Super Bowl Memories: Part 2
Reflections on the big game by Troy Aikman, Charles Haley, Nate Newton, Michael Irvin, and Daryl Johnston.
Troy Aikman
(Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
In 1989, my first year, and the first year for Daryl [Johnston] and second year for Michael [Irvin], for us to be the worst team in football, winning one football game [ with a record of 1-15], it was very demoralizing to be on that football team. But then a few years later to be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy as the world champions was pretty special. People ask me all the time what was my favorite year, and [1992] was by far my favorite year. We didn’t know at the time how good we were. The year before we made it to the playoffs, we were 11-5, won in the wild-card round [beat Chicago] and lost in the divisional round against the Detroit Lions. So going into the ’92 season we thought we had a pretty good team, but we didn’t know how good we were. And I remember when we won the divisional game [Philadelphia] and went to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game, and I don’t know how the rest of the guys recalled it, but for me I just remember San Francisco was the veteran team. They were the ones who had won Super Bowls. They were the ones who were expected to win, and we were the new kids on the block and not much was expected of us. I hadn’t given a whole lot of thought about the ramifications of winning that game and then we would be playing in the Super Bowl. We just thought we’d go out and play the game and do the best we could and see what happened. And when all was said and done, we had beaten San Francisco [30-20], and we were all in shock. We were going out to Pasadena [Calif.] to play in the Super Bowl [XXVII]. It was a neat experience for me because we practiced in Los Angeles at UCLA, where I had spent my college years, and then we played the game at the Rose Bowl, where I had also played my college games. So there was a real comfort level for me. We’ve thought about the emotions that go into stepping out on the field the first time in a game of that magnitude, so it was a real comfortable thing for me.
I’m asked what I remember most about my career, and there was a moment in that game when I was running across the field, and I had my finger up in the air [after a touchdown pass]—it’s the only time in my career I ever did that because I truly knew we were No. 1. But when we knew we had clinched the game [52-17], and to see all the smiles and celebrations that were taking place on the sidelines, and to think four years earlier we were the worst team in football and being laughed at and then being on top of the world as world champions, is a feeling I’ll never forget.
I think it’s opened up a lot of doors. Never really thought about it in that perspective. You finish it and you think it’s passed, but you really carry it with you.
Charles Haley
(San Francisco 49ers/Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXIII, XXIV, XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
After I won four Super Bowls, I had the same goal Ronnie Lott had, and we always had this thing, I’d tell him I was going to beat him [for most Super Bowl rings in the NFL], and whoever got five rings first was supposed to hit the other guy on the head with it. So when I got my fifth ring [most by any player in NFL history], I went to California, and I took all five rings with me and plunked him upside the head with them. He had filled me up with the love and passion for the game.
When I got to the Cowboys, we had all that talent, but every year we would lose like five or six players. So by the time [Barry] Switzer came [in 1994] we had lost a lot of great players. So it had to take rededicating yourself to football. You had to have the hunger. You had to have the passion [to keep winning Super Bowls], and those things Coach Switzer brought back to the organization. So I just wanted to play for the guy; I gave it up. I came back two weeks after major back surgery to play [in Super Bowl XXX] because you know what? I loved that man that much because he was a great inspiration to me.
Russell Maryland
(Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
Really, it was the culmination of a whole lot of work. It’s nothing I ever aspired to do as a youngster or a high schooler or even a collegiate player. But once I got to the Cowboys, there was nothing but hard work. Coach [Jimmy] Johnson, he wanted nothing but for us to win, and we did everything possible in practices. He emphasized all the little things in practices, so we could come out winners on game day. And it wasn’t easy, but being disciplined on those little things to win those games, and to be in the Super Bowl was kind of just the icing on the cake for all that hard work that we put in the previous years.
One recollection of the Super Bowls is really the Leon Lett play in the first Super Bowl [XXVII], and it’s funny because Leon’s been on my mind a lot lately. That particular play in that game [fumble at the goal line], we were already ahead, we were having a good time, and to see Leon make that big blooper on national TV, you know, even though it was bad for Leon at the time, we were up so much, we didn’t have time to lament, we still were going to win the game—but Leon is a great guy, but to see that happen to him we just threw a lot of jokes his way afterwards. So funny, that’s the first memory. But probably one of the better memories was being able to be with my family, bring them to the game. It was great to have them surrounding me on my first Super Bowl trip. Of all the Super Bowls that we played in, that one was the most special because it was the first one, and we won it in great fashion.
Being in that Super Bowl showed me I could be the best in something. Even though I had been the No. 1 pick [1991 NFL Draft], that didn’t mean I was the best player in the draft. Even playing on a successful college football team [University of Miami], that’s great, but still it’s nothing like being the best in anything professional.
Nate Newton
(Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
What sticks out in my mind is the first Super Bowl when Jay Novacek caught a touchdown pass, and we were down on the 5- or 10-yard line. I remember when Jay caught that pass, I remember [Buffalo’s] Bruce Smith almost hitting Troy Aikman’s arm because he got off on the snap count so great that I was scared to death, and I barely caught him on his hip and pushed him away, by inches. And when I heard the crowd cheer, I was so happy because if he would have hit Troy right there, I don’t know what would have happened in that game. We always seem to remember the bad things or the almost-bad things. Scares you to death.
Michael Irvin
(Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
The third Super Bowl [XXX] was great, but it was tough. We had also lost Coach [Jimmy] Johnson, and inside the locker room we wanted to prove that we could still go out there. We enjoyed playing together, and we were a family. We wanted to go out and prove we could still win a Super Bowl. We loved Coach Johnson but now Coach [Barry] Switzer was the coach, and you know whenever you make a change like that, difficult times come with it. But we weathered the storm, and we did win a Super Bowl [27-17 over Pittsburgh]. But I think those tough times are what made our teams so fun to play on. I can remember before we won Super Bowl XXVII we would have team meetings trying to understand why we are getting our heads kicked in the way we are getting our heads kicked in. Then after the team meeting we go ahead and get our heads kicked in. There was nothing we could do about it. But having those tough times, and then sitting in that locker room after Super Bowl XXX, winning three Super Bowls in four years, and looking around, that was the first time I really reminisced on the history we were creating. I thought, wow, can you believe that? We have won three Super Bowls in four years, and you go back to, wow, after getting our heads kicked in like that … So it was a beautiful thing to accomplish, and it’s going to be a beautiful thing to share with the people in Texas. And I’ll say it again: I can’t wait for the Super Bowl to be here next year.
Daryl Johnston
(Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)
It’s the culmination of what you do for an occupation. It’s a childhood dream. It’s reaching the pinnacle in your business. So from a number of different perspectives, you have an opportunity if you can win that game when you are trying to figure out who’s the best, it was always something that I felt very proud about. The biggest thing, though, is as growing up as a little boy, watching the Super Bowl with my dad, and then to imagine that you are involved in that game and that out there in the country there are some little boys watching it with their dads kind of the same way you did. Kind of wondering who it is many years down the road that will have the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream.
The first Super Bowl [XXVII], you know Buffalo had been there twice so this was their third time, and we’re still young, people were still wondering how did we beat San Francisco [30-20 in the 1992 NFC Championship] because San Francisco was supposed to be the top team. And when we got on the field [at the Rose Bowl] we were a little bit nervous—our sideline had a little bit of nervous energy. You’re looking across the field at the Buffalo Bills. and they are very calm, it’s nothing new to them—“Hey this is our third go-around”—and the fly-by with the jets that came over the stadium just absolutely electrified our sideline, and you were absolutely blown away by that.
[Winning the Super Bowl] opens a lot of opportunities, especially when you are a three-time Super Bowl champion. I don’t know if I would be working in the [TV broadcasting] industry I am now if I was just a fullback. But being a three-time Super Bowl championship fullback adds quite a bit of credibility to your résumé.
