Roger Staubach
Roger Thomas Staubach, nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he played college football for the Navy Midshipmen and won the 1963 Heisman Trophy. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy, including a tour of duty in Vietnam.
Staubach joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1969, becoming the team's second major franchise quarterback after the retirement of Don Meredith in 1968. Staubach played with the Cowboys during his entire career. He led the team to the Super Bowl five times, four as the starting quarterback. He led the Cowboys to victories in Super Bowl VI and Super Bowl XII. Staubach was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl VI, becoming the first of four players to win both the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP, along with Jim Plunkett, Marcus Allen, and Desmond Howard. He was named to the Pro Bowl six times during his 11-year NFL career. Staubach is one of ten players to both win the Heisman Trophy and be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the only quarterback.
Upon his retirement Staubach founded The Staubach Group, a commercial real estate firm that he later sold to Jones Lang LaSalle for $613 million in 2008. He then became executive chairman of the Americas region of Jones Lang LaSalle until his retirement in 2018. That same year, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Early life
Staubach was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the only child of Elizabeth and Robert Staubach. His father was a shoe and leather salesman and his mother worked as a secretary for General Motors. He is of partial German descent, and grew up in Silverton, a northeastern suburb of Cincinnati. He was a Boy Scout as a youth, attended St. John the Evangelist Catholic School, and graduated from the Catholic high school Purcell High School in Cincinnati in 1960.U.S. Naval Academy
To prepare for his naval career, Staubach spent one year at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, where he set a school record for passing yards and scored 18 total touchdowns. Appointed by US Representative Donald D. Clancy, Staubach entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1961 and played quarterback for the Midshipmen. As a third-class midshipman in 1962, he got his first opportunity to play, in the first game of the season, against Penn State.A week later, playing against Cornell University, with the offense failing, coach Wayne Hardin decided to put Staubach into the game to see if he could improve the team's offense. He led Navy to six touchdowns, throwing for 99 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 88 yards and another score as Navy won 41–0.
A few weeks later, Staubach started again in the famous Army–Navy game. President John F. Kennedy attended the game, performing the coin toss. Staubach led the team to a 34–14 upset over Army, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another.
In his second class season of 1963, he led college football in completion percentage and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy while leading the Midshipmen to a 9–1 regular season record and a final ranking of No. 2 in the nation. He appeared on the cover of Time in October; he would also have been on the cover of Life magazine's issue of November 29, 1963, but for the assassination of President Kennedy.
On New Year's Day, the Midshipmen lost the national championship to the No. 1 team, the University of Texas, in the 1964 Cotton Bowl. Earlier that season, Staubach led Navy to a 35–14 road victory in its annual rivalry with Notre Dame. Navy did not beat Notre Dame again until 2007, 43 years later.
During three seasons at Navy, Staubach completed 292 of 463 passes with 18 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, while gaining a school-record 4,253 yards of total offense. Staubach is the last player from a military academy to win the Heisman Trophy. As a senior in 1964, he injured his left heel in the opening game victory over Penn State and missed the next four games, and Navy finished the season at 3–6–1.
The Naval Academy retired Staubach's jersey number during his graduation ceremony after his senior season. In 1981, Staubach was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. In 2007, Staubach was ranked No. 9 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list.
Statistics
After his collegiate football career ended, Staubach also concluded his time at the Academy with a standout baseball season in 1962, where he batted.420, served as captain of the baseball team in 1965, and played for the school's basketball team.U.S. Navy officer
During his junior year at the Naval Academy, Staubach's color-blindness was detected and he was commissioned directly into the Supply Corps, which did not necessitate being able to tell the difference between red and green lights or to discern the color differences in electrical circuitry.After graduating from the Naval Academy in June 1965, Staubach could have requested an assignment in the United States, but he chose to volunteer for a one-year tour of duty in South Vietnam. He served as a Supply Corps officer for the Navy at the Chu Lai Base Area until 1967. Staubach supervised 41 enlisted men.
Staubach returned from South Vietnam in September 1967, and spent the rest of his naval career in the United States. He played football on various service teams to prepare for his future career in the National Football League. During his tour at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, he quarterbacked the Pensacola Navy Goshawks, a team consisting of fellow U.S. Navy officers, and played games against college football teams. He had access to the Dallas Cowboys playbook, and the Goshawks defeated many of the college teams they played against. Among his opponents was Youngstown State University, who had future actor Ed O'Neill on the defensive line.
Professional career
Staubach was a tenth-round "future" selection in the 1964 NFL draft by the Cowboys. The NFL allowed the Cowboys to draft him one year before his college eligibility was over because he was four years out of high school, although due to his four-year military commitment, he would not play professionally until 1969 as a 27-year-old rookie. He was also drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 16th round of the 1964 American Football League draft, also with a future selection.While still in the Navy during 1968, he went to the Cowboys' rookie camp, using most of his annual military leave. During 1969, Staubach resigned his naval commission just in time to join the Cowboys training camp. The Cowboys won their first NFC title in 1970 with Craig Morton starting at quarterback, but lost to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, losing by three points on a last-second field goal.
In 1971, Morton began the season as the starter, but after a loss to the New Orleans Saints, Staubach assumed the role. However, in a game against the Chicago Bears during the seventh week of the season, coach Tom Landry alternated Staubach and Morton on each play, sending in the quarterbacks with the play call from the sideline. Dallas gained almost 500 yards of offense but committed seven turnovers that resulted in a 23–19 loss to a mediocre Bears squad that dropped the Cowboys to 4–3 for the season, two games behind the Washington Redskins in the NFC East race.
Staubach assumed the full-time quarterbacking duties in week eight with a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and led the Cowboys to 10 consecutive victories, including their first Super Bowl victory, 24–3 over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI in January 1972. He was named the game's MVP, completing 12 out of 19 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 18 yards. After the season, he negotiated his own contract, a three-year deal at about $75,000 per year.
In 1972, Staubach missed most of the season with a separated shoulder after a collision in a August preseason game. Even when he was ready to play in late season, Landry went with Morton, who ultimately led Dallas to a 11–3 record where Staubach threw just twenty passes the whole season. However, he would relieve Morton in a divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers that saw him go 12-for-20 for 174 yards and throw two touchdown passes in the last 90 seconds to turn a 15-point 4th quarter deficit into a 30–28 victory to send Dallas back to the NFC Championship Game. With that performance, he won back his regular job and did not relinquish it again during his career.
Staubach led the Cowboys to a second Super Bowl win in the 1977 season. He threw for 183 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions in Dallas' 27–10 victory in Super Bowl XII over the Denver Broncos, led by his former teammate Morton. Staubach also led the Cowboys to appearances in Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers both times, by 4 points each game.
Staubach's offensive teammates included standout receivers "Bullet" Bob Hayes, Lance Alworth, Drew Pearson, and Golden Richards, tight ends Mike Ditka, Billy Joe Dupree, and Jackie Smith, tackle Rayfield Wright, and running backs Robert Newhouse, Calvin Hill, and Tony Dorsett. Dorsett, Hayes, Pearson, and Wright are in the Hall of Fame, as are Alworth, Ditka, and Smith.
During his final NFL season in 1979, Staubach had career highs in completions, passing yards, and touchdown passes, with just 11 interceptions. He retired at the conclusion of the season in order to protect his long-term health, declining the Cowboys' offer for two more seasons. He suffered 20 concussions in his playing career, including six in which he said he was "knocked out". After suffering two concussions in 1979, a doctor at Cornell told Staubach that while his brain tests were fine at the moment, another concussion could have life-altering consequences. He chose to retire and was replaced as the Cowboys starting quarterback by Danny White.
Overall, Staubach finished his 11 NFL seasons with 1,685 completions for 22,700 yards, 153 touchdowns, and 109 interceptions. He also gained 2,264 rushing yards and scored 21 touchdowns on 410 carries. For regular-season games, he had a.750 winning percentage. Staubach recorded the highest passer rating in the NFL in four seasons and led the league with 23 touchdown passes in 1973. He was an All-NFC choice five times and selected to play in six Pro Bowls.