Ten Gallon War

Journalist and author John Eisenberg visits the Pigpen to tell us about an interesting book he wrote titled Ten Gallon War: The NFL's Cowboys, the AFL's Texans, and the Feud for Dallas's Pro Football Future, about these two opposing teams and their owners.

The football culture of Dallas, Texas in the late 1950s was that of a town starving for pro football especially after the excitement of the 1958 NFL Championship. That marvelously played Colts versus Giants title game was a fantastic finish and was a pivotal moment across the country, especially in communities like Dallas where the closest franchise was almost a thousand miles away.

Two oil tycoons shared the similar idea of bringing pro football to Dallas. They both had the motivation and the money to do so. Lamar Hunt with his AFL Dallas Texans and Clint Murchison with his new NFL franchise the Dallas Cowboys would go head to head for the football fandom of Big D.

Journalist and author John Eisenberg wrote an interesting book titled Ten Gallon War: The NFL's Cowboys, the AFL's Texans, and the Feud for Dallas's Pro Football Future, about these two opposing teams and their owners.

Lamar Hunt, the 26-year-old son of a wealthy man spoke to NFL Commissioner Bert Bell about trying to buy a franchise for Dallas. Bell referred him to Walter and Violet Wolfner, owners of the Chicago Cardinals. He wanted to buy in but they offered him only a 20% minority stake in the team and no chance to move the Cardinals from the Windy City. Eventually, Hunt decided to gather some other weallthy football fans and created a rival leaguetothe NFL and named it the American Football League. It was the third ncarnation of the AFL, not connected with its two earlier failed namesakes. Lamar bought an AFL franchise which he called the Dallas Texans. They weren’t the last Pro football team to be called the Texans as we now have the unrelated Houston Texans franchise, and heck they were not even the first Dallas Texans team. A previous franchise called the Dallas Texans failed miserably in the NFL earlier and ended up being sold and moved to Baltimore to become the original Colts franchise. Hunt eventually moved his team out of Big D to Kansas City, Missouri where they have thrived ever since as the Kansas City Chiefs.

Clint Murchison was establishing the Dallas Cowboys at the same time. He was also a Texas oilman but he built his franchise with solid football men to run it. 
These two so-called Mad Men of Texas Pro football, locked in a battle for the hearts and minds of the Texas football faithful. Lawsuits, fights over players, and undermining each other’s promotions filled the city with a certain amount of negativity.  They even had to share the one major stadium that the city of dallas had to offer at the time, the Cotton Bowl. Their two opposing strategies each worked in their own ways. Lamar Hunt of the Texans focused on the fans, putting together a team of local legends and hiring beautiful young women to promote ticket sales. Meanwhile, Murchison and his Cowboys focused on the game, hiring an up and coming coach, Tom Landry, as a head coach when his previous experience was only as a player and an assistant with the New York Giants. Tex Schram was hired as the GM. Both men were more than capable of building a strong foundation of a team, and they showed it in just a few short years. They each focused on trying to hold their own against the competition of the more established teams in the NFL. 
Ultimately, both teams won the battle, but only one got to stay in Dallas and go on to become one of sports’ most quintessential franchises—“America's Team.” While Lamar Hunt also made a great choice by taking his team to Kansas City to become the Chiefs who were contenders in AFL and soon-to-be champs.

Mr. Eisenberg does an excellent job of sharing the story in the podcast above and you can learn even more by getting a copy of his books below or checking out his website at johneisenberg.com .