Tom Landry was an American football player and a coach who was known for bringing in new techniques and formations in football
Tom Landry
@Former American Football Player, Birthday and Family
Sep 11, 1924
Biography
Personal Details
- Birthday: September 11, 1924
- Died on: February 12, 2000
- Nationality: American
- Famous: Coach, Former American Football Player, University Of Houston, University Of Texas, Sportspersons, Coaches, Football Players, American Football Players
- City/State: Texas
- Spouses: Alicia Wiggs
- Known as: Thomas Wade Landry
Landry got married to his high school sweetheart Alicia Wiggs in 1949. They both had three children together, Tom Jr., Kitty and Lisa. The couple was married for 51 years until Landry’s death.
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Personal Life
Landry died on February 12, 2000 due to leukemia. His funeral service took place at Highland Park United Methodist Church. In the Texas State Cemetery, Austin, a cenotaph is dedicated to him.
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Personal Life
Tom Landry was born on September 11, 1924 in Mission, Texas, to Ray Landry and Ruth Landry. His father was a mechanic and suffered from rheumatism but he was an athlete in his younger days and played football.
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Childhood & Early Years
Landry studied in Mission High School, Texas, and played as a quarter back for his school’s football team. The school’s football stadium is now called ‘Tom Landry Stadium’ and is home to Mission Eagles.
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Childhood & Early Years
Landry went to the University of Texas, Austin, and did his major in industrial engineering. Although, he always wanted to go to SMU but he never did because he did not want his friends and family to be inaccessible to him and his football matches.
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Childhood & Early Years
Landry left his education in order to pursue United States Army Air Corps at the time of World War II. He did this in order to honor the sacrifice of his brother Robert Landry at the time of ‘Pearl Harbor’.
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Childhood & Early Years
When he was 19, he was sent to Iowa to be trained as a co-pilot. There he earned his Second Lieutenant rank and did 30 missions and during one of these missions in Belgium he survived a crash landing.
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Childhood & Early Years
In 1949, Landry played in the All American Football Conference for the New York Yankees and then next year changed his team to New York Giants as he was already drafted as the ‘future picks’ by the NYG.
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Career
Just after he finished his graduation, Landry was offered to play for the Yankees by the Yankee coach Jack White. He was offered 6000 US dollars and a bonus of 500 US dollars.
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Career
In 1949, Landry was taken up by the New York Giants on the basis of their territorial rights to select someone in a dispersal draft. It was here that he was coached under Steve Owen and got his first indirect coaching experience.
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Career
The 1953 season was a real bad one for the New York Giants and Coach Steve Owen lost his job as a result of this. Landry was selected as an all-pro in 1954. Throughout 1954 and 1955 he was a player-assistant coach with the new head coach Jim Hee Howell.
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Career
In 1960, Landry got into the coaching profession and became the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and coached the team for a total of 29 seasons. He worked closely along with the general manager Tex Schramm.
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Career
Landry battled with leukemia for many years.
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Trivia
An elementary school in Valley Ranch is named in the honor of Landry.
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Trivia
Landry refused many offers to enter into Ring of Honor before accepting it in 1993.
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Trivia
From the bonus that he got out of the Yankees offer to play for them, Landry paid for his wedding to Alicia Wiggs.
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Trivia