Dallas Cowboys benefited from Bob Ward’s skills during Tom Landry era

Bob Ward knew a unique opportunity when he saw one.

Now, approaching 40 years later, he is offering a unique look inside the Dallas Cowboys of the mid-1970s and the ’80s.

Ward wrote Building the Perfect Star: Changing the Trajectory of Sports and the People in Them with Star-Telegram sports columnist Mac Engel, detailing his tenure as the NFL’s first full-time strength and conditioning coach.

He was hired in 1976 by coach Tom Landry and held that position through early 1990, when he was let go after the first season of the Jerry Jones-Jimmy Johnson era.

Over his 13-plus years with the Cowboys, Ward was a behind-the-scenes innovator in a franchise that prided itself in being innovative. Although his title was strength and conditioning coach, “sports scientist” is a better description of Ward, who is 82 and still lives in Dallas.

Ward earned a Doctor of Physical Education from Indiana and studied sports science with the U.S. Olympic Committee. He was a successful head track coach at Fullerton Community College and happy to be working in his home state of California when Landry offered him a job with the Cowboys.

The Cowboys, Ward said, wanted to stay ahead of other NFL teams in terms of strength and conditioning.

“Tex Schramm was a great thinker,” Ward said. “He was hard working and beating the bushes. Coach Landry was a scientist, too. He had a base in engineering. They were searching for ways to do things.”

In Ward, they found a man who knew ways to do things that vastly differed from the rest of the league.

He fit right in with the Schramm-Landry Cowboys.

Ward’s work extended far beyond improving the Cowboys’ weightlifting. He combined use of computers, technology and analytics with techniques taught through martial arts, yoga and what now is known as CrossFit.

Cowboys Hall of Fame defensive lineman Randy White has called Ward “revolutionary.”

Indeed, it would not require many degrees of separation to connect Ward with much of what is taught today in the mega-industry of sports performance. Ward took great delight in receiving an email from a friend shortly after Christmas regarding a major college football program. That team’s defense had recently experienced a dramatic increase in its sacks total after its defensive linemen learned martial arts techniques like Ward once taught Cowboys players.

In the book, former Cowboys quarterback Danny White said only Landry had more impact on the Cowboys of his time than Ward.

While calling what White said “an incredible statement to make,” Ward deflected the credit to individuals within sports science he worked with as well as Landry and Schramm for creating a unique opportunity for him with America’s Team.

“I was able to, really, stand on the shoulders of giants from all difference sciences,” he said, “and bring them to football.”

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Dallas Cowboys benefited from Bob Ward’s skills during Tom Landry era."