Cowboys Legend Drew Pearson Talks Rookie Card Afro, Collecting Jim Brown, Hail Mary Memories
At the time of his retirement, Drew Pearson was the Dallas Cowboys all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards.
Pearson was a three-time All Pro, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the NFL's All Decade team of the 1970's.
The big play wide receiver spent his entire 11-year career with the Dallas Cowboys and was known for his production in the postseason. In 22 playoff games, the dangerous wide receiver scored eight touchdowns and grabbed 68 receptions for 1,131 yards.
His most noteworthy and impactful play was his 50 yard Hail Mary reception from Roger Staubach that beat the Minnesota Vikings in the final seconds of the 1975 divisional playoff game, helping the Cowboys reach Super Bowl X.
To be the man on the receiving end of the touchdown pass that coined one of the most well known phrases in all of sports is a special accomplishment in a career that was filled with them.
Pearson was voted to the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2011 and after a seemingly endless wait, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
In this exclusive interview, Pearson talks about his memorable Afro on his 1975 Topps rookie card, collecting Jim Brown, Joe Namath, and piles of baseball cards as well as his fondest memories from the Hail Mary.
Tony Reid-Your rookie card is in the 1975 Topps set. When was the first time you saw your very own rookie card?
Drew Pearson-I was really surprised. I couldn’t believe it was me. Then I had that big old afro and I said again, I really can’t believe that was me! It was really cool to see it. Sports has been my whole life. That is all I care about. I don’t watch anything on TV other than The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful and Jeopardy. Otherwise, it’s all sports.
TR-Did you follow sports and collect sports cards growing up?
DP-I was a big fan of pro sports. I followed all of the athletes. The first card I remember having was Jim Brown. I think it was a Topps card that I had. It was a pack with the bubblegum in it. You would get all the big name players back then. Now you get a lot of lower profile or B names and then maybe one star in the pack. Back in the day you used to get those great cards. I used to collect the cards. We had shoeboxes full of them. We used to lay them out on the floor, the offense against the defense. We had all-star teams. That’s why it was a big deal to see my picture on a trading card, especially for the Dallas Cowboys. As a kid, I grew up hating the Cowboys. I’m from New Jersey. I was a Jets and Giants fan. The only guy I could name on the Cowboys back then was Bob Hayes. He was phenomenal in his first year. He scored about 12 touchdowns and most of them were over 40 yards.
TR-What players from the New York/New Jersey area did you collect most growing up?
DP-Joe Namath and the Jets won the Super Bowl my senior year of high school, in 1969. That was a big deal. The Amazing Mets, Tom Seaver and those guys won the World Series about the same time. I had all the cards, not just football. I actually had more baseball cards than anything. That was my favorite sport as a kid. I had basketball cards, too. I had no hockey or anything like that, though.
TR-How did your signature come to be what we see today and how do you feel about signing for fans today?
DP-It’s not just the pride I take in my signature, it’s taking the time to sign the item like it should be signed and not just scribbling something down and giving back to the fan and a few weeks later they are trying to figure out whose signature it was. I did that initially. My mom saw my initial signature. She got all over me. She said ‘What is that? If you are going to write it you have to write it so they can read it.’ She was about the correct penmanship and all that kind of stuff. She critiqued my autograph and that’s what it came out to be. I have a good name where it flows. I can flow that last letter and then I put those 88s in there. You have to put a little flair to those 88s. But yeah, my mom approved my final autograph. I make it a point to do it and I feel honored every time, still, to this day let I get asked to sign an autograph.
TR-You are a Super Bowl champion, a multiple time Pro Bowler, a member of the 1970’s All Decade Team, you are in the Cowboys Ring of Honor. The list goes on and on. Do you have a place where you display your own memorabilia?
DP-Oh, yeah. My offices are lined with it. I have so much stuff it’s amazing. You just accumulate so much stuff over the years. I keep my office filled but I try to keep it fresh. I have something from the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. I have a number of pieces by Vernon Wells. He was a famous sports artist from back in the day.
TR- What are some of the cooler items in your personal memorabilia collection of other players?
DP- I have a Jim Brown singed mini helmet and a Jim Brown autographed picture, those are two of my favorites. Man, Jim Brown! I have something of Steve Largent because he is a class dude from Tulsa. I have Walt Garrison and Randy White on a mini helmet. I have a Minnesota Vikings helmet signed by the great Fran Tarkenton. That is one of my most prized possessions. I got it at a charity auction where I was the auctioneer. Nobody bid on the helmet so I bought it for like $200. The reason I bought it was because the guy at the auction said he would get Fran to sign and personalize it. He did. He sent it back. He signed it ‘To Drew, the greatest clutch receiver of all time. Your Hail Mary catch changed the world, Fran Tarkenton’. How classy is that? He is still stinging from the Hail Mary loss. He not only lost the game that day but he lost his dad that day, too. His dad passed away and his dad’s name was Dallas, which is wild. Its wild how all of that stuff comes into play to create all of these sidebars to the play and the game itself.
TR-Speaking of the Hail Mary, what does it mean to you to literally be on the receiving end of that iconic pass?
DP-You dream of catching winning touchdown passes and making big plays but you never dream of having your play identified and talked about 40 plus years after it happened. It’s amazing. I still get asked about it. I still hear it everywhere, not just in sports but in business, in personal life, in charitable life and all kinds of situations are referred to as a Hail Mary. That’s what you get when you play with a quarterback like Roger Staubach, a devout catholic. I would have called it a hallelujah or something like that. You think I knew what a Hail Mary was? I had to look it up! I’m a Baptist. We didn’t study Hail Marys. A skinny legged kid from New Jersey, who all his life, always wanted to be a pro athlete, thought it would be baseball. It ended up being football. Then I play for an organization like the Dallas Cowboys. I have all of these Hall of Famers playing around me. What a story to tell. It’s been a great ride. I feel blessed that I have been able to stay healthy and enjoy it.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms