Tom Landry....
Thomas Wade "Tom" Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American football player and coach. He is legendary for his successes as the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in NFL history, creating many new formations and methods. He invented the now popular 4-3 defense, and the "flex defense" system made famous by the "Doomsday Defense" squads he created during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys.
Landry won 2 Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), 5 NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270-178-6 record, the 3rd most wins of all time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the most of any coach in NFL history. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1966 and the NFC Coach of the Year in 1975.
His most impressive professional accomplishment is his record for coaching the Dallas Cowboys to 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), an NFL record that remains unbroken and unchallenged. It remains one of the longest winning streaks in all of
Born to Ray (an auto mechanic and volunteer fireman) and Ruth Landry in Mission, Texas, Landry was the second of four children (Robert, Tommy, Ruthie and Jack).[1] After playing quarterback (primary passer and runner, and also punter) for Mission High School (including leading his team to a 12-0 record his senior season),[1] he attended the University of Texas in Austin as an industrial engineering major, but interrupted his education after a semester to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Landry earned his wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant at Lubbock Army Air Field, and was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group at RAF Debach, England, as a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber co-pilot in the 860th Bomb Squadron. From November 1944 to April 1945, he completed a combat tour of 30 missions, and survived a crash landing in Belgium after his bomber ran out of fuel.
Following the war, he returned to the university and played fullback and defensive back on the Texas Longhorns' bowl game winners on New Year's Day of 1948 and 1949. At UT, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Omega Chi chapter). He received his bachelor's degree from UT in 1949. Landry also earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston in 1952.
Thomas Wade "Tom" Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American football player and coach. He is legendary for his successes as the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in NFL history, creating many new formations and methods. He invented the now popular 4-3 defense, and the "flex defense" system made famous by the "Doomsday Defense" squads he created during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys.
Landry won 2 Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), 5 NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270-178-6 record, the 3rd most wins of all time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the most of any coach in NFL history. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1966 and the NFC Coach of the Year in 1975.
His most impressive professional accomplishment is his record for coaching the Dallas Cowboys to 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), an NFL record that remains unbroken and unchallenged. It remains one of the longest winning streaks in all of
Born to Ray (an auto mechanic and volunteer fireman) and Ruth Landry in Mission, Texas, Landry was the second of four children (Robert, Tommy, Ruthie and Jack).[1] After playing quarterback (primary passer and runner, and also punter) for Mission High School (including leading his team to a 12-0 record his senior season),[1] he attended the University of Texas in Austin as an industrial engineering major, but interrupted his education after a semester to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Landry earned his wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant at Lubbock Army Air Field, and was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group at RAF Debach, England, as a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber co-pilot in the 860th Bomb Squadron. From November 1944 to April 1945, he completed a combat tour of 30 missions, and survived a crash landing in Belgium after his bomber ran out of fuel.
Following the war, he returned to the university and played fullback and defensive back on the Texas Longhorns' bowl game winners on New Year's Day of 1948 and 1949. At UT, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Omega Chi chapter). He received his bachelor's degree from UT in 1949. Landry also earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston in 1952.
