February 23, 2000
DOWN HOME:
For a generation of fans, Landry always will be #1
___Seldom have so many grown men grieved at the same time as in the past week or so.
___A vital part of our past departed with the death of Tom Landry.
___Most boys who grew up in Texas (at least everywhere but Houston) in the '60s, '70s and '80s grew up loving the Cowboys and the greatness of Coach Landry.
___As Joanna and I sat at the breakfast table two days after his death, Jo told me a good friend said her husband cried as soon as he heard the news of the coach's death. Jounderstood, for she had watched tears well in my eyes two days in a row, as I read accounts of Coach Landry's life and legacy.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___We couldn't help but love him. Texans love winners, and he was a winner through-and-through--twenty consecutive winning seasons, 13 divisional titles, five Super Bowls and two Super Bowl victories.
___Beyond that, we admired his dignity, integrity, poise, determination and commitment. Sure, he wore "that funny hat" we wouldn't be caught dead in. But he also had a sense of grace and bearing that spoke loudly, even to teens and young men coming of age in the wild-and-woolly '60s and '70s.
___All who had ears to hear knew his bearing and lifestyle flowed from his faith. Even before his conversion at age 35, he was a solid, upright guy. But after, he possessed grace that transcended the guts and glory of football and measured life far beyond rows of numbers in a won-loss column.
___I talked to Coach Landry about that in one of my all-time favorite interviews. It happened in the summer of 1997, after Deion Sanders made a profession of faith in Christ. Some of Sanders' teammates joked he was done for as a football player, because a Christian couldn't be tough enough to play the game. So, I called some of my boyhood heroes and football icons--Bill Glass of the Browns, Grant Teaff and Neal Jeffrey of Baylor, Gordon Wood of Brownwood High and Coach Landry--to ask their views.
___"When you're a Christian, your priorities are right," Coach Landry explained. "God is first, family second and football third. You can be on the right track and still play the game as tough as you want to play."
___That's vintage Landry. It's the kind of talk he made countless times to Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings, to prison inmates, to church gatherings.
___And, I was glad to hear, it was almost word-for-word a taped statement played by a Dallas TV station in its tribute to the coach. Even in death, he spoke a witness to tens of thousands of football fans who might never enter a church to hear those words.
___I thank God for Tom Landry: For the joy of all those 29 football seasons. For the dignity he brought to Texas. For the gospel message he lived.
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