Tom Landry Interview from 1993.
In 1993, journalist Charlie Rose conducted an interview with Tom Landry, who had just been inducted into the Cowboys‘ Ring of Honor. The interview took place during the week after the Cowboys had beaten the Giants and were preparing to play the Phoenix Cardinals. A few highlights about the interview:
* Jerry Jones originally wanted to induct Landry about a year after Jerry bought the club. However, Jones was still in the process of firing members of the old guard, so Landry thought it wasn’t time.
* Landry on the 1993 Cowboys: Quarterbacks are getting destroyed, especially in the NFC East. He said the team would go all the way, barring an injury to Aikman, Smith, etc.
* Landry was not very big on agents, but he acknowledged that the 1990s were a “new era.” The old seniority system by 1993 was gone.
* Closest players to Landry: Roger Staubach and Bob Lilly. Landry “divorced himself” from relationship with players during their careers, but he became friends with several after their playing days.
* Landry’s memory wasn’t great– he referred to the Cowboys’ 1972 miracle win over the 49ers, but he said it happened in “oh, about ’70.”
* Toughest coach, according to Landry: Paul Brown.
* Rose asked Landry if there were any circumstances that would bring him back to football. Landry: “Not at all… Go find Joe Gibbs.”
The clip (which is over an hour long) also features interviews with Jerry Jones and CBS’ Jim Nantz.
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I am always struck by how gracious Tom Landry is in interviews. He also showed, at least outwardly, that he got over the Jerry JOnes thing and was positive in his view of the Cowboys without him. While only cursory, it was interesting to hear him revisit some of the distant football past. For many fans I am sure it is news to them that he and Lombardi were friends. Back in their days as assistant coaches for New York, they used to commute together to the stadium. One season Howard Cosell would ride with the. Thanks for including this clip, Matt.
I would think that Landry had to know the game had passed him by, given that Jerry and Jimmy did things completely differently than Landry and Schramm and yet still won SB XXVII. He was pretty gracious in this interview and showed that he at least followed the Cowboys enough that he could comment on the ’93 team. I thought I would find Rose’s interviews with Jerry and Jim Nantz to be more interesting, but there was nothing very revealing in either. The Jerry-Jimmy feud didn’t really start heating up for a couple more months, though.