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Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American football player and coach. As an NFL coach, he was noted for creating many new formations and methods. He invented the now popular 4–3 defense, and the "flex defense" system made famous by the "Doomsday Defense" squads he created during his 29-year tenure with the Dallas Cowboys. His 29 consecutive years as the coach of one team are an NFL record,[1] along with his 20 consecutive winning seasons.
Landry won two Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), five NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270–178–6 record, the fourth-most wins all-time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the second most of any coach in NFL history. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1966 and the NFC Coach of the Year in 1975. His most impressive professional accomplishment is his 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), still an NFL record. From 1966 to 1982 Dallas played in 12 NFL or NFC Championship games, a span of 17 years. More impressive is the Cowboys' appearance in 10 NFC Championship games in the 13-year span from 1970 to 1982. Leading the Cowboys to three Super Bowl appearances in four years between 1975 and 1978, and five in nine years between 1970 and 1978, and being on television more than any other NFL team is what spawned the title of "America's Team", a title Landry did not appreciate because he felt it would bring on extra motivation from the rest of the league to compete with the Cowboys.
Landry won two Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), five NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270–178–6 record, the fourth-most wins all-time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the second most of any coach in NFL history. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1966 and the NFC Coach of the Year in 1975. His most impressive professional accomplishment is his 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), still an NFL record. From 1966 to 1982 Dallas played in 12 NFL or NFC Championship games, a span of 17 years. More impressive is the Cowboys' appearance in 10 NFC Championship games in the 13-year span from 1970 to 1982. Leading the Cowboys to three Super Bowl appearances in four years between 1975 and 1978, and five in nine years between 1970 and 1978, and being on television more than any other NFL team is what spawned the title of "America's Team", a title Landry did not appreciate because he felt it would bring on extra motivation from the rest of the league to compete with the Cowboys.
Tom Landry - Wikipedia
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A Football Life - Tom Landry HD
A Football Life - Tom Landry HD.
Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that September 11 is the anniversary of the birth of WWII U.S. Army Air Corps bomber co-pilot, American NFL football player and Dallas Cowboys coach Thomas Wade Landry who was noted for creating many new formations and methods. He invented the now popular 4–3 defense, and the "flex defense" system made famous by the "Doomsday Defense" squads he created during his 29-year tenure with the Dallas Cowboys.
Rest in peace Thomas Wade Landry
Image: 1945 US Army Air Corps Co-pilot 1LT Thomas Wade Landry
1. Background on Tom Landry from americanairmuseum.com/person/209653
WWII service
Thomas Wade Landry was "born 11 Sept 1924 at Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas. Enlisted in Army Air Force 24 Feb 1943 at San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Had three years of college at time of enlistment. Did most of his training in Texas. Served in 8th US Air Force, 493rd Bomb Group, 860th Bomb Squadron in the UK. Training as Co-Pilot. Flew 30 missions.
493rd Bomb Group
The 493rd Bomb Group were the last Eighth Air Force Group to become operational, flying their first combat mission from Debach, Suffolk, on D-Day, 6 June 1944. The Group was known as "the Fighting 493rd", named by their Commanding Officer Colonel Elbert Helton, who held the post for over a year. The Group flew 161 bombing missions, their targets a range of strategic ones in Germany and tactical ones in northern France, Holland and along the Rhine. In additional the crews flew six food missions in May 1945, dropping over 400 tonnes of food into newly-liberated parts of Europe."
2. Background on Tom Landry from profootballhof.com/players/tom-landry/
"TOM LANDRY DALLAS COWBOYS
"There’s no other way for me to work than the way I do, because our whole system demands tremendous concentration. Therefore if you’re really concentrating, you show very little emotion at all. I think as soon as a person breaks his concentration as an athlete he loses his effectiveness."
Tom Landry was selected as the head coach when the Dallas Cowboys started their first National Football League season in 1960. He remained in that capacity for 29 seasons until new ownership opted for new field leadership after the 1988 campaign.
At the time of his retirement, only George Halas, who coached the Chicago Bears for 40 years, surpassed his 29-year tenure with one club. It took Landry a few years to develop his young club into contender status but, once he did, the Cowboys enjoyed exceptional success for more than two decades.
The Cowboys under Landry had their first winning season and their first NFL Eastern Conference championship in 1966. They didn't fall below .500 again until 1986. During that period, Landry's teams had 20 straight winning seasons, 13 divisional championship, five NFC titles and victories in Super Bowls VI and XII. The Cowboys also played in Super Bowls V, X and XIII.
His regular season career record is 250-162-6 and his record counting playoffs is 270-178-6. Only Halas and Don Shula top his 270 career wins. Landry gained a reputation as a great technical innovator, as well as an inspirational leader. He introduced the "flex defense" and "multiple offense" in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he restructured the "shotgun" or "spread" offense and, in the 1980s, he embraced and helped develop the "situation substitution" concept of handling his player talent.
Landry was an excellent player in the pros. He was a defensive back, punter and kick returner with the 1949 New York Yankees in the All-America Football Conference and with the New York Giants in the NFL between 1950 and 1955. He recorded 32 career interceptions and had a 40.9-yard punting average. He served the Giants as a player-coach in 1954 and 1955 before becoming a full-time defensive coach from 1956 to 1959."
A Football Life - Tom Landry HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC5AwFLxAlA&t=48s
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SSgt Brian Brakke SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
Rest in peace Thomas Wade Landry
Image: 1945 US Army Air Corps Co-pilot 1LT Thomas Wade Landry
1. Background on Tom Landry from americanairmuseum.com/person/209653
WWII service
Thomas Wade Landry was "born 11 Sept 1924 at Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas. Enlisted in Army Air Force 24 Feb 1943 at San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Had three years of college at time of enlistment. Did most of his training in Texas. Served in 8th US Air Force, 493rd Bomb Group, 860th Bomb Squadron in the UK. Training as Co-Pilot. Flew 30 missions.
493rd Bomb Group
The 493rd Bomb Group were the last Eighth Air Force Group to become operational, flying their first combat mission from Debach, Suffolk, on D-Day, 6 June 1944. The Group was known as "the Fighting 493rd", named by their Commanding Officer Colonel Elbert Helton, who held the post for over a year. The Group flew 161 bombing missions, their targets a range of strategic ones in Germany and tactical ones in northern France, Holland and along the Rhine. In additional the crews flew six food missions in May 1945, dropping over 400 tonnes of food into newly-liberated parts of Europe."
2. Background on Tom Landry from profootballhof.com/players/tom-landry/
"TOM LANDRY DALLAS COWBOYS
"There’s no other way for me to work than the way I do, because our whole system demands tremendous concentration. Therefore if you’re really concentrating, you show very little emotion at all. I think as soon as a person breaks his concentration as an athlete he loses his effectiveness."
Tom Landry was selected as the head coach when the Dallas Cowboys started their first National Football League season in 1960. He remained in that capacity for 29 seasons until new ownership opted for new field leadership after the 1988 campaign.
At the time of his retirement, only George Halas, who coached the Chicago Bears for 40 years, surpassed his 29-year tenure with one club. It took Landry a few years to develop his young club into contender status but, once he did, the Cowboys enjoyed exceptional success for more than two decades.
The Cowboys under Landry had their first winning season and their first NFL Eastern Conference championship in 1966. They didn't fall below .500 again until 1986. During that period, Landry's teams had 20 straight winning seasons, 13 divisional championship, five NFC titles and victories in Super Bowls VI and XII. The Cowboys also played in Super Bowls V, X and XIII.
His regular season career record is 250-162-6 and his record counting playoffs is 270-178-6. Only Halas and Don Shula top his 270 career wins. Landry gained a reputation as a great technical innovator, as well as an inspirational leader. He introduced the "flex defense" and "multiple offense" in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he restructured the "shotgun" or "spread" offense and, in the 1980s, he embraced and helped develop the "situation substitution" concept of handling his player talent.
Landry was an excellent player in the pros. He was a defensive back, punter and kick returner with the 1949 New York Yankees in the All-America Football Conference and with the New York Giants in the NFL between 1950 and 1955. He recorded 32 career interceptions and had a 40.9-yard punting average. He served the Giants as a player-coach in 1954 and 1955 before becoming a full-time defensive coach from 1956 to 1959."
A Football Life - Tom Landry HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC5AwFLxAlA&t=48s
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SSgt Brian Brakke SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
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As well as being a great coach he was a military man. When Landry was at the University of Texas in the fall of 1942 he got a call from his family notifying him that his only brother, Robert, who at 22 was almost four years older, had been killed. A pilot in the Army Air Forces, Robert Landry was lost aboard his B-17 bomber over the North Atlantic. However soon after, Tom Landry enlisted in the Army reserve and applied for pilots training in the Army Air Corps. He ended up flying 30 missions over Europe in a B-17. On one mission, his plane ran out of fuel over France, forcing a crash landing. Landry and the rest of the crew walked away uninjured. After the war, Landry returned to Austin to further his studies and play football for the Longhorns. Signing up after loosing his brother says a lot about Landry. He was a fighter.
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