NFL
By: Greg Rector
The Dallas Cowboys are one of the most storied franchises in the history of the NFL. Yes, I know the haters out there love seeing the Dallas Cowboys struggle as they have to win a sixth Super Bowl title. I get the hate out there for the Dallas Cowboys. That’s fine by me since there are many other franchises I can’t stand either, especially the one located in Washington D.C.
This article though is a simple tribute to my favorite Dallas Cowboys player ever since I have been a loyal fan of the franchise since 1969. The man who defined toughness on the football field for me growing up was Randy “The Manster” White. Randy White defined what football is about along the line of scrimmage.
Randy White started out his college career at the University of Maryland and he wasn’t playing defense. He was a fullback!! White didn’t do much in his first season as a fullback but the Terrapins coach Jerry Claiborne moved Randy White to defensive end and said moving Randy to defensive end, noting that he had the skill to be “one of the best five linemen in the U.S.” The move was a natural fit, as, by his senior year, he was, as Claiborne put it, “as fast as some of the offensive backs I had coached.”
By his last season, White won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman, the Lombardi Trophy which is (awarded to the college football player “who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL’s legendary coach Vince Lombardi”)
When he was drafted second overall in the 1975 NFL draft Randy White would begin his reign of terror on NFL opposing offensive linemen and quarterbacks. First, as a middle linebacker who backed up Lee Roy Jordan and mostly played special teams. It was in his third season when Randy White finally was moved to the Dallas Cowboys defensive line. Specifically, he was the right defensive tackle, and that position is held in Dallas Cowboys lore because that was the home for “Mr.Cowboy” Bob Lilly.
Randy White that season became one of the only ten defensive players to ever be named a winner of a Super Bowl MVP award that he shared with Harvey Martin after Super Bowl XII. He was named to the All-Pro and the Pro Bowl the first of nine straight seasons where Randy White would be named to both squads.
Randy White made the Dallas Cowboys’ second iteration of the vaunted “Doomsday Defense” work just as his predecessor Bob Lilly had done for the first version of the Doomsday Defense. Watch those games Randy White played in and he was seldom ever blocked by just one lineman. You’ll see Randy White get double and tripled teamed often. He was just so damn strong and vicious to play against. The funny thing is Randy White was only 257 to 265 lbs in his career so he was nowhere near the size of today’s defensive ends.
As was said by longtime opponent Mark May of the Redskins fame said of playing against Randy White “Before you played the Cowboys, you heard it from everyone in the league: Randy White, he is the intimidator of football,” Redskins offensive lineman Mark May, a longtime opponent, told NFL Films. “He was a fierce competitor … he was a half monster. Most tackles didn’t have the tenacity and the athletic ability that he had.”
May also pointed this out about playing against Randy White “One thing that made him different was that we as offensive linemen had to take a knee on the sideline and watch him play. We only did that for a couple of guys like Walter Payton and Earl Campbell,” said Peterson, citing White’s signature play of chasing down Philadelphia Eagles receiver Scott Fitzkee as a prime example. “Randy, on game day, was just relentless.”
For 14 seasons and he missed just one game in all those years. so in 204 Dallas Cowboys games in his career Randy White was my favorite Dallas Cowboys player ever. It was an honor and a pleasure to have met him in 1978 and again twice more during his playing career in the 1980s.
Randy White entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994 and was also given his rightful place in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor the same season.
Those are the reasons why Randy White will always be my favorite Dallas Cowboys player.
Find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
