QBs’ mutual respect included secret interview before Super Bowl XII
Among his prized mementos from an award-winning career in sports broadcasting, CBS announcer Verne Lundquist includes a black-and-white photograph taken two days before Super Bowl XII between the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
Lundquist, the Cowboys’ radio play-by-play man at the time, is flanked in the photo by the two starting quarterbacks from that Jan. 15, 1978 contest: Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and Broncos quarterback Craig Morton, who spent the first 10 seasons of his 18-year NFL career in Dallas.
That was the only team we could not have beaten. We couldn’t play that defensive line.
Craig Morton on the Denver Broncos losing to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII
The trio assembled in clandestine fashion for a Friday night interview on WFAA/Ch. 8, with Lundquist sneaking Morton into the Cowboys’ team hotel in New Orleans through the kitchen to avoid detection.
Lundquist told the story during Monday night’s Davey O’Brien Awards banquet at the Fort Worth Club, where he received the Charles Ringler Founder’s Award and Morton received the O’Brien Legends Award, presented to him by Staubach.
Lundquist considers the live interview, conducted less than 48 hours before kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday, as one of his crowning moments while working for a local television station.
“I called Craig at the Broncos’ hotel and I said, ‘If you’re up for this, I’ve got an idea,’ ” Lundquist said. “ ‘We’ll send a car for you. We’ll sneak you in through the kitchen so nobody sees you at the Cowboys’ hotel. And, if you’re willing, I’d love for you to go live with me and Roger on Channel 8 at 10:25.’ And he said, ‘Game on.’ It was really an act of generosity on Craig’s part.”
The interview, from Lundquist’s standpoint, unfolded smoothly between two players who battled for playing time on Cowboys’ teams that played in Super Bowl V (1970 season) and Super Bowl VI (1971 season).
“It was great,” Lundquist said. “They were very respectful of each other.”
For Morton, the interview went much better than the game. Denver lost 27-10, with the Cowboys’ defense collecting four sacks and forcing eight turnovers. Cowboys defensive tackle Randy White and defensive end Harvey Martin shared Super Bowl MVP honors.
Morton acknowledged the game lived up to his pregame concerns about the Broncos’ offensive line being unable to handle the Cowboys’ defensive front.
“That was the only team we could not have beaten. We couldn’t play that defensive line,” said Morton, whose concerns piqued during a Saturday morning weigh-in mandated by Broncos coach Red Miller.
It was horrible. I got to know a lot of the tiles on that ceiling in the Superdome.
Craig Morton on Super Bowl XII
“Tom Glassic is going against Randy White, and he’d been sick for a couple of weeks,” Morton said of the Broncos’ starting offensive guard. “He gets on the scale and weighs 226 pounds. And I’m thinking, ‘We’re pretty much toast.’ And, of course, Randy and Harvey won players of the game. It was horrible. I got to know a lot of the tiles on that ceiling in the Superdome.”
Through the years, Lundquist has remained close to both former Cowboys quarterbacks. Morton started for Dallas in Super Bowl V, which the team lost to the Baltimore Colts 16-13. Staubach started Super Bowl VI, a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
“I’ve got so many memories of both of those guys from back then,” Lundquist said. “Roger still teases me that I always liked Craig better. And Roger will tell you, ‘Honest to God, if only I’d played in Super Bowl V, we’d have won the damn thing.’ He’s probably got a legit case.”
Jimmy Burch: 817-390-7760, @Jimmy_Burch
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "QBs’ mutual respect included secret interview before Super Bowl XII."