Here's an interesting bit of Redskins/Cowboys trivia.
I've been a Redskins fan all my life and I have to admit that I did not know
this piece of trivia: Here is the true origin of the Redskins/Cowboys
"rivalry." We all know the story of coach George Allen's motivating the
70's Redskins by conniving a media fight with then Cowboys coach Tom Landry,
and the rest, as they say, is history. But is it?
this piece of trivia: Here is the true origin of the Redskins/Cowboys
"rivalry." We all know the story of coach George Allen's motivating the
70's Redskins by conniving a media fight with then Cowboys coach Tom Landry,
and the rest, as they say, is history. But is it?
Well, it seems in the late 50's just before the original "Texans" (the AFL
"Dallas Texans") bolted for Kansas City (now the KC Chiefs), the Texas oil
millionaire Clint Murchison petitioned the NFL for a franchise, but they had
just one stick in the mud--Washington Redskins owner, George Preston
Marshall. Murchison signed a deal with Marshall to purchase the Redskins,
and everything was going smoothly, but Marshall suddenly changed the terms
of the agreement, and Murchison refused to sign and the deal fell through.
Jilted, Marshall refused to agree to allow Murchison to be granted an
expansion team--they needed a unanimous vote by all owners for a team to be
approved, and Marshall refused to vote yes. Now, it seems the marching band
leader for the Redskins, who wrote the Redskins fight song ("Hail To The
Redskins") ended up getting into a pissing contest with Marshall. The
bandleader owned the rights to the song (not Marshall) and being pissed with
Marshall, he approached Murchison in Dallas and sold him the song for
$2,500. This deal occurred right before the second owner's vote for the
Dallas franchise. Moments before the vote was to be taken, Murchison let it
out to Marshall that he owned the fight song and unless Marshall voted to
approve the Dallas franchise, he would sue Marshall every time the Redskins
band played the fight song--he threatened to refuse to let Marshall play it
during any of his games that year! Marshall eventually gave in and
Murchison turned over the rights, and Marshall gave his "yes" vote that
formed the 1960 Dallas Cowboys.
"Dallas Texans") bolted for Kansas City (now the KC Chiefs), the Texas oil
millionaire Clint Murchison petitioned the NFL for a franchise, but they had
just one stick in the mud--Washington Redskins owner, George Preston
Marshall. Murchison signed a deal with Marshall to purchase the Redskins,
and everything was going smoothly, but Marshall suddenly changed the terms
of the agreement, and Murchison refused to sign and the deal fell through.
Jilted, Marshall refused to agree to allow Murchison to be granted an
expansion team--they needed a unanimous vote by all owners for a team to be
approved, and Marshall refused to vote yes. Now, it seems the marching band
leader for the Redskins, who wrote the Redskins fight song ("Hail To The
Redskins") ended up getting into a pissing contest with Marshall. The
bandleader owned the rights to the song (not Marshall) and being pissed with
Marshall, he approached Murchison in Dallas and sold him the song for
$2,500. This deal occurred right before the second owner's vote for the
Dallas franchise. Moments before the vote was to be taken, Murchison let it
out to Marshall that he owned the fight song and unless Marshall voted to
approve the Dallas franchise, he would sue Marshall every time the Redskins
band played the fight song--he threatened to refuse to let Marshall play it
during any of his games that year! Marshall eventually gave in and
Murchison turned over the rights, and Marshall gave his "yes" vote that
formed the 1960 Dallas Cowboys.
And so a rivalry was born!!!
Not only did I find that story interesting and ironic, but the irony of the
"cowboys and indians" history of the KC Chiefs is also an interesting
tidbit!
"cowboys and indians" history of the KC Chiefs is also an interesting
tidbit!
2 comments:
Outstanding blog, G, especially since I didn't know that. We need more historical pieces. I really enjoyed reading that. And that's a pretty neat logo too.
I did not know that happened. That is hilarious!
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