If you remember how Landry was fired as head coach, you are probably not surprised by the news — revealed in author Mark Ribowsky’s The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry, which comes out on Monday — especially given that Landry played and coached for the Giants before he took over the expansion Dallas Cowboys in 1960. But if you remember his many years with the team fondly, you are probably at least a little bummed out now. Beyond Landry’s firing, there is also this, according to Landry’s widow, Alicia:
[S]hortly after the coach was dismissed, Jerry Jones confiscated the luxury suite the Landry family had been given free by [owner Clint] Murchison when Texas Stadium was constructed in 1971.
Shortly afterward, the book says, Landry’s eldest son was informed he would no longer be able to buy the six season tickets at the 50-yard line that he had purchased every year the stadium was open.
“It was a very nice box too, right next to the press box,” she said, according to the book. “I guess they really needed it. Whatever the reason, we didn’t have the seats.”
Dang, Jerry.