Danny Villanueva's greatest kicks, then and now

By RAY BUCK

rbuck@star-telegram.com

One kick stands out in Danny Villanueva's memory.

Game-winning field goal.

Nov. 13, 1966, at DC Stadium.

Cowboys 31, Redskins 30.

He has total recall of that game, right down to the fan who walked into the visitors’ locker room and handed him the ball.

“I think his name was Pete Richert,” Villanueva said. “He pitched for the Washington Senators.” Huh?

Richert — a left-hander who spent 13 seasons in the major leagues (1962-74), most notably with the Dodgers, Senators and Orioles — suddenly appeared at

Villanueva’s locker after the game.

He was joined by a young boy carrying a football.

(Note: In 1966, the NFL didn’t employ gigantic nets to gobble up FGs and PATs.)

“I caught the ball you kicked,” Richert told Villanueva. “Here ... just give my son any ball, and you can have this one. I’m an athlete. I know what these things mean.”

That 42-year-old football is on display at New Mexico State University — Danny’s alma mater — inside the posh Villanueva Victory Club, a restaurant-bar-luxury suite atop the school’s three-story athletic building.

(VVC cost Villanueva $300,000 to have built. It represents only a fraction of what he has donated to New Mexico State over the years.) Villanueva, now 70, hasn’t been bashful about decorating VVC in Cowboys memorabilia.

Most items not framed are displayed inside glass cases, including the shoes and parka he wore in his last NFL game — the ’67 Ice Bowl.

Nov. 13, 1966

The Star-Telegram on Nov. 14, 1966, didn’t mention Richert. Or the football. Or much about the kick itself, for that matter.

Wrote S-T beat writer Frank Luksa: “[The Cowboys] beat Washington 31-30 on a 20-yard field goal by Danny Villanueva in the final 15 seconds, but that scarcely tells the story.”

Villanueva was merely the exclamation point on a Don Meredith-led TD drive that began at the Dallas 3 with 73 seconds left.

Meredith’s arm, “Bullet” Bob Hayes’ world-class speed and the Cowboys’ overall cool got most of the coverage. And rightly so.

Meredith (21 of 29, 406 yards) outdueled Sonny Jurgensen (26 of 46, 347 yards).

Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards, including a third-quarter TD that broke for 95 yards.

The victory showed character. It also triggered a four-game winning streak and would lead to the franchise’s first championship of any kind (Eastern Conference).

As Luksa wrote: “The pressure along the way almost choked a record-crowd of 50,927 into silence, but not the Cowboys.”

Villanueva spent eight NFL seasons with two teams — ’60-64 Rams and ’65-67 Cowboys.

He put his foot into 889 total kicks (FGs, PATs and punts combined). But when asked about Nov. 13, 1966, Danny recalled in amazing detail the sights and sounds of the final 1:13 of that game.

“Nobody thought much [about staging a comeback] when Pat Richter of the Redskins punted the ball inside the 5,” Villanueva began.

“But suddenly Meredith completes a few passes, then takes a late hit from linebacker John Reger. The ref throws his rag [15-yard penalty to the Redskins 12].....and now I’m like a leper. Everybody moves away.

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