Eddie LeBaron, the Cowboys' 1st quarterback
September 24, 1960: A date which lives in infamy. The Dallas Cowboys play their 1st regular-season game. Coached by Tom Landry, they blow a 14-0 lead, and lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-28, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. They would finish 0-11-1, their only non-blemish a tie with the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium.
In 1959, George Preston Marshall, owner of the team then known as the Washington Redskins, and whose vote carried a lot of weight with the other NFL owners, refused to allow a Dallas team in the NFL. It stood to end his team's status as the southernmost in the league, thus breaking into the biggest source of his income, Southern radio and TV rights to NFL games.
Clint Murchison Jr., son of a Dallas oil baron, and the leader of the group trying to get the Cowboys in, bought the rights to the Washington fight song, "Hail to the Redskins," and told Marshall that if he didn't want to pay through the nose to use the song, he had to back the Cowboys' entry. Marshall did so, and Murchison sold him the rights to the song. Thus was the rivalry between the Cowboys and the team now known as the Washington Commanders born, despite making no geographic sense.
The Cowboys' arrival was also a snub of another son of a local oilman, Lamar Hunt. Instead, he founded his own league, the American Football League, and his own team, the Dallas Texans. Despite their success (a League Championship in 1962) and the Cowboys still being terrible, he couldn't get an attendance or TV viewership edge. So he moved them for the 1963 season, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Cowboys weren't quite the 1st major league team in Texas, in any sport: In 1952, the NFL had a team called the Dallas Texans, with no connection to Hunt's later team. But they were terrible, and moved after the season, becoming the Baltimore Colts. But the Cowboys preceded not just the other teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth "Metroplex" -- baseball's Texas Rangers, the ABA's Chaparrals, the NBA's Mavericks, the NHL's Stars, the NASL's Tornadoes and MLS' Burn/FC Dallas -- but every team that would call Houston and San Antonio home as well.
By the time the Cowboys reached their 1st NFL Championship Game in 1966, hardly any original players were left. One was rookie quarterback Don Meredith, who would succeed Eddie LeBaron in that 1st season and become the 1st great Cowboy quarterback. By the time they won their 1st title, Super Bowl VI in the 1971-72 season, no original Cowboy would be left. (Bob Lilly was the senior Cowboy, having arrived in 1961.)
UPDATE: The Cowboys have a Ring of Honor. From their 1966 and 1967 NFL runners-up, but not their Super Bowl VI winners, they have honored quarterback Don Meredith and running back Don Perkins.
From their Super Bowl VI winners, they have honored quarterback Roger Staubach, receiver Bob Hayes, offensive tackle Rayfield Wright, defensive tackle Bob Lilly, linebackers Chuck Howley and Lee Roy Jordan, cornerback Mel Renfro, safety Cliff Harris, head coach Tom Landry, general manager Tex Schramm, and player personnel director Gil Brandt.
From their Super Bowl XII winners, they have honored Staubach, Wright, Renfro, Harris, Landry, Schramm, Brandt, running back Tony Dorsett, receivers Drew Pearson, and defensive tackle Randy White.
From their Super Bowl XXVII, XXVIII and XXX winners, they have honored quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith, receiver Michael Irvin, guard Larry Allen, defensive end Charles Haley, safety Darren Woodson, and head coach Jimmy Johnson. From since that last Super Bowl win, they have honored 2000s linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
Perkins, Staubach, Hayes, Wright, Renfro, Harris, Howley, Jordan, Landry, Schramm, Brandt, Pearson, White, Aikman, Irvin, Smith, Allen, Woodson, Johnson and Ware have been elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
So have original owner Clint Murchison Jr., 1960s & '70s running backs Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves, 1970s defensive ends Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Harvey Martin, 1970s safety Charlie Waters, 1980s cornerback Everson Walls, 2000s linebacker Dat Nguyen (also elected because he played at Texas A&M), 2000s & 2010s tight end Jason Whitten, owner Jerry Jones, and longtime broadcaster Brad Sham. So has Wade Phillips, once the Cowboys' head coach, but he was elected more for his coaching elsewhere.
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September 24, 1960 was a Saturday. This was the only NFL game scheduled for this day. Both the NFL and the AFL had a game the night before, and the rest of their games the next day.
Among the college football games played that day:
* Number 1 Mississippi beat Kentucky, 21-6 at Hemingway Stadium (now Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) in Oxford, Mississippi.
* Number 2 Syracuse beat Boston University, 35-7 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York.
* Number 3 Washington beat Idaho, 41-12 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Number 4 Illinois beat Indiana, 17-6 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
* Number 5 Alabama was held to a tie by Tulane, 6-6 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
* Number 6 Michigan State and Number 17 University of Pittsburgh played to a 7-7 tie at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* In cross-State rivalries, Number 7 Kansas beat Kansas State, 41-0 at Memorial Stadium (now David Booth Memorial Stadium) in Lawrence; Rutgers beat Princeton, 13-8 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey; Dartmouth beat New Hampshire, 7-6 at Memorial Stadium in Hanover; Harvard beat Holy Cross, 13-6 at Harvard Stadium in Boston; Yale beat Connecticut, 11-8 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven; the University of Pennsylvania beat Lafayette, 35-14 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia; William & Mary beat Virginia, 41-21 at Foreman Field (now Ballard Stadium) in Norfolk; North Carolina State beat North Carolina, 3-0 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill; and Florida beat Florida State, 3-0 at Florida Field (now Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville.
* In crossovers between the Big 10 and the league that would become the Pac-10, Number 8 UCLA and Purdue played to a 27-27 tie at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana; Number 10 Oregon State were upset by Number 19 Iowa, 22-12 at Iowa Stadium (now Kinnick Stadium) in Iowa City; and Wisconsin beat Stanford, 24-7 at the original Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.
* Number 9 Clemson beat Wake Forest, 28-7 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
* In crossovers between the Big 10 and the Southwest Conference, Number 15 Texas beat Maryland, 34-0 at Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland; Number 20 Ohio State beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 24-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus; Michigan beat Oregon, 21-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor; and Texas Christian University (TCU) beat the University of Southern California (USC), 7-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Number 12 Nebraska were upset by Minnesota, 26-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. By the end of the season, this was no longer an upset: Nebraska went 4-6, while Minnesota went 8-1 and were proclaimed National Champions, which was then decided before the bowl games, and they went on to lose the Rose Bowl to Washington.
* Notre Dame beat the University of California, 21-7 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* In what would later become a big rivalry, Virginia Tech beat West Virginia, 15-0 at Miles Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.
* Among the service academies, Army beat Boston College, 20-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat Villanova, 41-7 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force beat Colorado State, 32-8 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mickey Mantle led off the top of the 10th inning with a home run off Ted Wills. This made Luis Arroyo the winning pitcher, in relief of Art Ditmar. Mantle went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Yogi Berra went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Roger Maris went 2-for-3 with 2 walks.
Ted Williams also went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Two days later, he played his last game, and hit a home run, his 521st, in his last at-bat. The same day, the Yankees beat the Senators to clinch the Pennant.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 10-9 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4 with a walk. This was the last week for the "Old Senators." The next season, they moved and became the Minnesota Twins, and a "New Senators" began play as an expansion team, becoming the Texas Rangers in 1972.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ken Aspromonte singles 2 runs home in the bottom of the 9th. In the bottom of the 12th, Bubba Phillips singles Woodie Held home with the winning run.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Jim Maloney pitches a 4-hit shutout, striking out 11. Frank Robinson goes 2-for-4.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play. The next season, the Tigers are bought from the Briggs family by John Fetzer, and he renames the ballpark Tiger Stadium.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks goes 1-for-4. Stan Musial appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-4 with a solo home run.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers and their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, were not scheduled.
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