For nearly three decades, the Cowboys used an IBM computer, light years ahead of its time in the NFL, to prepare for the annual draft. Personnel director Gil Brandt also employed more scouts than any team in the league, eyes and ears on every campus with a football field, data, data and more data on each and every player.
After all the information was gathered – height, weight, speed, pets, girlfriends – the computer compiled a number, one through 100, for each prospect. Only once was the result a perfect score, the century mark. His name was Tony Dorsett. And the IBM wasn't wrong.
The Cowboys felt like they were a running back away from a Super Bowl when the 1977 NFL Draft came around, so they traded their first-round choice and three second-round picks to the Seattle Seahawks to move up to the No. 2 overall position. There they selected the Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Pittsburgh.
Because head coach Tom Landry almost never started rookies, Dorsett's carries were limited that first year. He only started four of 14 games, yet still finished with 1,280 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns to earn NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
In the 1977 playoffs, "Touchdown Tony" then rushed for four more scores as the Cowboys steamrolled their way to a second Super Bowl victory. Roger Staubach to Landry himself said the difference maker from previous teams that came up short was the rookie sensation.
Dorsett went on, of course, to become a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection, among just a handful of running backs to achieve that honor, so calling him underappreciated seems like a stretch. For whatever reason, though, his name is rarely mentioned with the all-time greats. Four times he made the Pro Bowl and he was named All-Pro in 1981, but he's mostly remembered for his 99-yard run on Monday Night Football in a game at Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1983, a ridiculous feat made even more so considering that the Cowboys had just 10 players on the field at the time.
In terms of explosiveness, the ability to break tackles and leave the fastest of defensive backs out of reach, Dorsett ranks right up there at the mountaintop with the likes of Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. In fact, when he retired in 1988, Dorsett ranked second in NFL history to only Payton in rushing yards with 12,739. If not for a players' strike in 1982, he also would have rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first nine seasons in the league. That's only been topped by Curtis Martin and Sanders, who both enjoyed 10 straight years of reaching the mark.
But Dorsett was so much more than just statistics and numbers. He was a game changer and the ultimate gamer, always willing to stay on the field despite the hits and the pain, missing only 10 games in his 11 seasons with the Cowboys.
Given his legacy, when the legends of the backfield are referenced, his name should be mentioned within the first breath.