Cowboys WR Terry Glenn leaps into the end zone for a touchdown.

 

In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys became the NFL's first successful modern expansion team. Clint Murchison Jr. was Dallas's majority owner, and his first order of business was to hire Tex Schramm as general manager, Tom Landry as head coach and Gil Brandt as player personnel director. Not a bad first step.

 

This trio was destined for almost unprecedented success. Still, the "glory years" didn't come easily. The 1960 Cowboys managed just one tie in 12 games and they didn't break even until 1965, their sixth season. But in 1966, the Cowboys began an NFL-record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons. That streak included 18 years in the playoffs, 13 division titles, five trips to the Super Bowl, including wins in Super Bowls VI and XII.

Dallas won its first two division titles in 1966 and 1967, but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship game each year. The Cowboys lost playoff games in each of the next three years as well, including a heart-breaking last-second loss to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V. The Cowboys were said to be a good team that couldn't win the big games.

 

The Cowboys dispelled that notion in 1971 when they beat the Miami Dolphins, 24-3, in Super Bowl VI. In the four years between 1975 and 1978, the Cowboys were Super Bowl-bound three more times. They lost to Pittsburgh in extremely competitive games in Super Bowls X and XIII, but in Super Bowl XII, they defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10. During the 1970's, the Cowboys were led by future Hall of Famers such as quarterback Roger Staubach, defensive tackles Bob Lilly and Randy White, defensive back Mel Renfro and running back Tony Dorsett. The Cowboys of the 1970's and early 1980's were known as America's Team, an outfit that was just a step ahead of almost every other club when it came to image-enhancing promotions such as The Dallas Cowboys Newsweekly and sales of team souvenirs.

 

Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams tackles New York Jets fullback Jerald Sowell  

 

In 1986, the Cowboys suffered their first losing season in two decades; in 1988, they fell all the way to 3-13. In 1989, H. R. "Bum" Bright, who had bought the Cowboys from Murchison in 1984, sold the team to Jerry Jones. In 1989, Jones hired former University of Miami coach Jimmy Johnson to replace Landry, who finished his career with 270 victories, third most by any coach in history.

 

Johnson's first team went just 1-15, but nevertheless, he established the foundation for the Cowboys' resurrection. Some daring trades and shrewd selections in the annual NFL draft returned the Cowboys to championship status. In just the fourth season of the Jerry Jones regime, the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVII. They followed with another Super Bowl win the next year. In March 1994, former Oklahoma Sooner coach Barry Switzer replaced Johnson and became the Cowboys' third coach. The winning continued under Switzer, and the Team of the Nineties won its third Super Bowl in four years by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17, in Super Bowl XXX.