Talking with Neill Armstrong, not the astronaut

Neill Amstrong might sound a bit familiar to you.

No, not that Neil Armstrong.

This is Neill, with two Ls, and a wealth of NFL experience both as a player and a coach.

Let’s get this straight:

July 1969 — Neil Armstrong, an Ohioan (from Wapakoneta), walked on the moon.

July 1969 — Neill Armstrong, an Oklahoman (from Tishomingo), coached the Edmonton Eskimos, which might have resembled the lunar surface to a longtime NFLer.

This Neill Armstrong — who is roughly 4 1/2 years older than the astronaut — entered the NFL as a 1947 first-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles.

To conclude five decades in pro football, Armstrong spent the last 15 years in quality control for the Dallas Cowboys.

He assisted not only Tom Landry, but Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. This really was one giant leap for coaching kind.

Armstrong, now 82, lives with his wife of 62 years, Jane, on the golf course in Trophy Club.

Neill has adjusted well to a new pacemaker and keeps close tabs on the current Cowboys. And while proud to have "bridged" the gap between the Schramm/Landry Cowboys and the Jones/Johnson Cowboys, he never really thought it was that big a deal.

Assigned to "research and development" with both regimes, Armstrong dissected the tricks and the tendencies of upcoming opponents, spending long hours in darkened rooms before submitting a written report that went directly to the head coach.

"The first year [1989] Jerry Jones owned the team, I could tell ’em how we had done it [under Landry], but I knew they wanted to do it their way ... which they did," said the self-effacing Armstrong.

"I don’t know how much I helped them. I think they were just good to let me stay around."

Cowboys: Tranquility Base

Those helped by Armstrong would argue with him.

He possessed equal parts coaching acumen, detail-oriented organizational skills and an effective way of making a powerful suggestion with the most gentlemanly of approaches.

"Nobody can begin to know how much he helped them," Cowboys’ longtime personnel man Gil Brandt said of the Jones/Johnson regime. "I’m sure Neill walked them through like somebody who needed help in taking an algebra or geometry class for the first time."

Sure, Jerry and the Jimster gushed confidence from the get-go.

But even in 1989, they were smart enough to realize that their NFL ambitions were dwarfed only by their unfamiliarity to the league. And Neill Armstrong was more than happy to help in the transition.

However, he never intended it to be more than a one-year thing.

"I retired after the ’89 season," Armstrong recalled. "I planned to move back to Oklahoma, but Jimmy talked me into staying."

Armstrong told Johnson: "Sure, I’ll stay ... if I don’t sell my house."

Lucky for the Cowboys, the real estate market apparently wasn’t popping. Armstrong’s house didn’t sell ... and his NFL expertise didn’t get away.

Jones and Johnson retained three assistants from the Landry staff: Dick Nolan (defensive backs), Alan Lowry (special teams/tight ends) and Armstrong.

There were plenty of bumps in the road for new NFL ownership with no NFL experience. Of course, Johnson came from the University of Miami; Jones was an oil and gas man from Arkansas.

And Armstrong — even in a part-time role under Johnson and later Switzer — became the eyes and ears they needed to help fill a few potholes.

Fired by Bears in ’81

"I loved working for Tom Landry," Armstrong said. "But I also enjoyed working with all the guys on those later [Johnson and Switzer] staffs."

Perhaps Armstrong developed his ability to "work with anybody" during his one and only NFL head-coaching gig — with the 1978-81 Chicago Bears.

Employed by the notoriously hands-on George "Papa Bear" Halas, Armstrong found himself fighting for his job on Thanksgiving Day ’81 at Texas Stadium.

This would turn out to be his last hurrah in a four-year run in Chicago.

The Cowboys beat the Bears that day 10-9.

"Oh, yeah ... I remember," Armstrong said. "Too Tall Jones blocked an extra point."

Chicago’s record fell to 3-10 and Armstrong’s fate was apparently sealed right then and there (because his Bears actually won their last three games to finish 6-10).

Brandt recalled: "At that time, Tom was looking at people for 'quality control’ to work with Ermal Allen. I told Tom, 'If this guy [Armstrong] gets fired by the Bears, he’d be ideal for us.’ "

Brandt wasn’t rooting; he was just being prudent.

Armstrong played and coached at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) where Brandt first saw him. A standout college receiver, Neill led the NCAA in receptions as a freshman (39) and as a senior (32) ... obviously, long before the game turned pass-happy.

That’s now a decent month’s worth of catches for Michael Crabtree at Texas Tech.

"Neill was so dedicated," Brandt said. "Even back when he coached in Stillwater [Okla.], you could always find him inside some cubicle, with a cup of coffee, 3-4 hours at a time — and not on the telephone, either, but watching film."

So, now when Landry needed an "advance man" to break down videotape and write up reports on upcoming opponents, Brandt’s mind turned to the soon-to-be-fired Bears coach.

Destination: Landry’s desk

Landry soon learned to value Armstrong’s opinion.

Landry had known Neill’s work from the latter’s days as defensive coordinator under Bud Grant at Minnesota (1970-77) and, before that, defensive assistant with the AFL Houston Oilers (1962-63).

"What Tom always wanted from me," said Armstrong, "was my opinion on what three things we had to do to control the other team’s offense. Pressure the quarterback? Hold their running game to 3.2 yards per carry? That sort of thing."

"Tom was really goal-oriented," Armstrong said. "He liked things [outlined in a proper order]. So, I’d tell him 1-2-3 what I felt we needed to do the win the game, and he would listen."

Armstrong usually arrived at the Cowboys facility at 6:30 a.m.

"On Monday mornings, he’d have a full report on the upcoming opponent sitting on Tom’s desk," Brandt recalled. "He’d have a complete breakdown of that team’s last four games and all his recommendations on every matchup conceivable."

Landry, as would Johnson and Switzer later, came to expect the timeliness and thoroughness of Armstrong’s prep work.

"When I went part time [’89-97], I’d come in every Thursday and watch videotape, then on Sundays I’d sit upstairs alongside the coordinators. It was fun," said Armstrong.

"There wasn’t any pressure on me during those last seven years — except I can tell you this: I wanted to win as bad as anyone else."

For his years of dedication and consistency, Armstrong earned three Super Bowl rings with the ’90s Cowboys.

"That was rare for a guy who didn’t work fulltime," Armstrong said. "Jerry Jones didn’t have to do that, you know."

'The astro-nut’

Despite the extra L in his name, Neill Armstrong will forever be mistaken for the first man to walk on the moon.

"It surprises me how it still comes up," Armstrong said.

Recently, he was in a store buying something.

"I was signing a ticket, and the lady waiting on me said, 'Oh my gosh, I’m standing in the shadow of greatness!’ "

(Note: Some former athletes would reply, "Well, lady ... you are.")

But Armstrong, who remains one of the most unassuming people you’ll ever meet, simply set the record straight.

"I’ve known Neill Armstrong forever," Brandt said. "And he’s been a gentleman all that time."

Armstrong’s longtime friend and golf partner, Dick Nolan, used to kid Armstrong about his almost-famous name.

"Dick would call me the astro-nut," Armstrong laughed.

The Nolans — Dick and Ann — were longtime Trophy Club neighbors of the Armstrongs. The four of them frequently socialized before Dick’s death last November.

Holding dearly onto this memory of the "astro-nut" line, Armstrong has turned to his own brand of humor.

"I’ve had a lot of fun with [my name]," Neill admitted. "Now when somebody asks me, 'Are you the Neil Armstrong?’ ... I say, 'Well, my mother thought so.’ "

He knows, he could be confused for a lot worse people than an American icon.

Next week: Have the Cowboys ever had a pair of running backs like Marion Barber and Felix Jones? You may be surprised by the answer.