DREW PEARSON
In 11 seasons (1973-1983) with the Dallas Cowboys, Drew Pearson rose from undrafted free agent rookie to one of the Cowboy’s all-time leading receivers, from unknown to legend. Named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, Pearson earned fame as one of the top clutch receivers in football history.
SOUTH RIVER
Drew Pearson was born in 1951 in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up along with six brothers and sisters in South River, New Jersey where he became an outstanding three sport athlete staring in baseball, basketball and as a wide receiver and quarterback at South River High School .
In 1966 as a sophomore Drew caught his first high school touchdown, a 60 yard touchdown from Joe Theismann. Drew became Theismann’s favorite go to target leading the South River Rams to an undefeated season in 1966.
In 1967 Drew followed Joe Theismann as South River’s quarterback. The 1967 Rams had an good year while only losing 2 games. As a senior in 1968 Drew led South River to another perfect record earning first team New Jersey All-State honors as Quarterback.
Ironically, Drew and Joe, of course, went on to enjoy stellar professional careers, each winning a Super Bowl.
Drew as a wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowl XII, a game in which the Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos, 27-10) and Theismann as a quarterback with the Washington Redskins (Super Bowl XVII when the Washington Redskins won 27-17 over the Miami Dolphins).
Drew Pearson was inducted to the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
TULSA
Drew Pearson attended the University of Tulsa on a football and baseball scholarship.
After a time as a duel sport major college athlete Drew exclusively turned to football starting four games at quarterback as a sophomore.
Prior to his 1971 junior season Drew converted to wide receiver. He caught 22 passes for 429 yards and three touchdowns.
As a senior, he led the run-oriented Golden Hurricane with 33 receptions for 690 yards and 3 touchdowns.
During his college career at Tulsa he caught 55 passes for 1,119 yards, six touchdowns and had a 20.3 yard average per reception.
Drew received the University’s President’s Award as the team’s “best spirited and most unselfish” member.
In 1985, he was inducted into the Tulsa University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Drew Pearson was inducted to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
DALLAS COWBOYS
In 1973, Drew Pearson was signed as a Free Agent by the Dallas Cowboys, where he rose to become one of the NFL's greatest wide receivers in a predominantly run oriented era in the NFL. Drew was named to the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
In 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Drew Pearson rose from undrafted free agent rookie to one of the club's all-time leading receivers, from unknown to legend earning career records of 489 receptions and 7,822 receiving yards and 50 touchdowns.
Pearson left his mark in the post-season in league record books with his receptions (67) placing him third and his receiving yards (1,105) and touchdowns (eight) ranking him fourth all-time when he left the NFL – all club records at the time of his retirement - and he caught a pass in a club-record 22 consecutive playoff games.
During his outstanding career, Drew was also named one of the Top 20 NFL AII-Time Wide Receivers, and selected All-Pro three times ( 1974, 1976 and 1977).
Drew led the National Football Conference (NFC) in pass receptions in 1976 with 58 and served as offensive captain for the Cowboys in 1977, 1978, 1982 and 1983. In 1980, the Cowboys selected Pearson as their nominee for NFL Man of the Year.
As a key leader and captain of the Dallas Cowboys Drew played a key role in getting "America's Team" to 3 Super Bowl appearances in the 1970's with a victory in Super Bowl XII in 1978. He also scored a touchdown in Super Bowl X.
Throughout his storied career, Drew caught game-sealing touchdowns. Drew is known as "Mr. Clutch" for his numerous clutch catches in game-winning situations.
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1973 PLAYOFFS - 83 YARD GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN
The Cowboys avenged a 37–31 regular season loss to L.A. as two Rams turnovers in the first quarter gave the Cowboys a 14–0 lead. But the Rams were able to cut the Cowboys lead 17–16 by the fourth quarter.
Roger Staubach threw a short pass over the middle to Drew Pearson, and as the Rams were about to stop Pearson for a short gain, the Rams defensive backs collided and fell, allowing Pearson to scamper untouched for an 83-yard game clinching touchdown. Cowboys 27 Rams 16
1974 THANKSGIVING DAY GAME
On Thanksgiving Day in 1974, the Redskins were 8-3 and ready to secure a playoff berth with a win against the 6-5 Cowboys in a nationally televised game in Dallas.
With less than 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Washington was leading 16-3, when the Redskins knocked Roger Staubach out of the game.
Rookie Clint Longley led the Cowboys to a last minute come from behind victory, throwing a 50 yard touchdown with 28 seconds left. Cowboys 24 Redskins 23
1975 THE ORIGINAL HAIL MARY™
One of the most famous plays in NFL and Dallas Cowboys history, the Original Hail Mary™ is the Roger Staubach desperation 50-yard pass to Drew Pearson scoring the winning touchdown in the December 28, 1975, playoff game versus the Minnesota Vikings.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Original Hail Mary™ lets take you back to 1975…
The 1975 season was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Cowboys. So many players had retired, including Bob Lilly, Walt Garrison and Cornell Green. Calvin Hill bolted for the World Football League.
This was the year of the "Dirty Dozen," 12 draft choices making the team, one that went 8-6 the previous season, ending a streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances that included two NFL Championship Games they lost to Green Bay and two Super Bowls, losing in Super Bowl V to Baltimore but winning it all the next year in Super Bowl VI against Miami.
The Cowboys got off to an average 5-3 start in 1975, but would win five of the final six games to finish 10-4 and earn a wild-card berth into the playoffs. Because of that, they would have to go up to Minnesota to face the heavily favored Vikings squad, winners of the NFC Central with a conference-best 12-2 record after beginning the season with a 10-game winning streak.
The Vikings, behind Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, were leading 14-10 after scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 5:41 to play. Then they forced a Cowboys punt, but on a third-and-2 during the Vikings next possession, Cowboys safety Charlie Waters dropped Tarkenton for a 3-yard loss, forcing a Vikings punt.
So here we go, Dallas with the ball at its own 15-yard line, just 1:51 to play. After gaining one first down, the Cowboys, with only 44 seconds left, no timeouts, were facing a fourth-and-16 at their own 25.
As told by Roger…
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"Drew Pearson made this unbelievable catch on the sideline that people don't realize how important that was," Staubach remembered. "He made it for 25 yards, got hit and knocked out of bounds, and the usher came up and kicked him – while he's on the ground. And there is a video of that, too. So they really didn't like us up there."
Now it's first-and-10 at the 50. Just 37 seconds left. Staubach's next pass fell incomplete. Now only 32 seconds remaining.
"So basically we made it up in the huddle from the 50-yard line. I told Drew to fake our favorite pattern, the 16 Route, where he ran 16 yards and slanted over the middle. Only this time, he was to break the route and cut deep. I said I'd pump fake the opposite way to draw free safety Paul Krause away from the area and let fly. I told everyone else to block.
As told by Drew…
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"(Wright) bit on the turn in, but when I came out we were neck and neck. And the only other guy he told to go out on the play was Golden Richards to run a post pattern down the other side, the left side. Billy Joe [ DuPree ] stayed in for maximum protection. Everybody else is blocking. And what he wanted to do was hold safety Paul Krause, who still today is the NFL's all-time interception leader. And most of his interceptions are overthrows because he plays so deep. So we just wanted to hold him there.
"Now I'm man to man on Nate Wright, so he pumps Golden and he comes back to me. I've run the turn and take off, and I'm down field. And I'm thinking me and Nate are even, and I'm looking back. I know I had that one gear that I could shift into to make the separation and go get the ball, catch it in the back of the end zone, do the toe dance and touchdown Dallas, right?
"But the ball was under thrown, so I see that and then I use the swim move, right, to get the inside position. Use my outside arm and bring it in, and while doing that there was contact on Nate. And with that contact, he fell down. No, there's no flag. And the ball hit my hands and slithered through my hands and stuck between my elbow and hip. And I look down and said, 'Oh Lord, I even caught the Hail Mary.'"
Well, it wasn't quite the Hail Mary … yet.
From the 5-yard line, Pearson backs into the end zone with 24 seconds left for what turns out to be the game-winning touchdown to send the Cowboys to Los Angeles to meet the Rams in the NFC title game the following week.
As for Staubach, who was hit after the throw, "Well, I'm on the ground, I didn't even see it, and because I didn't hear the fans yelling and screaming, I said, 'Ooh, something good must have happened.' Because the game would have been over basically. So the fans obviously saw Drew go into the end zone and I didn't see it."
Now for the rest of the story, how the Hail Mary in terms of football was coined, Catholicism intersecting with the pigskin.
"It was in the locker room. It was an Associated Press writer I believe who picked it up," Staubach said. "I was a Catholic kid from Cincinnati, and they asked me what were you thinking about when you threw the ball, and I said, "When I closed my eyes I said a Hail Mary.
"So the writer picked it up and gradually, instead of the bomb or the alley-oop, those were kind of the big plays winning games back then, he coined the phrase and, of course, I said it, the NFL recognizes I said it, and slowly but surely it took off. Now it's used for everything."
TOP 75 PLAYS IN NFL HISTORY - NFL FILMS
The Original Hail Mary™ in 1975, the 1974 Thanksgiving Day Game, and the 1973 Playoff 83 Yard Touchdown last minute game winning plays were named among the Top 75 Plays in NFL history by NFL Films.
DALLAS COWBOYS RING OF HONOR
In 2011, Drew was selected to join the prestigious Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. Drew Pearson was also inducted to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
Drew Pearson was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on August 8, 2021.