Back in the day, when NFL players weren’t millionaires and cheerleaders still wore skirts, Verne Lundquist was our local sportscaster.
Lundquist, who turned 80 this year, got his start on WFAA, and in December 1975, he handed the mic to Oak Cliff’s own Harvey Martin.
The South Oak Cliff High School alumnus interviews Ed “Too Tall” Jones, whom the Cowboys had drafted out of Tennessee State University with the No. 1 overall pick the previous year.
Appearing on local TV news was about the most immediate media exposure a person could get at the time. Imagine these guys together in the TikTok era.
Jones says in the clip that he was disappointed with his own performance that season, even though the Cowboys were headed to the playoffs, where Jones was preparing to face offensive tackle Ron Yary of the Minnesota Vikings.
“Well, Ed, if you want some pointers on Ron Yary, I can help you because I think I handled him a couple of years in a row,” Martin says.
He also ribs Jones about not reaching his goal of 21 quarterback sacks that season.
“You can’t do it if you try, but maybe next year, if you work hard at it in the off season, you might be able to do something about it,” Martin says.
Jones’ response is classic: “Alright, Harvey, you know … it just be like that sometimes.”
Jones took a year off from the NFL to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a professional boxer in 1979, when he was 28 and in his athletic prime. He returned to the Cowboys for another TEN seasons, from 1980-1989. He’s now 69 and still lives in the Dallas area.
Martin’s story is more complicated. He struggled with addiction and violence for years before cleaning up his act in the ’90s, when he became a public speaker on the dangers of substance abuse. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2001 at age 51.
Watch this time capsule with Martin and Jones below, courtesy of the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection at SMU.
