Dallas Cowboys: The Legends of America's Team

by Jim Reeves, Mark Hoffer (Illustrator), Tom Johanningmeier (Editor)

''Who better to tell the 'Legends of America's Team' than Jim Reeves, one of the most trusted and reliable sources for your Cowboy news and history.'' -- Daryl ''Moose'' Johnston, former star Cowboys fullback (Sept. 6, 2016). Meet the characters and relieve the games and controversies that captured the imagination of the nation's sports fans. Jim Reeves, for decades The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's award-winning sports columnist, goes behind the scenes to explain how the Cowboys battled for five Super Bowl titles, how Tex Schramm's creative genius forged them into America's Team, and became the richest NFL franchise under owner Jerry Jones. Reeves tells how star quarterback Roger Staubach inched along an 11 story window ledge to get Schramm's attention during contract talks. Reeves discloses how he scooped the sports world to report quarterback Troy Aikman's deep disgust for coach (and party-animal) Barry Switzer -- even during Super Bowl XXX victory celebrations. In a lengthy interview for the book, Jerry Jones makes clear that he regrets how he fumbled the firing of revered, founding coach Tom Landry. Jones also relives the abrupt split with winning coach Jimmy Johnson, his former Razorback college teammate. Then the owner candidly discusses his team's future.

191 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2016

Reviews

[Diane S ☔]

3.5 thoughts soon.

[Hampton Jaglinski]

Why did I like to read Dallas Cowboys: The Legends of America's Team is because it talked about how the Dallas Cowboys became America's team and I love reading a lot of sportsbooks. If you like reading about sports I recommend this book to you.

[Isaiah Long]

It was awesome to learn the juicy details of America's Team

[Hank Pharis]

Jim Reeves was the sports writer for the Ft. Worth Star Telegram for a quarter century. Thus he covered the Cowboys for much of their history and had personal encounters with most of the key players. For a lifelong Cowboy fan there are many great stories etc. here:

For example, Roger Staubach, or Captain Comeback as he became known, led the team to 23 fourth quarter comeback victories. But Tony Romo has led the Cowboys to 25 fourth quarter comeback victories. (pp. 57, 67)

After his NFL career Bob Hayes spent time in prison following a drug sting operation. When he was released he fell back into alcohol and drug abuse. But Roger Staubach paid for him to go to rehab and gave him a job after he had finished. (p. 80)

The Cowboys drafted tight end Doug Cosby over Joe Montana! (p. 94)

Dez Bryant is the son of a 15-year-old drug addict and crack dealer. His grandmother was a crackhead. "Growing up, he never knew for sure where he was going to sleep at night, or whether there would be something to eat for dinner. He remembers going door to door, begging for food stamps. His foster mother kept a lock on the refrigerator. ... Rage, or something like it, is how Bryant deals with much of life. He is trying to learn how to channel his seemingly out of control emotions into a positive direction." (87) (cf. http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/fe...)

The amazing thing is that Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989 for $140 million and it is now (2015) worth $4 billion. Furthermore Reeves says that "Forbes ranked the Cowboys as the NFL's most valuable team for the ninth straight year with a league record $620 million in revenues, some $125 million more than the next closest team." (p. 22)

(I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding; 5 = All time favorites.)

[Lynn Smith]

This is a good overview of the Dallas Cowboys history which will mostly be enjoyed by Cowboys fans. It is by no means comprehensive or detailed and the author makes no such claim. It covers everything from the beginning of the organization through the start of the 2016 season. I enjoyed reading it but didn't learn too many new things. One thing I did learn (or had forgotten) was that original Cowboys owner Clint Murchison got the franchise by buying the rights to the Washington Redskins theme song and then forcing the owner of the Redskins to allow the Cowboys expansion franchise before he would allow the song to be played. This brought back a lot of good memories for me, especially the 5 Super Bowl wins. My one disappointment in the book is the chapter on Emmitt Smith. I thought it was far too short for even an overview type book. Other than that, the book is well written and enjoyable and I recommend it to all Cowboys fans.

[Jeff]

I've been a Cowboy fan since their beginning. This book reminded me of many things I already knew.