How They Got Their Name: Dallas Cowboys

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Professional football was originally brought to Dallas in the form of the Dallas Texans franchise in 1952.  But when that team struggled mightily, they folded after just one season, leaving Dallas void of a professional team for their most beloved sport.  Seven years later, however, the city would get its chance again and would take full advantage of it.  In October of 1959, Dallas was awarded an NFL expansion franchise, with Clint Murchison (a rich Texas oilman) the majority owner.  The original name for the team was the Dallas Steers.  That didn’t last long though, with general manager Tex Schramm declaring it wouldn’t be a good look for a football team to be named after castrated cattle.

This is when Murchison claims a new name came to him “like a bolt from the blue.”  The Dallas Rangers, he declared, “was a name for a football team if there ever was one.”  And even though the Rangers name was “historical, proud, and tough,” there was a problem with it.  A local minor league baseball team was already named the Dallas Rangers.  With the urging of Schramm, the two agreed to change the name to avoid media confusion between the two teams.  Finally in March of 1960, a new name had been chosen.  On the phone with Schramm, Murchison, still favoring the Rangers, reluctantly decided to go with the Dallas Cowboys as the new name.  It would be the only one from thereafter, though when the Dallas Rangers baseball team relocated to Canada in 1965, Murchison pushed for the Rangers name once again, but to no avail.  The Cowboys had already made their mark.

Garett