The Dallas Cowboys didn't just walk onto a field one day in shiny silver helmets and start winning. Not even close. If you’re asking when did the Dallas Cowboys start, the calendar says 1960, but the actual birth of "America's Team" was a messy, back-stabbing, and honestly desperate legal brawl that almost never happened.
It's a weird story.
Most people think a billionaire just bought a franchise and the NFL said, "Sure, welcome to the club." In reality, the NFL was a closed-door monopoly in the late 1950s that wanted absolutely nothing to do with Dallas. They had already failed in Texas once with the Dallas Texans in 1952, and they weren't looking to get burned again.
The 1960 Expansion Chaos
Clinton Murchison Jr. was the guy with the checkbook. He wanted a team. He didn't care that the NFL was dragging its feet. But he had a massive problem: George Preston Marshall.
Marshall was the owner of the Washington Redskins and he basically held the keys to the kingdom. Back then, expansion required a unanimous vote from all existing owners. Marshall hated the idea of a team in Dallas because he considered the entire South his private territory for broadcasting and fans. He vowed to block Murchison forever.
So, how did it happen? Music.
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Seriously. Marshall had a falling out with the guy who wrote the Redskins' fight song, "Hail to the Redskins." Murchison, being a savvy (and slightly petty) businessman, secretly bought the rights to that song. When the 1960 expansion vote came up, Murchison basically told Marshall: "Vote for my team, or you'll never hear your fight song in your own stadium again."
Marshall folded. On January 28, 1960, the NFL officially granted the franchise. That is the moment the Cowboys were born, though they didn't have a name, a coach, or a single player yet.
The Winless Beginning
You look at the Cowboys now and see five Super Bowl rings and a brand worth billions. But their first year? It was a disaster.
They were an "expansion" team in the truest, most painful sense of the word. They didn't even get to participate in the 1960 NFL Draft because the franchise was approved too late. Imagine trying to start a professional football team using only the players other teams didn't want. That was the 1960 Dallas Cowboys.
They finished their inaugural season 0-11-1.
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Their only "success" was a 31-31 tie against the New York Giants. Tom Landry, the legendary man in the fedora, was the coach from day one. People wanted him fired almost immediately. Most owners would have done it. But Murchison stayed patient, which is basically a miracle in pro sports. It took six years for the team to even have a winning record.
Why They Weren't Always the "Cowboys"
For a brief, strange window of time, the team was going to be called the Dallas Steers. Then they pivoted to the Dallas Rangers. There was already a minor league baseball team called the Rangers, though, and the owners didn't want the confusion. So, right before the 1960 season kicked off, they settled on Cowboys.
It stuck.
The Tex Schramm Factor
While Landry handled the X's and O's, Tex Schramm was the guy building the myth. He was the general manager who understood that football was entertainment, not just a game.
Schramm was the one who pushed for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. He was the one who embraced the "America's Team" nickname after a highlight film narrator coined it in the 70s. He knew that to survive in a market that already had the AFL's Dallas Texans (who later became the Kansas City Chiefs), the Cowboys had to be flashier, better-dressed, and more professional than everyone else.
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The Blue Star and the Hole in the Roof
The iconic blue star logo was there from the start, but it didn't have the white border until 1964. It’s those tiny details that explain why the brand feels so permanent. They didn't just start a team; they started a brand identity that has barely changed in over 60 years.
Then there’s Texas Stadium. When they moved there in 1971, the "hole in the roof" became a piece of football lore. The joke was that it was there so God could watch his favorite team play. In reality, it was a structural decision that became a marketing masterstroke.
Key Milestones in the Early Years
- January 28, 1960: The franchise is officially born.
- April 24, 1960: The team officially adopts the "Cowboys" name.
- September 24, 1960: First game ever played (a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers).
- 1961: The Cowboys finally win their first game, beating the expansion Minnesota Vikings.
- 1966: The first winning season and the first trip to the postseason.
Hard Truths About the "America's Team" Label
People love to hate the Cowboys. That’s part of the brand. But the "America's Team" thing actually started as a bit of a fluke.
Bob Ryan, an editor at NFL Films, noticed that in every stadium the Cowboys visited, there were fans in silver and blue. They were the first team to truly have a national following. When he was writing the script for the 1978 team highlight film, he called them America's Team. Landry actually hated the name. He thought it would give other teams extra motivation to beat them.
He was right. It did. But it also made them the most valuable sports franchise on the planet.
What to Do With This History
Knowing when did the Dallas Cowboys start is one thing, but understanding the legacy requires seeing it in person or digging into the archives. If you're a fan or just a sports history buff, here is how to actually engage with this stuff:
- Visit The Star in Frisco: This is their world headquarters. It’s not just a practice facility; it’s a massive museum of the team's history. You can see the original jerseys and the evolution of the star.
- Watch the NFL Films 1960s Archives: If you can find the old footage of the Cotton Bowl era, watch it. It shows a team that was struggling to survive in a city that wasn't sure it wanted them.
- Study Tom Landry’s Coaching Tree: Almost every modern NFL offense or defense owes something to the "Flex Defense" or the "Multiple Offense" Landry developed in those early Dallas years.
- Compare the 1960 Roster to Today: Look up guys like Don Meredith and Bob Lilly. Lilly was the first-ever draft pick for the team in 1961 and remains the "Mr. Cowboy" standard.
The Dallas Cowboys started as a spite-fueled project in a city that had already rejected the NFL once. They were winless, nameless for a time, and coached by a guy the fans wanted gone. Their success wasn't inevitable—it was the result of a few guys being too stubborn to let a fight song or a losing streak stop them.