Roger Staubach and the First "Hail Mary" Pass

Roger Staubach had a storybook football career. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1963 as the U.S. Naval Academy quarterback, graduated and later fulfilled his military service requirement, and in 1969 joined the Dallas Cowboys, who had drafted him in 1964. He led the Cowboys to nine consecutive winning seasons, including their first Super Bowl championship in 1972, for which he was named the game’s MVP.

He retired in 1979 with the league’s No. 1 passer ranking. Six years later, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Staubach was well known for his ability to rally the Cowboys, directing them to 23 come-from-behind victories in the fourth quarter, including 14 in the final two minutes of regulation. Less well-known perhaps is the fact that he threw the very first “Hail Mary” pass. 

“That term had never been used by the press or anybody else,” Staubach said. “In the past, if you threw a pass at the end of the game, it was the alley-oop or the bomb or whatever you wanted to call it.

 “We were playing the Vikings in a playoff game and were behind 14-10. Drew Pearson made a heck of a catch —it wasn’t a great throw — and went in the end zone and we won 17-14. After the game, the press asked me what I was thinking about at the time.

“When I threw the ball I got hit. So I said, ‘I just closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.’ The next day, the press wrote ‘Hail Mary Pass Wins Game.’ ”