50 Seasons Series: The Cowboys’ First Collegiate Draft

This post is part of the 50 Seasons in 50 Weeks Series.

The Cowboys did not have the opportunity to participate in the draft held at the end of the 1959 NFL season, so the collegiate draft held on December 28 and 29, 1960 was the team’s first.

The team had previously traded its first- and sixth-round picks to Washington to pick up quarterback Eddie LeBaron. However, the team was able to acquire the 13th pick of the first round, which was Cleveland’s position.

The first round that year was extraordinarily stacked. Four of the 14 players selected were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame. This included tight end Mike Ditka (selected by Chicago), defensive back Jimmy Johnson (selected by San Francisco), defensive back Herb Adderley (selected by Green Bay), and defensive tackle Bob Lilly (selected by Dallas). Ditka and Adderley eventually joined the Cowboys, as they teamed up with Lilly to help Dallas win Super Bowl VI.

This draft is remembered, of course, for Lilly. He was a concensus All-American at TCU, and both the Cowboys and the Dallas Texans took him in the drafts that year.

The Cowboys’ draft would have been outstanding if all of the draft picks had played for the Cowboys. Two of the first three picks– E.J. Holub and Stew Barber– played in the AFL, and both went to the AFL Pro Bowl multiple times. Dallas also selected Billy Shaw, who had a Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Bills.

Tackle Don Talbert (Texas), the Cowboys’ eighth round pick, played three seasons with the Cowboys, though they were scattered over the course of nearly a decade. He played for Dallas in 1962, 1965, and 1971. He played for the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints from 1966 to 1970.

The other picks who stayed on the team were not well known. This included receiver Sonny Davis, end Glenn Gregory, and center Lynn Hoyem. None of the three ever developed into a starter, in Dallas or otherwise.

The table below shows the full results of the 1961 draft.

Players the Cowboys Missed

In addition to the players the Cowboys lost to the AFL, there were other players Dallas could have taken during the 20-round (!) 1961 draft. Excluding those who played for the AFL, here are some notable names:

• LB Myron Pottios, 2nd round, Pittsburgh: 3 Pro Bowls
• FB Bill Brown, 2nd round, Chicago: 4 Pro Bowls with Minnesota
• QB Fran Tarkenton, 3rd round, Minnesota: Inducted into the Hall of Fame
• Pat Fischer, 17th round, St. Louis: 3 Pro Bowls with the Cardinals and Redskins.

Grade This Draft

Here is your chance to grade the 1961 draft for the Dallas Cowboys:

My Grade: B

I originally gave this draft a low score, since it yielded so few quality players other than Lilly. However, Lilly’s selection alone is worth some points, and had some of the other players stuck with the NFL instead of the AFL, this draft could have been great.

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