Gil Brandt is the foremost historian of the Dallas Cowboys. Actually, he is the history.
The 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee built the original roster back in 1960, not to mention the 29 teams thereafter. The 20 consecutive winning seasons, the five conference championships and two Super Bowl titles, the legendary players who transformed a lowly expansion franchise into America's Team, Brandt is the architect of that success, the man behind the curtain.
Honestly, if not for job title murkiness, the former baby photographer from Milwaukee likely would have received his gold jacket and bronze bust long before. Sounds ridiculous sure, but think about it: If Brandt was the Cowboys general manager from 1960-89 instead of vice president of player personnel, he would have been a slam-dunk selection for Hall of Fame induction a quarter century earlier.
Thing is, by the standards of the past 30, 40 years, Brandt was the team's general manager from the first day – without the designation. Tex Schramm, who held the title and was enshrined in the Hall in 1991, was more of a team president, and had almost nothing to do with assembling the roster and negotiating players' contracts.
That was all Brandt.
Brandt revolutionized the scouting industry, having prospects run the 40-yard dash and take psychology tests, more or less inventing what is now the Scouting Combine. He was drafting athletes who weren't primarily football players, like Bob Hayes, Cornell Green, Percy Howard, even Hall of Fame basketball coach Pat Riley, and bringing every undrafted free agent imaginable into camp, leading to such finds as Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris and Everson Walls.
Brandt also drafted 12 Pro Football Hall of Fame players, starting with his first-ever selection, Bob Lilly, in 1961. The argument can easily be made that no one has been responsible for bringing more talent into the National Football League.
After 29 years calling the personnel shots for the Cowboys and structuring how scouting functions to this day in the NFL – not to mention recommending numerous head coaches to various colleges and NFL teams, from Jimmy Johnson to Mike Ditka to Dan Reeves – Brandt reinvented himself after leaving the franchise in 1989. He became a savvy member of the media, primarily writing for NFL.com as both an historian and a draft analyst.
Once asked what he would like his legacy to be on this game that monopolized his life, Brandt replied, "Well, I would just like it to be someone that did a small part in making the NFL better."
Indeed he did. The legacy of Gil Brandt: Ring of Honor, Pro Football Hall of Famer and history maker. Few have left that kind of legacy on the NFL or the Dallas Cowboys.