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ROGER STAUBACH AND THE SHERMAN PLAYGROUND SCRAMBLE


     In 1973, Melvin Simon and Associates transferred me from a small mall in Indiana to Irving Mall in Irving, Texas.  Though no longer an entry level role, it still paid “slave wages.”  In order to buy food, I needed to find something in radio or TV on the weekends.  I was hired for Saturday and
Sunday evenings at WRR-AM, 1310 on the dial.  This was a grand old radio station with a long colorful history, located in Fair Park on the site of the Texas State Fair.
     I talked and played music from 6 PM until midnight on Saturday.  On Sunday, Brad Sham (early in his career and destined to become the broadcasting “Voice of the Cowboys”) had a talk show with sport celebrities at 8 PM.  I handled the callers, played the commercials and interacted with Brad, when he wanted to banter.  It was easy and fun…Brad was a nice guy and I met some interesting people. 

     A couple of times Brad brought in Roger Staubach, who had joined the Cowboys a few years earlier.  Roger is a very nice man, spoke with everyone, has a great faith and is genuinely interested in others.  We chatted whenever he was in, he remembered I was from Sherman and asked if I knew Miller Barber.  (Everyone seemed to know about Miller Barber being from Sherman, Texas.)

     After about a year, Simon transferred me to Baltimore to a new mall grand opening.  I was paid a “little” more money (so I didn’t have to DJ) and after the mall opened, I was moved to Indianapolis, to the home office.  Time passes, Roger Staubach retires from the Cowboys and opens his own real estate business in Dallas.

     I went to work for the THE LIMITED STORES out of Columbus, Ohio, and we began an aggressive campaign to open Express and Victoria’s Secret stores across the country.  After a few years, we needed to dispose of some warehouses we inherited in the DFW area and I contacted Roger’s company to discuss.  We talked about the old days, how far Brad Sham had come…Roger’s children, my children and he suggested I bring my two sons to a Cowboy's game the next time we came to Sherman to see my mother. 

     He proposed some dates that worked…we would fly in on a Saturday from Ohio to DFW, see Mama, go to the game and return Sunday night.  Great.

     I tell my boys and they asked how I knew Roger Staubach.  I launched into a “tale”…

     “Well, I was working at a radio station in Dallas and Roger came into the studio to be on a sports program.  He was down in the dumps and I asked him what was wrong?  He said, “Buck, let me tell you, I am baffled.  I am having a difficult time with the Cowboys because I am tackled too frequently.”

     I said, “Roger, you need to learn to scramble more.  Don’t just stay in the pocket, move around like you were on the playground of a Sherman elementary school…dodge, weave….run backwards, fake your head…I call these moves,  ‘The Sherman Playground Scramble.’  I then took Roger out to the parking lot at the radio station, got the football out of my car and showed him how to bob and weave, as I explained the moves.  I then taught him how to throw my patented, ‘Cannonball Lob Pass’…as I will teach you boys.  It worked…I don’t like to brag, but I probably saved the Cowboys, Roger’s career and…the city of Dallas.”

     My eldest son, Zachary looked at me for a long moment and finally said, “Dad, ever since we were born, you have been telling us stories of how, as a child, you roped and rode giant catfish in the Red River…or the time you saved all the children at the orphanage from the fire…Grandma Sue said you have never even seen an orphanage.”

     “You told us about walking to school in the snow, with rags tied around your feet…up hill, both ways.  You told us on your 5th birthday, the only gift you received was a dime and a new baby brother.  Dad,  we could maybe…MAYBE, believe some of those stories.  But claiming YOU taught Roger Staubach how to play football?  That is an impossible stretch for us to accept.”    

     “You know boys, that hurts…I thought you were supposed to believe everything I told you.”

     We fly to DFW, accompanied my mother to church in Sherman and drove to Texas Stadium for the afternoon game.  We go into Roger’s suite and I introduce everyone.  Without any preamble or explanation, I rolled the dice and went for broke…I said, “Roger, I was explaining to my sons how I taught you the Sherman Playground Scramble and my patented, Cannonball Lob Pass, thereby enhancing your career and assuring the Cowboy’s ultimate success”. 

      All of Roger’s family and guests turned and looked at him.  He smiled at my sons and said,   “…and I will always be grateful.”    

     My sons stared at Roger and finally my youngest, Jacob said,  “Mr. Staubach, we’ve seen our dad play football and while it’s nice of you to attempt to cover for him, he has already taught us the unofficial Texas State motto…


"Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story!”


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