WEBVTT - Roger Staubach is Still Captain America 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:05.360 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:10.159 from my Heart Radio. Professional sports have a way of 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:15.040 turning mere mortals into legends. As a football obsessed kid 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.400 myself in the nineteen seventies, there were a few players 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.919 more exciting to watch than Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.280 He was nimble, strong, and man could he throw a football. 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.960 Starbuck earned the nickname Captain America in part because of 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.199 his four years of service in the Navy, including a 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.839 tour in Vietnam. He won a Heisman Trophy while at 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.200 the Naval Academy. He was inducted into the Football Hall 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.360 of Fame in and he was awarded the Presidential Medal 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.760 of Freedom in two thousand eighteen. Roger star Back played 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.240 eleven seasons with the Cowboys, leading them to the Super 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:58.040 Bowl four times. They won under Starbuck in seventy two 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.040 and seventy eight, and Roger was Super Bowl m v 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:06.000 P in nineteen seventy two. Starbucks Cowboys had nearly two 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.880 dozen comeback wins in the fourth quarter, many of them 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.880 in the final two minutes of a game or in overtime. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.399 When he retired in nineteen eighty, Roger Starbuck had one 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:22.240 of the highest career passer ratings in NFL history. After 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.840 he left pro ball, he built the Starbuck Company, one 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.080 of the most successful corporate real estate companies in the country. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.280 Competition comes naturally to Roger Starbuck. Well, you know, the 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:39.480 competitive side. Looking back, people have said a lot about 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.960 you know that that knew me when I was growing 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.400 up and everything. And I was an only child, lived 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.080 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and my parents were great, and they 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.880 you know, really I kept saying that, you know, I 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.320 like to have a brother or a sister, because all 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.960 of our neighbors had, like the Bean family down the street. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.760 There was nine Beans and and everybody they were brothers 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:06.200 and sisters. So I wanted to be an athlete, and 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.480 I started playing basketball. I started playing baseball and football. 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.880 I didn't get started until I was in the seventh grade. 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.560 And I really wanted to do it to have my 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:20.960 parents proud of me, and so it was. Uh so 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.120 I really was competitive on trying to be the best 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.000 that I could be at what I was going to do. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.200 And you know, there's an old saying there's no traffic 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.720 jams on the extra mile, And I always feel that 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.400 I've given that extra in sports. And it started that way, 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.919 and it started because of my parents and I wanted 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.000 them to be proud of me. And so I was 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.760 a pretty decent baseball player and basketball player. And then 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.080 in the seventh grade I went out and made the 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.360 football team. I was a running back and then I 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.239 was a receiver and and then the coach at in 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.200 our high school switched me to be quarterback and changed 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.200 my life. I didn't really want to be a quarterback, 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.760 but my dad told me as a baseball player, one 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.080 time the catcher got hurt and they were gonna put 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.280 me then a catcher, and I said, I don't know 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.520 put that equipment on. It's you know, too hot out here. 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.560 And he just said, just try to be the best 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.080 catcher you can be. And so so I caught for 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.960 about nine years after that. And I had the same 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:19.640 thing when when coach McCarthy wanted me to be the quarterback, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:21.960 I said, you know, I'm going to try to be 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.560 the best quarterback I can be because I and and 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:26.640 it really changed my life because I don't think i'd 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.600 be here on the show, I like if I hadn't 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.480 started to play quarterback. So I was very competitive, and 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.680 a lot of that was because I wanted my parents 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.600 to really be proud of me as far as what 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.000 I did in sports. And was it also a case 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.240 because I know that in my childhood I'm the opposite. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.120 I got three brothers and we would be There was 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.520 a nine whole public golf course, very famous, little spot 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.000 in our in our neighborhood, but there were little seams 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.840 along the fairway where the lay of the of the 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.800 whole would leave a little margin of land off to 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.200 the side, and they had a tree line that would 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.360 keep the balls from going into people's houses and going 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.840 through their windows, you know, over the fence and in 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:11.200 this spit of land that was our Dallas Stadium. That 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.520 was our meadow lands. That was where we played football. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.360 And my mother would scream at us. She'd scream because 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.400 if she if she stuck her head out the door 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.040 of our house, we were right across the streets. She 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:22.599 yelled for us to come home because we would play 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.760 football till it was dark. But it was me and 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.599 my brothers, and like the beans. We had other neighbors 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.280 who had a lot of kids, and we don't get 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.080 together and play touch pick up football we were football junkies, 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:34.880 you know what I mean. Was it also for you 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:36.600 of things where this is where you could hang out 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.880 with other guys, This is where you could have brothers, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:40.960 This is where you could have the kids in your 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.440 life more regularly that you didn't have at home. Oh, 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.000 sure it was. When I went to St. John's grade school, 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:53.200 sports were away for us to be together is uh 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.160 and and even on the playground, you know, we would 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.359 play tackle the man with the ball, and I was 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.800 always uh heart. I really was hard to tackle sometimes 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.440 with the ball. So I went to St. John at Banship, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:08.400 so it was a grade school, was a Catholic grade school, 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.479 and I had a nun in the third grade. I 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.040 learned right away, I better get with it. Sister Ala 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.560 Wishes got me up against the wall and had me 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.279 hold my hands out and I had to hold something 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.480 in my hands, and she was tough, but she really 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.240 made a difference in my life and taught me that 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.280 I better get with it. I better make sure I 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.400 do my homework and and so it really helped to 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.280 have people that made a difference in your life. And 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.120 she was making sure that I was doing what I 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.400 was supposed to do, and my mom and dad were 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.600 both working, and uh I had a really strong influence 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.680 with the nuns at St. John's Evangelists, especially sister Ella Wishes. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.320 I still can see her. I can still see her 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:54.600 pushing me against Roger. Roger, you you better, you better 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:00.000 do this, or you're gonna stand holding your hands out 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.080 in this wall all day. And and anyway that that. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.440 Those were the good things that helped helped me a 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.040 whole lot. And it carried over into sports because I 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.039 was going to try to do the best I could 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:14.120 possibly do in sports, and we had our grade school teams. 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.359 I think we really cared about each other and I 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.960 learned a lot about teamwork. So it was really kind 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.960 of growing up and trying to do the best that 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.839 I could do based on what people were telling me, 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.480 and and also making my parents proud of me. So 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.039 I stayed with it. And when I was switched a 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.640 quarterback in football, my life changed. I um, I did 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:40.159 okay at quarterball. Yeah you did okay at quarterball? Just okay, 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:41.480 by the way, Yeah, I don't want you to get 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.479 too big ahead. Well you know we lost a Super 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.000 Bowl too, Well, we don't we want us to me, 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.440 We don't remember that I've been very humbled in in 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.279 my life and sports too. So if you're playing a 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.320 different position, if you're running back, throwing is such an art. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.200 It's such an art. And when my arm wasn't so 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:00.920 messed up my old I used to love to throw 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.000 a football. I used to carry a football in my 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.960 car in Los Angeles and with my brother Stephen was 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:07.440 with me. If we were in a traffic jam on 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.520 the then tour, if we get out of the car 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.120 and throw the football in the highway, just out a 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:13.800 boardom with it would be like, you know, some pile 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.760 up somewhere. Throwing a football was something that I was 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.440 obsessed with most of my youth. So when you were 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.600 a running back, what was you weren't a picturer in baseball? 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:24.720 What was throwing for you? Had you been throwing before 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.840 the gave you the nod to be a quarterback? You know, 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:33.600 we we haven't rehearsed anything before. We're talking here and well, 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.520 you're Alex, You're you're right on the change in my 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.440 life when I they switched me to quarterback is because 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.800 coach McCarthy and coach Cincheck I saw that I was 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.440 a really good baseball player. I could throw the baseball 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.240 and and he just said, he said, Roger, sometimes it 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.960 seems like the players listened to you, but we, uh, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:53.840 we know you've got a good arm, and we want 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.480 you to play quarterback. And so it was my senior 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.440 in high school when I when I really first played quarterback. 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.960 My junior year I played. I was all defense, and 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.840 but it was because of my arm. He saw it 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.560 me playing baseball and he's the one that uh talked 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.440 me into playing quarterback. And he didn't talk me into it. 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:16.640 He said, hey, you're you're gonna work at quarterback. For you, 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.000 I'll never forget. Montana came to the set of a 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.320 TV show. I was working on thirty Rock with Tina 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.960 fe for years and Montana came on the show and 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.680 they brought him to my room to meet me. And 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.960 I said, to my goh my god, what did you 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.400 do to train your arm? Was it? Was it waits? 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.360 What was your thing? And and if I think he 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.120 was being serious, I don't think he was messing with me. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.080 He said he got a length of medical tubing, like 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.920 some kind of flexible rubbery tubing and had that fastened 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.000 with a handle with a grip of some kind into 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.640 a doorway and he would stand in a doorway and 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.800 just rotate his arm and that throwing motion back and 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.560 forth to condition me do like a thousand reps of 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:01.440 that just to strength and literally the throwing motion. What 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.560 was back then your physical conditioning? Like during the season, 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.560 were you weight lifting, were you what was what did 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.520 you do to strengthen your arm? Well, back in those days, 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.040 it really wasn't in vogue as far as weightlifting and 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.760 sports where you just went out and played. We had 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:20.240 baseball practice all the time. We had basketball practice, and 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.560 and of course we had football practices. So it was 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.920 really at the practices and in the What what I 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.400 had was was I did have a baseball arm, and 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.160 I kind of when I threw, I had a little, 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.839 you know, a motion whereas a quarterback you want to 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:36.280 get rid of the ball, you get keep it up 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.120 by the ear. And I didn't really achieve that as 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.760 as well as I should. But I had a good 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.200 throwing motion, uh, And I had I had a good 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.720 velocity on the ball. That made up for maybe that 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.040 little hitch I had thrown the ball. But I uh, 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.120 you know, learned to throw on a bit on my 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.599 own and uh and coaches did work with me on 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.480 trying to keep the ball up a little bit, you know, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.360 instead dropping it. But that was from baseball. But it 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.480 still comes down to whatever you do and how you throw. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.520 You've got to believe in yourself. And uh and there's 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.600 some you know, quarterbacks that are great passers that don't 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.400 actually you know, throw the way they're supposed to. And 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.600 I was in kind of in the middle of not 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.720 exactly throwing the way I should as a quarterback. I 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:29.160 threw more as a baseball player. But it worked, and I, uh, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.720 I really started to to really fall in love with 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.720 being a quarterback. I all of a sudden, I really 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.400 liked being a quarterback. Now, when you were people I've 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.000 spoken to uh in in the modern era, they would 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.080 say that throwing a ball was as much engaging their 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.640 core and exercising their strengthening their core and their legs. 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.160 They strengthened their legs that well, I'll never forget one 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.200 guy said that my favorite line. He said, you can't 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.920 shoot a cannon out of a canoe and you got 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.760 a strengthen your leg get your your legs all nice 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.360 and strong, and get a good base below you and 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.600 a good foundation below you in your core. And he goes, 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.760 and you and you just launched that thing, he says. 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:10.800 He said, I'll never forget this guy said to me. 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.079 He goes, I closed my eyes, and you stand twenty 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:16.079 yards away from me, and I'll throw the ball to you. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.920 I'll throw a few to get the whole timing, and 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.080 I'll sense where you are, because then I'll close my 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:23.840 eyes and I'll be able to tell you whether the 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.600 past was good or not by the way it felt 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.040 coming out of my hand, he said. I can tell 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.600 I could feel the way my body torud and way 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.760 my arm would come, the way I could throw, you know, 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.480 to say all that, Alec, the thing that I did, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.480 I worked out all the time, and I was careful 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.280 on throwing. You didn't want to over overdo it. And 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.280 you know, I warmed up and I tried to, you know, 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:48.840 make sure my arm was ready. I worked out. I 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.719 was crazy about working out, and I used to go 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.080 out if there was just one other receiver, I would 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.040 still act like I was taking a snap and dropping back. 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.480 I just didn't just didn't stand there to row the ball. 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.000 I really, uh, no, matter what you what, you have 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.640 to do in life. You gotta work hard to get there. Yeah. Now, 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.960 everybody who's an NFL fan its every detail of your story. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:12.960 And when it came time for you to go into 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.480 the Naval Academy, you must have known, of course that 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.360 you owe them the service at the end. Correct, you 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.920 knew that was coming. Yes, So when you go to 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.800 the Naval Academy and you win the title, and you 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.480 the Big Game and you get the Heisman Trophy and 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.840 the NFL comes calling, was that all a big surprise 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.480 to you? Well, going to the Naval Academy, I wasn't 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.200 sure what, you know. I did have some scholarship offers 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.679 after high school, but I really played that just that 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.400 one year. It was my first year at quarterback, and 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.040 we didn't throw a whole lot. We I actually ran 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.559 more um and so I wanted to get more experience. 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.080 And I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.000 I liked the Naval Cademy. I visited there and then 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.199 they told me they said, hey, Roger, you know, we 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.000 would like for you to go to junior college one year. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.000 And when the best things I ever did, I went 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.560 to Roswald in Mexico and I went to New Mexico 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.360 Military Institute. I shot a film It to Me, which 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.720 is a really fine school, and it's it's a military 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:14.960 It gave me the at least the warning about the 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.720 things I had to do in the military when I 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.520 became a plea at the Naval Academy. But it also 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.360 I played another year at quarterback and we really had 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.679 a good football team. We were a junior college team. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:26.960 We had a coach named Robert Shaw, who was a 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.520 former NFL player and he and he really helped me 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.120 a lot at my quarterback position, and and I got 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.360 better Instead of level and offer or something, I got 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.840 better there and I had a real good, uh junior 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.120 college period, and I decided I definitely wanted to go 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.360 to the Naval Academy. And I wasn't looking at someday 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.400 I was going to play pro football. I was I 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.800 wanted to get an education and also be able to 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.920 play sports. And I figured that someone better better stay 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.040 on me to make sure I got the education. And 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.440 I was fortunate to be able to get a chance 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.439 to go there and play football, and I actually played 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.240 baseball there. For all four years at Navy, I played 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:13.520 baseball and football, and obviously I got a great education, 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.160 and I got to learn a lot about the military, 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.040 and I spent four years in the military before I 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:23.119 joined the Dallas Cowboys. Now, what year do you enter Annapolis? 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:24.960 You go to the Naval Academy? What year? I went 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.600 in sixty one? So when I graduated high school in 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.240 sixty I went from high school to the New Mexico 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.360 Military and Student and I went to the Naval Academy 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.640 and in nineteen sixty one. So when you're there in 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.960 sixty one, the Vietnam War is not what it was 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.000 about to become. When you go into the Naval Academy, 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.920 you go in one end and you come out that 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.240 tunnel on the other end in Vietnam becomes a very 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:52.240 very real thing. And so when you go in, I 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.480 guess it's sixty five, I'm assuming you start your service. 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.400 But when you come out of the Naval Academy and 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.400 you're a star collegiate a fleet, will you sit there 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:03.640 kind of going oh God? You know, like I got 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.560 to go to Vietnam? Now for four years? Was it? 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.240 We were you less than smiling about that? You know? 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.240 I went to Vietnam just for one year. Where'd you 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.920 go after that? I went to the Penncacal Naval Air Station. 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.400 I was a logistics officer, a supply officer. I was 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.800 partially color blind, and that limited me. I was not 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.600 able to go Navy line or be a be a pilot. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.600 But I was very fortunate I became a Navy logistics 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.680 officer and when I went to Vietnam, I wasn't out 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.160 there getting shot at. I was in the Dunang and 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.000 Chula and we we at that time the Marines occupied 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.520 the I Corps area South Vietnam, and those early years there, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.920 we supported the Marines and took care of the Marines. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.880 And in fact I lived at Camp Tinshaw and I 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.280 had a couple of my teammates. They were Navy seals. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.360 The seals are pretty new at that time. We were 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.440 living together in Camp Tinshaw, right and near to Dunang, 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.360 and so I asked him they were coming back one 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.480 day and I said, where have you guys been? What 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.400 are you doing? Said, hey, listen, stop back. You are 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.160 our quarterback, and we listened to you. You were our leader. 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:16.200 But we cannot tell you where we've been, but we 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.000 know we're doing a hell of a lot more than 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:23.520 you're doing right now, And so I said, well, yeah, thanks, guys, 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.440 I said, I'm quite a bit, but I I admit 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.080 I wasn't out there right smack in the middle of everything. 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.160 But I wanted to serve that year in Vietnam because 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.600 we were at war there and you know, the troops 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.400 that were there, and being able to serve them and 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.560 being with them meant a lot to me in the 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.360 four years I had in the service. Now you go 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.120 to Dunangu there for a year, you come back to Pensacola, 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:54.800 you said, correct, Pensacola in Pensacola, and then your military 0:16:54.920 --> 0:17:00.280 service is over. Your four years out of your term 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.400 in the academy. So I'm guessing you're twenty six years old. 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.000 How old were you at that point? I was twenty 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.440 six and when I joined the Cowboys. Yeah, right, So 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.000 in the seam in between, you finish your military service 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.239 and you're gonna go join the Cowboys. Who tells you 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.639 that the NFL wants you to come back and start again. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:21.000 After my junior at Navy, I was drafted, uh, which 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.720 was a kind of a surprise by Dallas in Kansas 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:27.480 City that the league hadn't merged yet, and you know, 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.000 I was drafted late. You know, they were just betting 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.960 on the fact that that I might try to play 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.719 again or something. But they both drafted me. And then 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.480 when I graduated, my wife and I we got we 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.080 get married then, and I was stationed at the Naval 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.880 Academy for a few months, and I got a call 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.760 from Lamar Hunt who said, Roger, I would like to 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.040 come up and talk to you. And I said yes, 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.000 Mr Hunting. He said yeah. I said, if you, if 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.840 you ever decide you want to play football someday, we 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.679 want you to play for the Kansas City Chiefs. And 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.840 and because I was drafted by Dallas, I guess there 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.440 was you know, there was that that that issue. And 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.639 so he came and what a nice person he was. 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.000 You know, at the time, I was getting like four 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.360 d and twenty dollars a month as an encon and 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.840 and uh he offered me a five hundred a month, 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.840 ten thousand dollar check, hundred thousand dollar bonus if I 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.320 left after my four years and played for Kansas City. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.359 So he was looking to the future. And so I 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.400 told Navy a captain who was a legal officer, Navy 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.399 Captain Paul Borden, and I said, Captain Born, can I 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.520 do this? And I you know if I signed this, 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.360 and he said, let me look into it. He came back. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.760 He said, Roger, you have to give your four years 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.199 and you can do whatever you want after those four years. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.520 And nothing wrong with you know, taking the money now 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:44.960 if they want to give it to you, you don't 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.960 have to You don't have to leave the service. And 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.040 he said, but did you have you talked to Dallas 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.160 and he and I said no, and he said, well, 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:56.320 let me call him. So he called gil Brandt or 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.119 he got ahold of guil It was Gil brand He 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.439 talked to who was guilbrand for as soon as they 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.640 don't know. Lamar Hunt was the owner of the Chiefs 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:07.000 who wanted the Cowboys then Clint Murkison, and Gil Brandt 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:11.240 was his right hand. Gil's was really uh Mr Football 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.240 that and he was in charge of all the drafting 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.120 and everything. And so he said, yeah, we we loved 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.720 we we'd like to talk to you. So Captain Borden 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.680 went and met with the Cowboys and they offered to 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.280 say they said they do the same thing. So I agreed. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:27.680 Then if I ever played again, I'd play for Dallas. 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.359 And then I called Mr Hunt back and you know, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.320 told him, and he said, well, Roger, we were just beginning. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.040 I wanted to talk to you more. And I said, well, 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:38.760 I think he was kidding when he said that. He 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.520 just said because it wasn't he big. It really wasn't 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:43.359 that big of a deal I had four years ago. 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.320 I wasn't sure I was going to ever play again. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.560 When I got back and I was stationed at Pensacola, 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:52.879 I took leave and want to Dallas training camp the 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.080 year before I was able to if I was going 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.520 to leave the service of it been my fourth year. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.840 I was with the rookies and people there for two weeks. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.000 I really did fine, and Coach Landry gave me a playbook, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.639 which was amazing. So that's when I realized I was 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:12.560 going to play again. And and then I told the 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.119 Navy that after my four years, I was going to 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.399 go play with the Dallas Cowboys. I went back to 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.840 Pensacola for a year and I studied my playbook on 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.720 when I could, and I joined the Cowboys in n 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.240