Darren Woodson will join Dallas Cowboys' Ring of Honor

Jimmy Johnson took his rookies on a sightseeing tour of Texas Stadium before the 1992 season. As young safety Darren Woodson stood on the star in the middle of the field, he looked up and saw the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor.

“I had been there for about two weeks as a Cowboy, and I remember looking up in that old stadium and looking at the rafters and seeing … these big names,” Woodson said. “I always felt like that’s where I want to be. That’s greatness. That’s being special. That’s laying it on the line for the organization. And as a kid, I was 21 years old, that’s where I wanted to be. I’ve always dreamt of this day. It’s been 20-something years, but it’s finally here.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced Tuesday that Woodson will become the 21st member of the elite club, whose names now ring AT&T Stadium. The team will induct Woodson at halftime of the Nov. 1 game against the Seattle Seahawks.

“He has without a doubt all of the credentials,” Jones said. “Tex Schramm, in my visits with Tex in the early years, his vision of what the Ring of Honor was supposed to be, it was supposed to be an individual in his own way who did something special for the franchise of the Dallas Cowboys. That seems simple in definition, but it covers much a lot more than the 1,350 tackles.

“I want to be the first to publicly say to Darren Woodson what an honor it is, and what an honor it is for the people who are in the in the Ring of Honor, for the fans who watched him play, and for all of us that call ourselves being a part of the Cowboys organization, what it is to have Darren Woodson in the Dallas Cowboys’ [Ring of Honor].”

Woodson becomes the first inductee since 2011 when Drew Pearson, Larry Allen and Charles Haley went in together.

Woodson played his entire career for the Cowboys from 1992-2003, earning five Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro honors. He won three Super Bowls.

He finished as the team’s all-time leading tackler with 1,350 stops, passing Jordan.

“He’s just a rare individual and clearly one of the best players at his position for over a decade in the NFL,” said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, a teammate of Woodson for seven seasons. “The impact he had on the league, the impact he had on his team was really, really significant, and he’s just an unbelievable human being.

“When we think about building our team, you have models, you have guys you want guys to be like and he’s certainly at the head of the list. He’s one of the guys that I have in my mind as we think about who we want to bring in here and what we want them to be like. If we had a group of guys that were like Darren Woodson, we’d have a hell of a football team.”

In 2014, Woodson became a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time. His induction into the Ring of Honor could help his chances to make the list of finalists, though only five pure safeties have busts in Canton, Ohio.

“I haven’t thought that far; I really haven’t,” Woodson said. “I hope it does. … But I’m thinking about the Ring of Honor right now. I’m thinking about the guys that are on that special list. That’s as far as my mind has taken it.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Darren Woodson will join Dallas Cowboys' Ring of Honor."