Roger Staubach

               My daily routine starts out with a cup of coffee and The Virginian-Pilot.  I read every section and finish with celebrity birthdays on the very last page of the paper.  On February 5^th the celebrities included five actors/actresses and one country singer.  Conspicuously absent from this group was one birthday celebrant whose career has outshone all of the others put together.  On that day Roger Staubach turned 72.

               Roger Staubach needs to be remembered and celebrated.  His personal qualities enabled him to achieve a life of accomplishment as an All-American in every way.  His first notable success was as the Heisman Trophy quarterback who led Navy to a 9-1 record and a No. 2 national ranking in 1963.   After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1964, he spent the next four years fulfilling his commitment to the Navy, including volunteering to fight in Vietnam, even though his color-blindness could have gotten him a desk job.

               Drafted by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and playing for them from 1969 to 1979, he took his team to five Super Bowls, winning two and earning the MVP award in Super Bowl VI.  He was selected to six Pro Bowls and is a member of the NFL’s Hall of Fame.  At retirement he had achieved the second-highest-passer rating of all time, behind only Otto Graham.

               The most interesting bit of trivia concerning Staubach is the “Hail Mary pass.”  He coined the term after completing a last-second 50-yard bomb to Drew Pearson to win a playoff game against Minnesota in 1975.  In fact, last-minute drives were his trademark, as “Captain Comeback” led the Cowboys to 23 career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter.

               Staubach’s post-football career was anything but trivial.   In 1977 he founded The Staubach Company, a real-estate firm.  Without going into any of the details of the company’s remarkable success, it is enough to mention that it sold in 2008 for $613 million.

               Sometime back in the early 80’s I was walking along 57^th Street in New York when I spied Roger Staubach coming the other way.  I let him pass, but I wish I had stopped him to shake his hand.