As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. Books, tv shows, documentaries named all about “Killing Kennedy” are drawing a lot of interest. A show premiering next examines the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 50 Years Later from the perspective of the 1963 Dallas Cowboys, featuring interviews with Bob Lilly, Lee Roy Jordan, Pettis Norman & Gil Brandt.
“We were the team from Dallas, Texas. We were connected with killing the President of the United States.” – Lee Roy Jordan
“To many people around the country, the city of Dallas and anything that represented it was being held liable for the tragedy.” – Bob Costas
Fifty years after the Kennedy assassination Bob Costas looks back at the time leading up to and following the Nov. 22, 1963 tragedy through the eyes of the 1963 Dallas Cowboys and 1963 U.S. Naval Academy quarterback Roger Staubach on the one-hour Costas Tonight Special – No Day For Games: The Cowboys and JFK. The show debuts Wednesday, November 20 at 10 p.m. CST on NBC SN.
“For a league that has no presence in Los Angeles, the Dallas Cowboys are as close to Hollywood as it gets,” Costas says in the opening of the show. “But half a century ago for the Cowboys of 1963, it was fear – not football – that was on their minds.
“As symbols of the city where the President was murdered,” he continued, “the Cowboys soon found some of the nation’s anger directed towards them.”
THE NEXT GAME – TWO DAYS LATER
Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns, Nov. 24, 1963
Bob Costas on the team 24 hours after the Kennedy assassination: “The Cowboys were headed to Cleveland where they discovered that, to many people around the country, the city of Dallas and anything that represented it was being held liable for the tragedy.”
Gil Brandt (Cowboys executive from 1960-89) on the team’s trip to Cleveland: “Everybody was told, ‘Go out and have dinner if you want, but don’t say you are from Dallas.’”
Browns owner Art Modell told public address announcer Johnny Holliday not to use the word “Dallas” throughout the game. He was to use “Cowboys” instead.
There were no player introductions prior to the game.
Cowboys players were told to wear their helmets and parkas at all times.
The teams combined for nine turnovers in the Browns’ 27-17 victory.
Bob Lilly (postgame): “We could have quit our season then, it would have been fine with me.”
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Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the nation. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS