Roger Staubach

On February 5, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the greatest NFL football players was born - Roger Staubach. He was the son of a salesman and grew up in Silverton, Ohio. When Staubach finished high school, he played quarterback, in 1962, for the Naval Academy. He received the Heisman trophy in 1963. His coach, Wayne Hardin, from the Navy said that Roger was the best quarterback that the Navy has ever had or seen.

Roger went on to serve one year in Vietnam. After he left the service at just 27 years old, he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1969. Staubach played for Dallas from 1969-1979 and in those ten years, he led the team to nine of its twenty consecutive wins. He is a six time pro-bowler and was sort of the reason behind the football term “Hail Mary.” After a 1975 win against the Vikings, Roger admitted praying a Hail Mary before throwing the game winning touchdown to Drew Pearson with only seconds left on the clock, hence the phrase you may often hear, “he threw a Hail Mary.”

Two of his qualities that make him such a good player and almost untouchable are his ability to scramble out of trouble and his patience. He is ranked one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL next to Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. Staubach was even inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.

After retiring, Roger started his own real estate business and remained the CEO of the company until he stepped down in 2007.