When Jerry Jones moved into his office at the team's former headquarters in Valley Ranch, not much was left behind by Tex Schramm, who first resided in the centrally located digs. As Jones was looking around and starting to unpack, he noticed a particular framed document was no longer in residence, one that was somewhat instrumental to the franchise.
Schramm, the team's president since their inaugural 1960 season, had taken the Dallas Cowboys' Certificate of Membership, which was awarded to the team by commissioner Pete Rozelle when the club was officially accepted to the National Football League. In terms of professional sports, this was basically the team's social security card.
When telling the story, Jones was smiling, even laughing at times. The situation was rectified easy enough, with Jones simply calling Schramm, who said he didn't even realize he had taken it, and soon enough the birth certificate of America's Team was returned.
In retrospect, perhaps, Schramm took the deed subconsciously for, in so many ways, the Cowboys were his life for three decades, almost like a child. Leaving it all behind probably just didn't seem completely real.
In part because of his relationship with Rozelle, Schramm was the most powerful voice in the league, many often citing him as the vice-commissioner. He often attended owners' meetings instead of owner Clint Murchison Jr. and had the loudest say on the NFL competition committee for some 25 years, implementing overtime rules in the regular season, moving the goalposts back 10 yards, having referee's wear a microphone, instituting the 30-second clock between plays and much more. And while he was long against the idea, he was eventually responsible for instant replay, at least in terms of having it passed by the league owners and Rozelle.
Schramm and American Football League founder Lamar Hunt, who also owned the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs, together brokered the NFL-AFL merger at Dallas' Love Field Airport with Rozelle himself staying at Schramm's house during the secret negotiations.
Schramm also was responsible for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. In the immediate aftermath of Super Bowl VI, he decided the team should have more than just local high school students on the sidelines.
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, Schramm passed away at 83 years old on July 15, 2003. In October of that same year, he was enshrined in the Cowboys Ring of Honor.
"I think everyone who has been a part of the Cowboys organization in the last 25 years will have something special to look back on," Schramm said in an exclusive interview for the book Dallas Cowboys: The First 25 Years. "They – we – will be looked on and referred to as members of the Dallas Cowboys during a time period when a lot of great things happened. I'm delighted to have been a part of it."