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Roger Staubach - Begins Service In The Navy

Staubach graduated from the Naval Academy in 1965 with an engineering degree. A few months later, he married longtime girlfriend, Marianne Hoobler, and prepared to begin his naval service. Over the next four years, he satisfied his active duty requirements, serving one year in Vietnam as a supply officer. Although he had at one time considered a career in the military, he found the urge to play professional football too strong to resist and in 1969 reported to the Dallas Cowboys training camp. With Craig Morton firmly entrenched as the team's starting quarterback, Staubach saw limited action his first few seasons. After the Cowboys, quarterbacked by Morton, narrowly lost Super Bowl V to Baltimore in January 1971, Cowboys coach Tom Landry decided to give Staubach a chance to compete for the quarterback's job during the 1971-1972 season. By mid-season, Staubach had won the job, eventually leading the Cowboys to the NFC Championship and a chance to reverse its Super Bowl fortunes. At Super Bowl VI, Dallas blew away the Miami Dolphins, 24-3, earning Staubach the Super Bowl MVP Award.

For Staubach, much of the 1972-1973 season was marred by a shoulder injury he suffered in the pre-season. After surgery and a lengthy recuperation, he did return to the team late in the season. In a first-round playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys were trailing when Staubach led the team to two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game for a 30-28 victory over San Francisco. This come-from-behind victory earned Staubach the nickname "Captain Comeback." In the race for the NFC Championship, the Cowboys reached the finals but lost, 26-3, to the Washington Redskins. In the second half of the 1970s, Staubach led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl three times—1976, 1978, and 1979. In two of those Super Bowl appearances, Dallas was overpowered by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but in 1978 Staubach led the Cowboys to a lopsided victory, 27-10, over the Denver Broncos.

Awards and Accomplishments

1962 Led NCAA with pass completion rate of 67.3 percent
1962-64 U.S. Naval Academy's Thompson Trophy Cup
1963 Heisman Trophy
1971, 1973, 1978-79 Leading NFL passer
1972 Super Bowl VI victory; Super Bowl MVP
1972, 1977-80 Selected to play in Pro Bowl
1978 Super Bowl XII victory
1981 Elected to National Football Hall of Fame
1985 Elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame
2000 Receives NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award

Related Biography: Football Player Craig Morton

Craig Morton, the Dallas Cowboys' starting quarterback unseated by Roger Staubach, eventually faced off against Staubach in 1978's Super Bowl XII. Morton was raised in Campbell, California. A stand-out football star at Campbell High School, winning Central Coast MVP honors, Morton received a flood of scholarship offers. He decided to play for the University of California, where he received All-American honors during his third year as the Golden Bears' starting quarterback. At the 1965 NFL draft, Morton was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys as the fifth pick overall in the first round of the draft. For his first few years with the Cowboys, Morton was a backup for legendary quarterback Don Meredith. In 1969, the season after Meredith's retirement, Morton took over as starting quarterback. During the Cowboys' 1970-1971 season, Morton led the team to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Baltimore Colts by a score of 16-13.

In the 1971-1972 season following the Cowboys' loss in Super Bowl V, coach Tom Landry decided to let Morton and Staubach duel it out for starting quarterback honors. By mid-season, Staubach had won the job, and although Morton stayed on in Dallas for a couple of years after losing to Staubach, he saw only limited action. He next played with the New York Giants before joining the Denver Broncos in 1977. Morton helped lead the Broncos to their first Super Bowl in January 1978, only to lose, 27-10, to the Cowboys, led by Staubach. Morton continued to play for the Broncos until 1982, when he retired from professional football. In 1988, he was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame, and in 1992 was similarly honored by the College Football Hall of Fame and the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame. In November 2002, the Santa Clara County native was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame. Morton currently is the proprietor of Mel Hollen's Restaurant in San Francisco.

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