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MASTER DRAFTER .Samantha Stevenson Ibysitter ire ea fen KW Ye MK INSIDERS NEWSLETTEk ,-Away From the Cheering.ammemomm. :tee 0,/,-06ppotgamat • MASTER DRAFTER .Samantha Stevenson ibysitter. The babysitter teak him to the hotel am! the mansbip. This Smar the draft is tough for Gil. He believes : .11 image to uphold. He is ruthless. intelhgent . oaleysittex got druak and Otis Taylor slipped out in the it is one of the poorest years ever for professional materi- a•eensiare shrewd. clever, :oft, gentle. sparkliag erne middle of the night. Instead ..f Otis T'aylor being a al. Each night he studies his 25 player auota—readirg ge (le, fresh. loving. Or so the many writers through tae Cowboy and All-Pro, he is an All-Pro and e City reports made by his scouting staff "," ousatels of reports 4 ears have tagged hirn. He is supposed to 'ead a nonex- Chief. ' Mystery thickens. are lining the walls of his he,aciquarters—a glassed suite Prieee life. He is supposed to be just myth con- mit AND A KID from California. He was drafted by the Inoiting dowte 11 floors and acrixes Central Expressway me top Cowboy executive mind. His name— ! Baltimore Colts and the New ork Jets. The Jet. sent a e hue a knack to have perfection gleaming from has ,1 Brandt.) limo out to the airport to pick him up. Here comes Me :mite of offices leis entoueige--the girls in the office, like iirderdli in foetball players, worda and money. He runs babysitters with hirn. Weeb Ewbenk started talkine to his him His personal secretary, Toule Johnapelte; is an an unusual ot ganiza bon—The Cowboy System. He directs sitter. thinking he was his attorney. The babysitter lis- especially big fan of Gil's She is irnprmesed by his player personnel. does his own public relations and tened and played along. tuld Weeb they would think about manner and respects his gamesmanship in the art of makes his own stories. He is for teal. He heads up the everything. Meanwhile they hopped the first plane and afting. 4:0'1 far the Cowboys anti sends his talented scouts went back to Detreit. The kici signed with the Laons.•' The Brandt myalique surround& Lhe business. He ian't Aging 1.11.1rOSA the country. diggitig up young college boys There is another story about a gifted kid frotn the same person in alt earls of the coun:ry. Some men ter 11kRisre draft choices And he invented many working ( hicago. I used to spend the whole summer just visitieg despise htm Others bide their time with him. And then idea which other league teams have grabbed and are our future picks at their homes. This kid lived on south there are theme people who care about Gil Brandt. He has now using successfully: free agents. gloesy brochures, side of Chicago in the blame ghettos. The day the draft diligently for the Dallas black players aivi their extre towns with extra talent. Each year he has to de- worked no one could find him. We railed his mesher. tits mother families, trying to alleviate racial criticism, h his velop a new gimmick, smothering the rest of the league told me 'Mr. Brandt, my son. he's v ith the Cowboys, don't wash away their color hatred. He has worked mir- Gil figandt Isn't an ordinary myth. Most of the Cowboy friends worry about a thing.' We have heard so many stories like acle:, for a deep south town. The black players respect football team believe he is special — man of all seasons that. We let him go till the 20th round. I went dowa to Csr- and are to the people in Dallas— and a man :nth an answer any hour of the day. him striving educate bondale, Ill. and here ne is sating in the athletic office black is beautiful and should have equal opporturaty. HIS PACIIIGROUND returns to the Loa Angeles Rams with an NFL coach s.nd his own football coach. I motioned days di the early 1950's when Tex Schramm general YOUNG ROOKIES take their problems to Gil_ He hal, to him, get him out in the hall and signed lain. be-fore the manager Schramm heard about this crazy kid who an open dooe policy at heme and m the office. Foil other guy hiew what was happening." graded collier Motive', films for his !lobby , a baby ph.- anether myth! Gil Brandt is not &lune. He does not have a "Roger Staubach Vietnam ess close to home for the (ogre etter in the dayb me. Crary Legs alirsch wets his no. I non-existent private life. He changed all rumors when he Dallas Cowboys. Roger's tout wae rot just behind a desk. fan and promoted Gil to the LA organization. He became married Ann. They met in an eleva'or and fell in love. She He used to send letters describing the diving planes and their aillwsatkee scout. one of his strongest supportiaa and taelieves in all the bomb !het just dropped near his (tamp. Yes. he W.1% The nine fell in 4959. Schramm asked Gil to sign four Cowboy Principles She, has lollmeed Gil throegh the active Very meet a leader Roger meant top priority to tree agents He signed all four within two days and ..vae kieking Karavsns, most recently it: Irene, trying to find us in those days. We just needed to e,•nvince a few gener- immediately hired to run a nameless thothall club a fantastic drea:n. They found le Fresch. But als. It woula have saved a great many ulcers. ALI could scouting department. In 1960 the club was admitted to the enly after IN/ train rides, 1000 maer of bussing, too many do was wait for the mail, send a few fleabane and infil- NFL and dubbed the Dallas Cowboys Brandt was a airplanea, a diegruntled meter' agent thinking they were trate his camp with Cowboy souvenire. • hustler—a Minnesota Fees tor the likes of Big D royal spies and hopeful hickerr without a stadium Li kick a plaster ae is as He recalls a cumber of years and eriginal anecdotes-- BRANDT BELIEVES when tie signs in—all in the wispy summer dees of the Karavan They the middle read—between a/1 (gored in hes memory bank for a possible book some fair as he can be. tie plays even had a national emerginey when they swiped matiegement thinks he is day. Perhaps the Otte will be -The Great Pretender.- management and players. The Eutope s best, right from a dusty stadium in Vienna doesn't think it is half • fie yeatatest things in this draft business used te paying too much and the player Imagir Bob Lilly recruited to pley goalie in Austria leagues Gil signed happen before tie: merger (Me ease. John Niland left enough. During the war between the complete vrth the musical score from the Sound of Music common The next hest Iowa (Its and flew to San e'rancuico. was drafted by the bit per eent of the draft chokes Many of Gil's areams heve beet, realized He did get to cent. lie ,•alls it unique kind of sele s Cowboys and flew from Sall Francisco back to Washing- record was ta per ton D.C. to sign with us, and thea went back to !own City All tri two days. During this time there were men beim kidnapped For instance—Otis Taylor. t had Otis Taylor in my apertment the night before the draft Ar,d had a The Baby Photographer 1-e-utio, Who Buys the Covvboys'Beef by GARY CARTWRIGHT • Lae'. fall a group of Dallas Cow- insists that in his business "there is The war room of Brandt's or- boy officials were watehing a tele- nobc,dy even close to Gil Brandt. ganization is a suite of offices on v4sed boxing match when a question As far as Gil is concerned, only the the Ilth floor of Dallas' Expressway of monumental insignif.cance was Cowbcys wear the white hats. Tower. There, surrounded by vol- asked: If you put them in the ring, There's no middle ground." umes of reports detailing the capa- which Cowboy would emerge vic- Schramm was general manager of s of more than 12,000 athletes, torious? E%eryone present picked a the LOS Argeles Rams in the 1950's prandt bullies secretaries, leaks different c didate. wOen he first heard of Brandt. Back stories to the press and invents un- "You're a. wrong," assistant gen- tl en the Rams were the only team enclisting strategy that helps the eral manager Al Ward said at last. i toothed with anything resem- Cox b. stay on top of things. "If you're incluiing management ling a modern seouting system, 7he Cowboys invented what is it'a got to be Gil Brandt over any- ,nd their Milwaukee area seova was now a league trentl--the glassa, body." That stopped them; Ward A young hustler of baby pictures benutifully designed recruiting bro- might as w,rll have picked Doris named Gil Brardt. "Al: we knew eh Ire telling how wonderful it is Day. Then he explained: "I'm not abtut him wa.s what Crazylegs to be A Dallas Cowboy. Tnousancla sure if Brundt can fight a lick, Hit sch told us," Schramm recalls. of brochure:4 are sent out each year, but I know this—he'd either 'lave "Gil's hobby was watch ng movien ion? with pamphlets, pens, Ban- the refPree fixed or talk the other or college football gaross (while Inn shirts, decals and information guy out of et." preianding to hirnselt tad he was on •arch recruiting blandishmeats 89 Ward obviously knows his man.
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