Drew Pearson (American football)

Drew Pearson (born January 12, 1951 in South River, New Jersey) is a sportscaster and former American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

Early years
Pearson was born and raised in South River, New Jersey, and began his football career at South River High School where he succeeded Joe Theismann as quarterback.

He attended the University of Tulsa and started four games at quarterback as a sophomore, before being converted to wide receiver prior to the 1971 season. He caught 22 passes for 429 yards and three touchdowns his junior season. As a senior, he led the run-oriented Golden Hurricane with 33 receptions for 690 yards and 3 touchdowns. During his college career he caught 55 passes for 1,119 yards, six touchdowns and had a 20.3 yard average per reception.

Pearson 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 Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career
In 1973, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, where he rose to become one of the NFL’s greatest wide receivers, earning career records of 489 receptions and 7,822 receiving yards, along with 189 rushing yards, 155 yards returning kickoffs, and 50 touchdowns (48 receiving and two fumble recoveries). Pearson was named one of the Top 20 Pro Football All-Time wide receivers, he was also recognized for his achievements by being named to the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team.

Pearson was named All-Pro three times (1974, 1976–77) All-NFC in 1975 and second Team All-NFC in 1978. In addition, Pearson was a Pro Bowler in 1974, 1976 and 1977. Pearson led the National Football Conference (NFC) in pass receptions in 1976 with 58. He served as offensive captain for the Cowboys in 1977, 1978, 1982 and 1983.

He helped the Cowboys to three Super Bowl appearances and a victory in Super Bowl XII in 1978. He also scored a touchdown in Super Bowl X.

In 1979, he and Tony Hill—along with Tony Dorsett—helped the Cowboys become the first team in NFL history to have two 1,000-yards wide receivers and a 1,000-yard running back, when he recorded 55 receptions, 1,026 yards and 8 touchdowns. Pearson and Hill also became the first wide receiver tandem in Cowboys history, to record 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the same year.

His career was shortened because of a 1984 car accident that killed his brother and left him with internal injuries that forced him to retire.

In 1980, the Cowboys selected Pearson as their nominee for NFL Man of the Year. Pearson is known as "Mr. Clutch" for his numerous clutch catches in game-winning situations, especially the "Hail Mary" reception from Roger Staubach that sealed the victory in a 1975 playoff game, one of the most famous plays in NFL history. He also caught the game-sealing touchdown in 1973 playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams and the game-winning touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Clint Longley in the 1974 Thanksgiving game against the Washington Redskins. All three of those plays were named among the Top 75 plays in NFL history by NFL Films in 1994. All were included on a video/DVD by that name. In addition in the 1980 playoff game at Atlanta, Pearson's clutch receptions helped win that game in a comeback by the Cowboys. In the 1981 NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers, Pearson almost rendered "The Catch" irrelevant when, in the waning moments of the game, he caught a long pass from Danny White that would've gone for a touchdown and won the game for the Cowboys had 49ers cornerback Eric Wright not made a one-handed tackle, stopping him just outside field-goal range (White fumbled on the next play, thus preserving victory for the 49ers and putting them in Super Bowl XVI). In 2009, on the NFL Network show "NFL's Top 10", in the episode titled "Greatest Dallas Cowboys", he is number 10 on the list.

His accomplishments left such a mark with the Dallas Cowboys, that his number 88 jersey is reserved for the best talent. Hall of Famer Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant have worn it.

On August 19, 2011 Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced that Pearson had been selected for inclusion into the highly prestigious Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. Pearson, Charles Haley and Larry Allen were inducted during the half-time show of the Cowboys-Seahawks game Sunday, November 6, 2011.

After the NFL

 * Since his retirement in 1983, Pearson has worked extensively as a sports broadcaster for such networks as CBS and HBO; he previously hosted the Dallas Cowboys post-game show.


 * He is also the CEO of Drew Pearson Companies, a manufacturer of licensed headwear since 1985.


 * Was the General Manager of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen during the only season of the XFL. Midway through the season, he began attending games from the sideline and talking with announcers, something head coach Rusty Tillman refused to do.


 * Pearson is exclusively represented by PPI Marketing for speaking engagements and appearances. Pearson currently lives in Plano, Texas.


 * Received the NFL Alumni Career Achievement Award in 2005 for his post-NFL career success.


 * Played basketball with Marques Haynes on a team called Harlem Magicians. Pearson is married to Haynes' daughter.


 * Pearson wore #88 with the Cowboys. Later, Michael Irvin wore #88 for the Cowboys during his Hall of Fame career, giving the number a special "dual" legacy in club history. When the Cowboys drafted Dez Bryant in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft, they immediately announced that Bryant would wear #88 and Pearson later posed for a photo in a Cowboys uniform with Bryant and Michael Irvin that was part of the 2010 edition of the popular Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine.


 * On August 18th 2012 Drew Pearson announced that he will star in a new sports reality talk show titled; The Drew Pearson Show - More Than Just Sports.The show is on Fox Sports Southwest Each show has a higher purpose from making wishes with Make a Wish to finding toys for little ones at Christmas via Toys for Tots Drew Pearson and his Dallas Cowboys"Star Power" help 501C3.


 * Is a color commentator for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League.


 * Served as Honorary Chairman for 2012 Silver Dollar Ball benefiting American Cancer Society