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Editor's note: This post originally published on March 29, 2019. It was updated on July 17, 2026.
Roger Staubach made a huge impact throughout his time with the Dallas Cowboys, etching his name in the team's Super Bowl-winning lore. Well after his playing career ended, Staubach's name remains near the top of the team's all-time passing leaderboards.
As time passes, Staubach continues to earn high praise from current Cowboys players, coaches and fans. Here are 10 things to know about the franchise icon:
1. He served in Vietnam
Staubach served five years with the Navy and was in Vietnam for one of those years. He was in command of 41 men while overseas.
In a story with "Stars and Stripes," he told writer Ray Mahon that he thought he'd be a good professional football player, back in 1966.
"I honestly feel I can make it," Staubach told Mahon. "I hope to stay in good condition, although it's difficult here because there aren't any recreation facilities. However, there are plans to build some as soon as the essential construction is completed."
Click here to read the full story.
2. Color blindness
In "The President's Team: The 1963 Army-Navy Game and the Assassination of JFK," authors Michael Connelly and Tom Lynch wrote that Staubach shouldn't have been allowed into the Naval Academy.
"During a pre-admission eye exam," they wrote, "Staubach was passed despite being color blind. If the malady had been properly identified by the clerk, the midshipman-to-be's assignment would have been immediately revoked."
The reason? Determining the difference from the port and starboard lights, which are red and green.
3. He's one of four players to win the Heisman and Super Bowl MVP
Those four are the following:
Staubach: Heisman in 1963 with Navy, Super Bowl VI MVP with Dallas
Jim Plunkett: Heisman in 1970 with Stanford, Super Bowl XV MVP with Oakland
Marcus Allen: Heisman in 1981 with USC, Super Bowl XVIII MVP with Los Angeles
Desmond Howard: Heisman in 1991 with Michigan, Super Bowl XXI MVP with Green Bay
4. He's one of Dallas' all-time great quarterbacks
By the time his NFL career was over, Staubach held several Dallas Cowboys passing records. Heading into the 2026 season, Staubach ranks fourth on the team's all-time passing yards leaderboard (22,700 passing yards), fifth on the all-time passing touchdowns leaderboard (153 passing touchdowns) and second in regular-season wins as a Cowboys starting quarterback (85 wins).
Dak Prescott is currently chasing a few of those marks.
5. He once split reps with Craig Morton
Staubach wasn't always the Cowboys' clear-cut starting quarterback. Back in 1971, Staubach was part of a strange quarterback arrangement with Craig Morton. Head coach Tom Landry couldn't make up his mind over which quarterback would hold the starting role, so Morton and Staubach split starts early in the '71 campaign.
Here's an excerpt from The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington on how the arrangement played out:
As you might imagine, the time-share arrangement went over poorly, and not just with the guys taking turns. As Cliff Harris would say, Landry's indecision opened a division among the players between those who favored Morton and the Staubach partisans. What they wanted most was certainty, one guy or the other, someone to unite behind and follow.
The way the players saw it, they were set on another Super Bowl run. Meanwhile, their head coach was running a State Fair-caliber quarterback contest.
If the rumbling bothered Landry, he didn't let it show. In fact, for the Halloween game in Chicago, he doubled down.
Changed quarterbacks on every play.
"I run out on the field," Staubach later told NFL Films, "Craig's running off the field. I'm just mystified like he is.
"Like two ships passing in the night."
After that wild game in Chicago, Landry made his choice: Staubach would handle QB1 duties in Dallas. Staubach ultimately led the Cowboys to a 10-game win streak that season and a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.
6. He has a big fan in Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer
Staubach paid a surprise visit to Schottenheimer in September during the 2025 season. The head coach was in the middle of a Friday news conference when Staubach made his way into the interview room at The Star in Frisco.
That encounter marked the first time Schottenheimer and Staubach met.
"That's why I'm trying not to show all my emotions," Schottenheimer said of the visit. "You'll see me skipping down the hall. I might even call the guys up and say, 'Hey, guess who I just ran into. He came to see me.' I'm a football junkie, and [he's] one of the best of all time, man."
7. He knew Bill Belichick before he was, well, Bill Belichick
Yes, both men are Super Bowl champions -- but there is another connection between the two. While Staubach was playing football at Navy, Bill's father, Steve Belichick, was an assistant coach for the Midshipmen.
Staubach said to KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan that he would throw the ball with Bill.
"Well, I grew up at the Naval Academy and Bill Belichick's dad was a coach there. So Bill was a kid there," Staubach said. " ... Steve Belichick, Bill's father, was at the Academy when I was. When they won the Super Bowl that first time, Steve had retired and was on the sideline. He came running over to me before the game and gave me a big hug. After the game, he said winning that Super Bowl next to his son was the most excited he's ever been. Bill idolizes his dad and rightfully so."
Bill Belichick delivered high praise for Staubach in an article by Gene Wang of The Washington Post:
"For a guy who won the Heisman, he was such a humble guy, a hard-working guy," Bill Belichick told Wang. "First one on the field, last one off. Just had everybody's respect. Everybody knew that he was obviously the star on the team and had a million demands, but he never put himself above the team. He was always just one of the guys."
8. Did he coin the "Hail Mary" pass?
In 1975, the Cowboys played the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs. They won 17-14 on a late 50-yard touchdown heave from Staubach to Drew Pearson. Reporters asked him what happened after the game.
"I guess you'd call it a 'Hail Mary' pass. You throw it up and pray he catches it," Staubach said.
Read more on the Hail Mary pass and where the ball ended up from The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington.
9. He received a presidential award in 2018
In Nov. 2018, President Donald Trump bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Staubach.
"They just can't catch him. He is something," Trump said during the East Wing ceremony, recalling the exceptional talent Staubach displayed on the field. "What a career it was."
Staubach was in rarefied company as Trump celebrated the lives and achievements of seven prominent Americans, including the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, singer Elvis Presley, baseball legend Babe Ruth, GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, retiring Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Alan Page, another former football player who became a judge.
10. He made his mark in real estate, too
In 2014, The Wall Street Journal's Alexandra Wolfe wrote a feature on Staubach's real estate ventures outside of football. The feature points out how the former Cowboys quarterback's real estate firm helped corporations locate facilities, like moving offices. He created the company in 1977. That means he had the company for his final two years of his professional football career.
His company had 68 offices and about 1,800 employees, according to Wolfe, in 2008. Staubach sold his company that year for $613 million.
Read this story on dallasnews.com
