ORIGINAL FOOTBALL ARCHITECTS

Before the Cowboys, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas brought football to North Texas

By Hy Cotten

Thursday, September 9, 2010 - 12:59pm

It’s not surprising that roughly 10 members of the Dallas Salesmanship Club sit on the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.

The Salesmanship Club has always been there for North Texas, especially for its children and needy. The Club’s fingerprints are also all over the history of North Texas sports.

Everyone knows about the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament, but the Salesmanship Club was also dabbling in pro football long before the Dallas Cowboys hit town, and before Lamar Hunt got Dallas involved in the old American Football League.

Somebody with the NFL had the foresight to know that the NFL enjoyed a hotbed of interest in North Texas, even back in the 1940s. Preseason games back then were known as exhibition games, and that’s exactly what they were. The NFL would bring in the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants for an exhibition at the Cotton Bowl Stadium and sometimes at Dal-Hi Stadium, an arena of some 10,000 that later became known as P.C. Cobb Stadium (where the World Trade Center now stands on the outskirts of downtown Dallas).

Those were games sponsored by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas. And when the Cowboys did hit town in 1960, the Salesmanship Club sponsored the first preseason home game every year all the way up into the early years of the Jerry Jones regime.

Walter Robertson began writing for The Dallas Morning News in 1949 and served as the paper’s Executive Sports Editor for 25 years (1956-1980). He saw the Salesmanship Club grow “at least 300 or 400 percent from those early ‘50s.”

“Field Scovell and Jack Lowe, Sr., were the two guys that I always associated with the Salesmanship Club,” Robertson says. “I went to a lot of their luncheons and spoke at quite a few. Scovell was involved in everything back in those days because of his reputation. He was a great guy and played a prominent role in sports his entire life. He had a huge, deep voice, and we always kidded him that his voice got him to where he was.”

Known as “Mr. Cotton Bowl”, Scovell was President of the Salesmanship Club but was just as involved in the organization as a longtime member. He and Wilbur Evans for years were the face of the Cotton Bowl’s New Year’s Day game.

And for almost a quarter-century back then, Dorothy Truax was the Salesmanship Club office assistant who knew all and did all.

“She was a wonderful woman and ran the Salesmanship Club from their office in the DAC building,” Robertson says. “She was a delight to behold. Dorothy ran everything; if anybody had a question about anything, you just called Dorothy, and she had the answer.”

When it comes to providing support for their various youth camps, charities and learning centers, the Salesmanship Club has always seemed to have the answer. One could easily argue that the Club also provided the catalyst for the early success of the Dallas Cowboys.

Bill Morgan worked in public relations for the Cowboys their first six years (1960-65). He also worked for the sports departments of both Dallas dailies and later served as Sports Information Director of the Southwest Conference for 18 years (1969-86).

“I think the first Salesmanship Club game that I saw was in ’55 at the Cotton Bowl,” Morgan says. “The Lions had Bobby Layne and Doak Walker, who were great draws because they were from Highland Park.

“The Cowboys needed the Salesmanship Club, to put it bluntly,” Morgan says. “We needed some butts in the stands, and the Salesmanship Club needed some teams on the field, so it was a natural marriage for a long while.”

Throughout Cowboys history on up until Jones bought the franchise, the Salesmanship Club sponsored the Cowboys’ first preseason game. But by the late 80s, NFL preseason tickets were tied into the team’s season-ticket packages. Since all home games were sellouts, no need existed for the Salesmanship Club to promote a game.

“We’ve gotten along very well with Jerry Jones because he allowed us to use his Texas Stadium parking for the Byron Nelson,” says Darrell Jordan, a member of the Host Committee and a loyal Salesmanship Club member since 1983. “In fact, I think the first year or two he did it as a contribution.”

Like many in the Salesmanship Club, Jordan has fond memories of those bygone days of North Texas sports history.

“When I was in law school at SMU, it was the first year of the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans playing at the same time,” Jordan says. “We’d go out to the Cotton Bowl and sit in the end zone, and watch Frank Gifford and the next stars of the day. I think it was like a dollar to sit in the end zone.”

T.D. Dickey, a former Salesmanship Club President (2000-01) and 30-year member, grew up in Dallas’ Preston Hollow neighborhood when anything north of SMU was considered far north. He saw the link between the Cowboys and Salesmanship Club strengthen for many years.

“The main thing was to help support our camping and our children,” Dickey says. “We had a great history with the Cowboys. Tom Landry was a member of the Salesmanship Club. He was a great man, as everyone knows. The Salesmanship Club was an impetus back then to get people to go to the games.

“We got out there and worked the games and would help people find their seats, just do whatever we could to help the Cowboys.”

Jack McJunkin, President in 1999-2000, joined the Club in ’77 and was a Cowboys’ season ticket holder in the Cotton Bowl days and later at Texas Stadium.

“It was so warm in Dallas for those preseason games,” McJunkin says. “I think the Cowboys felt they needed our help in selling those tickets. If you understand the heat here, you know those games were pretty warm.”

Warm, indeed, by temperature standards. But heart-warming, as well. That, too, has been the history of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas.