The NFL did not grow on steady steps. It surged. The Immaculate Reception. Shula’s perfect season. The Sea of Hands. And a December throw that carved its own place into the sport’s language. The moments arrived in a tight cluster, shaping the league’s identity and pulling millions deeper into the drama.
This month marks fifty years since Roger Staubach launched a prayer into the Minnesota night and Drew Pearson turned it into legend. Time has not softened it. Time has only kept asking for the replay.
Pearson knows that better than anyone. As he told AllSportsPeople:
“That’s the craziest thing about it. It doesn’t seem that long because throughout the whole time, people have been talking about it which kept it alive.”
He hears about it everywhere. In airports. At banquets. In passing conversations from people who never saw it live.
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“When somebody uses the term Hail Mary, and you hear that term in all aspects of life, from political arenas to sports arenas. Every time a team needs a ‘Hail Mary’ to win the game, they think about that play where it originated from.”
The Cowboys never rehearsed that kind of desperation. Not once.
“Every once in a while, Coach Landry would have us run a two-minute drill but it would never end up with a Hail Mary type play. That entire drive we actually needed 91 yards, and I caught the four passes in that drive for all of the yards, Coach Landry didn’t call any of those plays, Roger called all of those plays.”
The huddle, the breath before the miracle, remains vivid.
“He initially asked me ‘Drew what do you got?’ (Laughs) and I told him lets run a post corner on Nate Wright. We knew the even though the Vikings were in a zone defense, that if you came in their area, they’d pick you up man, and that’s why the counter routes worked so well. We knew to attack Nate from our preparation. That was always the problem with Minnesota, they were so set in their ways, that you knew what they were going to do and if they made a mistake, they wouldn’t correct it, they’d keep making the same mistake over and over. The next time we run a turn in and take off route on him and took it deep. I’m not very fast, but I have speed to the football (laughs). I can outrun Bob Hayes to the actual football when it’s in the air. The Vikings were so set in their ways, you knew what they were going to do.”
People assume the Hail Mary is the play he treasures most. It is close. It is not number one.
“Its actually number two. My rookie year, I caught an 83-yard touchdown pass in a playoff game against the Rams to help blow that game up. It was late in the game, they were making a comeback, and we needed a big play. That’s my number one.”
Fifty years later the catch still carries its own glow. The name stuck. The moment stayed alive. And the man who reached through the Minnesota night still hears it as clearly as the day it happened.
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