February 12, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, He was one of the greatest coaches of the 20th century. Behind a stone face and beneath his trademark fedora was a brilliant football mind. As head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years, Tom Landry compiled an impressive record of 13 division titles, five Super Bowl appearances, and two championships. The Cowboys would eventually be dubbed "America's team" and Landry became a coaching legend. Here he is with his story.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
He was one of the greatest coaches of the twentieth century.
Behind a stone face and beneath his trademark Badora was
a brilliant football mind. As head coach of the Dallas
Cowboys for twenty nine years, Tom Landry compiled an impressive
(00:32):
record of thirteen Division titles, five Super Bowl appearances, and
two championships. The Cowboys would eventually be dubbed America's team.
Here he is with his own story.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I was raised at Mission, Texas, which is right up
from Brownsville there about sixty miles, and I was raised
during the depression years in the thirties. My dad was
an autumn obill mechanic on his own drive. She was
fire chief of Mission Volunteer Fire Department for about forty years,
a great civic leader, and we had six in our family.
(01:08):
And my family really they taught me values. We were
just about a half a block from the Methodist church.
My dad was superintan and Sunday schools, so I had
to go to Sunday school every Sunday. I didn't care
to go, but we didn't really. We didn't pray you
in our home except maybe when we had company or
Thanksgiving or something. We didn't ever read the Bible. I
(01:31):
never read the Bible, but my parents taught me to
go to church, that that was important, and I always
went to church. But you know, when you're in the thirties,
i'd never been out of the Rigrand Valley but one
time by the time I was a senior in high school,
cause when you're in depression years, anybody's been through the depression,
you know, you don't travel far because you don't have
much money. But I knew to get out of the
(01:52):
valley that I had to use if I ever wanted
to climb that ladder success that I think America offers everybody.
I was gonna have to do it in football. And
so I started planning and thinking about football and doing
everything I could to be a football player. And I
got a chance to go to University of Texas and
I made the team, and I was really excited. First
(02:13):
time I've ever been on campus at the University of Texas.
And then I went into service. I flew B seventeens
over Europe for thirty missions during World War Two before
I came back to the University of Texas, and we
had some great teams there at the University of Texas
with Bobby Lane was our cornerback.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We beat Alabama and the Sugar Bowl, beat Georgia and
Orange Bowl. But the thing I discovered at that time
was that I wasn't reaching the fulfillment and the peace
of mind that I thought you ought to have after
you have that kind of success, because we had some
good football teams, and I was kind of felt like
I was climbing to the top of the world. And
(02:49):
my only rationalization was I hadn't been to the top yet.
And so when I went in professional football with the
New York Giants, I became a player, and I made
All Pro even one year year, and we won the
World's Championship in nineteen forty at fifty seven against the
Cargo Bears, wet in forty seven to seven in Yankee Stadium,
and there we are on the top of the world,
(03:10):
you know, and I still, after all the excitement, I
still had that emptiness in that restlessness, and I couldn't
understand why that was. So I wanted to get out
of football. I had gotten another degree at the University
of Houston while I was playing with the Giants. I
went to school during the off season. I got an
industrial engineering degree, and so I wanted to go into management.
And a Christian met me, a friend of mine, on
(03:31):
the street, and I told him what I was going
to do. I'm gonna get out of football, and you
know it wasn't fulfilling. I want to get into business. Well,
he knew immediately what was wrong with me when I
told him the story, and he said, how about attend
the Bible study that meets at the hotel. And my
first reaction was when I knew the Christmas story in
the Eastern story. You know, I didn't go. I didn't
have to go study the Bible, and I've been to
church every Sunday. But he was very persistent and he
(03:54):
and I went, and I never forget it because we
were studying in Matthew the someone on the Mount and
Jesus was saying, do not be anxious about your life,
what you should eat or drink about your body, what
you should put on is not life more than food
and body more than clothing. Seek first the Kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be
given to you. Well, boy, I got excited. That's the
(04:15):
first time that I ever had any inkling of even
what the gospel was all about, you know, and even
in my young years in the Bible, just that time
I realized I didn't know that you were say by faith,
you know. I went through the Romans there and boy
talked about everyone's sin and fall ashore the glory of God,
(04:37):
and we're dead in sin, and Christ died on the cross. Well,
finally I came to what the gospel of Jesus Christ
is all about. In First Christians fifteen three and four
was said that Christ died on the cross, he was buried,
and he rose again. And I accepted Christ right there.
I realized right then that that life was really a
matter of priorities. Unless God is first in your life,
(05:00):
and your family, of course, is going to come very
close when that happens, and your business is in third place,
you're not a Christian. So I had football all those
years that I was trying to climb that ladder success
to get the peace of mind and all, and only
when I accepted Christ did that come to me. The
peace was there, and Saint Augustine said it this way,
(05:20):
says heart's are restless o God until they find their
rest in thee. Well that was my story, and I
tell you I've heard many athletes have conversion stories and
they all follow the same pattern. Football becomes everything. They
think that's what life's all about. If you reach the top,
you have everything. But when you reach your top, you
(05:41):
don't have everything. It doesn't mean you shouldn't achieve. There's
nothing wrong with achieving and being the best that you
can be. But boy, it's a lot different when Christ
is number one and you succeed, because that's what the
whole life's about. And so that was tremendous for me.
And I was thirty four years old then. Year before
I took over the Dallas Cowboys as a head coach
(06:03):
was when that took place. And it had really nothing
to do with success. I had great success before I played,
and great success act. But it's a peace of mind
that you had. And even when I took over the Cowboys,
when I didn't think I was gonna make it, you know,
I still it was still God's way. When Clinton Meerkerson
(06:24):
gave me that ten year contract, I knew that that's
where God wanted me to be a coach, and from
then on it was set. I was a coach from
then on. I never even give it a second thought
after that and there, and He's blessed me in so
many ways.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Had a great job on the editing and production by
Iron Greg Hengler and a special Thanks Division video where
you can find stories like that, go Division video dot com.
Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful stories, many of them about faith,
and we don't shy away from telling people's faith stories
when it's a part of their life story. And my goodness,
it was a fundamental part of Tom Landry's personal transformation.
(07:02):
He had chased success. He had thought the next mountain top,
that's what will make me happy, Gotta go play ball.
Flu missions in Europe be seventeen's there's nothing he didn't
do into the pros. One's a championship. Still that feeling
of restlessness, and then he bumps into that Christian who says,
come to a Bible. Study The story of Tom Landry,
(07:24):
the story of his personal spiritual journey. Here on Our
American Stories, liehbib here, the host of our American Stories.
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
(07:46):
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Ouramerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot. Go to Ouramericanstories dot
com and give
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
He was one of the greatest coaches of the twentieth century.
Behind a stone face and beneath his trademark Badora was
a brilliant football mind. As head coach of the Dallas
Cowboys for twenty nine years, Tom Landry compiled an impressive
(00:32):
record of thirteen Division titles, five Super Bowl appearances, and
two championships. The Cowboys would eventually be dubbed America's team.
Here he is with his own story.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I was raised at Mission, Texas, which is right up
from Brownsville there about sixty miles, and I was raised
during the depression years in the thirties. My dad was
an autumn obill mechanic on his own drive. She was
fire chief of Mission Volunteer Fire Department for about forty years,
a great civic leader, and we had six in our family.
(01:08):
And my family really they taught me values. We were
just about a half a block from the Methodist church.
My dad was superintan and Sunday schools, so I had
to go to Sunday school every Sunday. I didn't care
to go, but we didn't really. We didn't pray you
in our home except maybe when we had company or
Thanksgiving or something. We didn't ever read the Bible. I
(01:31):
never read the Bible, but my parents taught me to
go to church, that that was important, and I always
went to church. But you know, when you're in the thirties,
i'd never been out of the Rigrand Valley but one
time by the time I was a senior in high school,
cause when you're in depression years, anybody's been through the depression,
you know, you don't travel far because you don't have
much money. But I knew to get out of the
(01:52):
valley that I had to use if I ever wanted
to climb that ladder success that I think America offers everybody.
I was gonna have to do it in football. And
so I started planning and thinking about football and doing
everything I could to be a football player. And I
got a chance to go to University of Texas and
I made the team, and I was really excited. First
(02:13):
time I've ever been on campus at the University of Texas.
And then I went into service. I flew B seventeens
over Europe for thirty missions during World War Two before
I came back to the University of Texas, and we
had some great teams there at the University of Texas
with Bobby Lane was our cornerback.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We beat Alabama and the Sugar Bowl, beat Georgia and
Orange Bowl. But the thing I discovered at that time
was that I wasn't reaching the fulfillment and the peace
of mind that I thought you ought to have after
you have that kind of success, because we had some
good football teams, and I was kind of felt like
I was climbing to the top of the world. And
(02:49):
my only rationalization was I hadn't been to the top yet.
And so when I went in professional football with the
New York Giants, I became a player, and I made
All Pro even one year year, and we won the
World's Championship in nineteen forty at fifty seven against the
Cargo Bears, wet in forty seven to seven in Yankee Stadium,
and there we are on the top of the world,
(03:10):
you know, and I still, after all the excitement, I
still had that emptiness in that restlessness, and I couldn't
understand why that was. So I wanted to get out
of football. I had gotten another degree at the University
of Houston while I was playing with the Giants. I
went to school during the off season. I got an
industrial engineering degree, and so I wanted to go into management.
And a Christian met me, a friend of mine, on
(03:31):
the street, and I told him what I was going
to do. I'm gonna get out of football, and you
know it wasn't fulfilling. I want to get into business. Well,
he knew immediately what was wrong with me when I
told him the story, and he said, how about attend
the Bible study that meets at the hotel. And my
first reaction was when I knew the Christmas story in
the Eastern story. You know, I didn't go. I didn't
have to go study the Bible, and I've been to
church every Sunday. But he was very persistent and he
(03:54):
and I went, and I never forget it because we
were studying in Matthew the someone on the Mount and
Jesus was saying, do not be anxious about your life,
what you should eat or drink about your body, what
you should put on is not life more than food
and body more than clothing. Seek first the Kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be
given to you. Well, boy, I got excited. That's the
(04:15):
first time that I ever had any inkling of even
what the gospel was all about, you know, and even
in my young years in the Bible, just that time
I realized I didn't know that you were say by faith,
you know. I went through the Romans there and boy
talked about everyone's sin and fall ashore the glory of God,
(04:37):
and we're dead in sin, and Christ died on the cross. Well,
finally I came to what the gospel of Jesus Christ
is all about. In First Christians fifteen three and four
was said that Christ died on the cross, he was buried,
and he rose again. And I accepted Christ right there.
I realized right then that that life was really a
matter of priorities. Unless God is first in your life,
(05:00):
and your family, of course, is going to come very
close when that happens, and your business is in third place,
you're not a Christian. So I had football all those
years that I was trying to climb that ladder success
to get the peace of mind and all, and only
when I accepted Christ did that come to me. The
peace was there, and Saint Augustine said it this way,
(05:20):
says heart's are restless o God until they find their
rest in thee. Well that was my story, and I
tell you I've heard many athletes have conversion stories and
they all follow the same pattern. Football becomes everything. They
think that's what life's all about. If you reach the top,
you have everything. But when you reach your top, you
(05:41):
don't have everything. It doesn't mean you shouldn't achieve. There's
nothing wrong with achieving and being the best that you
can be. But boy, it's a lot different when Christ
is number one and you succeed, because that's what the
whole life's about. And so that was tremendous for me.
And I was thirty four years old then. Year before
I took over the Dallas Cowboys as a head coach
(06:03):
was when that took place. And it had really nothing
to do with success. I had great success before I played,
and great success act. But it's a peace of mind
that you had. And even when I took over the Cowboys,
when I didn't think I was gonna make it, you know,
I still it was still God's way. When Clinton Meerkerson
(06:24):
gave me that ten year contract, I knew that that's
where God wanted me to be a coach, and from
then on it was set. I was a coach from
then on. I never even give it a second thought
after that and there, and He's blessed me in so
many ways.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Had a great job on the editing and production by
Iron Greg Hengler and a special Thanks Division video where
you can find stories like that, go Division video dot com.
Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful stories, many of them about faith,
and we don't shy away from telling people's faith stories
when it's a part of their life story. And my goodness,
it was a fundamental part of Tom Landry's personal transformation.
(07:02):
He had chased success. He had thought the next mountain top,
that's what will make me happy, Gotta go play ball.
Flu missions in Europe be seventeen's there's nothing he didn't
do into the pros. One's a championship. Still that feeling
of restlessness, and then he bumps into that Christian who says,
come to a Bible. Study The story of Tom Landry,
(07:24):
the story of his personal spiritual journey. Here on Our
American Stories, liehbib here, the host of our American Stories.
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
(07:46):
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Ouramerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot. Go to Ouramericanstories dot
com and give
Host
Lee Habeeb
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