a fear in there."
   Landry began letting his guard down in the early '80s by doing a series of commercials playing a gunslinger fending off the arch-rival Redskins. He became a sympathetic figure following his ugly dismissal by Jones.
   Landry spent his final years devoted to business endeavors, including being a spokesman for a health insurance company and Christian organizations.
   Thomas Wade Landry was born Sept. 11, 1924, in Mission.
   He is survived by his wife, Alicia; a son, Tom Landry Jr.; and a daughter, Kitty Phillips. Another daughter, Lisa Childress, died in 1995.
  

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