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Fifty years ago today, on July 9, 1960, on the campus of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, the Dallas Cowboys began their first training camp.

A staggering total of 193 players participated in that first camp under Tom Landry, who knew that the team was lacking in talent. “What we didn’t have in the way of quality,” he said, “we tried to make up for in quantity.”

Dallas had been awarded an NFL franchise after the draft, and the players who were made available in the expansion draft were what Tex Schramm called “the dregs.”

“We got what it says on the Statue of Liberty,” Schramm said. “You know, ‘Send me your tired, your poor, etc.’ That was kind of the theory about stocking us.”

A seemingly never-ending stream of players tried out for Landry that July.

“Some days our quarterbacks would be throwing passes to receivers they’d never seen before and never saw again after that practice,” Landry said. “Greyhound could have made a killing with a regular route between Forest Grove and the Portland airport. But we were so desperate for people, we gave tryouts to anyone we thought had the remotest chance to help the team.”

The first practice of training camp opened with the “Landry Mile.” Backs and ends had to run a mile in less than six minutes. Linemen had to run it in less than six-and-a-half minutes.

A rookie running back named Don Perkins, who had showed up to camp 15 pounds overweight, couldn’t even finish the Landry Mile. Wide receiver Frank Clarke, who had been selected in the expansion draft after catching just 10 passes in three seasons with the Cleveland Browns, finished first. Both players went on to become All-Pros for the Cowboys.

The franchise has gone on to win 21 division titles, eight NFC championships and five Super Bowls, and it all started when the Cowboys took the practice field for the first time 50 years ago today.

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