Prior to the big game in February, D Magazine released a Super Bowl special edition featuring a wonderful article titled "Super Bowl Memories." Several former Dallas Cowboys, as well a couple of Texas-born stars from other teams, recounted to Mickey Spagnola how the Super Bowl changed their lives.  

In part 4 of the 12-part series are the reflections of "Tony D," the only player in history who has won the Heisman Trophy, won the Super Bowl, won the College National Championship, been enshrined in the College Hall of Fame, and been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Tony Dorsett
Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XII, XIII

Playing in the Super Bowl meant everything to me as an athlete, no question about it, but especially now. I have a greater appreciation of [playing in the Super Bowl] now than I did back then because as the years have gone by you see so many of the great players who played the game but didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the Super Bowl, and that makes it even that more meaningful. Let me tell you something, I went to two Super Bowls my first two years in the league, and it was the biggest extravaganza I ever thought could be possible on earth—the greatest show on earth, the greatest show on turf.

But when it really hit me about being in the Super Bowl is when I watched my son [Anthony] when he was playing for the Tennessee Titans [Super Bowl XXXIV], and when I was down on the sideline. When they started playing the National Anthem, all these thoughts started going through my head. I’m thinking about Jim Brown, Barry Sanders. I’m thinking about Gale Sayers, all these great runners and great players that played in the National Football League that didn’t have a chance to play in the ‘ultimate game.’

But here’s my son, my baby boy, having the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl, and it took all the strength in my body to just stand there; there were tears just flowing and I got real emotional about it. Because it is the biggest thing in sports in this country. It’s a world-wide extravaganza. And not just play in it but to win it—people don’t remember a lot of times the bridesmaid, they remember the world champions, and to be a world champion, man it means a whole lot to me.

I remember the first one [Super Bowl XII] because I scored the first touchdown. I was a rookie, and here I was coming back to the same city [New Orleans] that I previously won a national championship at the University of Pittsburgh back in the same stadium [Superdome], and to score the first touchdown as a rookie, that meant a lot to me. And the second one, I had a chance to go against my hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and you talk about somebody that was geeked up.

Source: D Magazine Special Edition Super Bowl, Wikipedia  |  Photography by Layne Murdoch

Part 1 of 12  Super Bowl Memories of Troy Aikman
Part 2 of 12  Roger Staubach's Super Bowl Memories
Part 3 of 12  Super Bowl Memories of Michael Irvin
Part 6 of 12  Ed “Too Tall” Jones’ Super Bowl Memories