The Cowboys haven’t been great this millennium. Same for the Stars. Been eight years ago for the Mavericks’ one-and-done. Rangers were almost great once. Even twice.
With our baseball team again post-All-Star fading, basketball team again free-agency whiffing and football team again likely packing more hype than hope for California, it’s apparent we won’t be treated to truly great – as in championship – until 2020.
Or beyond.
Since looking at our current state of affairs is milk toasty and peering into the future is also murky at best, seems the perfect time in this last-week lull before another football season to look at the past. If that’s where we have to go to find true Metroplex sports greatness, then so be it.
My mission – admittedly very subjective – was to rummage through our glory days and identify the best of our best. Yes, DFW’s All-Time Greatest Sports Team.
It’s a task that is simultaneously exhilarating and, of course, wholly impossible.
Because to do a comprehensive deep dive into true “greatness,” we’d have to identify and analyze every championship team. I mean, the Sidekicks won a Major Indoor Soccer League championship – complete with a parade around Dallas’ Reunion Arena – in 1987. Highland Park High School’s tennis team won 174 consecutive matches from 2008-15. UT-Dallas’ 2008 chess team went undefeated, winning its state, region and national championships. And I’m sure there have been some pretty salty slow-pitch softball, flag football and club volleyball teams that, though successfully spotless, are destined to remain legendary only in their small social circles.
Sorry, but this project’s committee – me, myself and I – has the manpower to only consider sanctioned, visible champions. The criteria are straightforward: Candidates must have won their “national” championship, and been dominant in doing so.
This immediately disqualifies teams that touched just the tip of greatness. Like Carter High School’s 1988 football team that went 14-0-1 and had 21 players receive college scholarships, only to be stripped of its state title because of a grade-fixing scandal. I covered Carter’s 14-9 semifinal victory over Odessa Permian in a driving rainstorm in Austin, and to this day it’s one of the most intimidating and talented teams I’ve ever written about. Alas, no championship, no greatness.
Same for Duncanville High School’s 2018 team, which outscored its first 13 opponents, 667-61, thumped state heritage programs Southlake Carroll and Allen in the playoffs and then … lost to Galena Park North Shore on a Hail Mary on the final play of the state championship game.
Ditto for SMU’s 1982 football team that went 11-0-1 (tying Arkansas when it missed a field goal on the last play) behind Eric Dickerson and Craig James, but dropped to No. 2 in the final rankings because of an underwhelming 7-3 win over Dan Marino and No. 6 Pitt in a freezing Cotton Bowl.
And same for Clayton Kershaw’s Highland Park baseball team in 2006, Kerry Wood’s Grand Prairie baseball team in 1995, Todd Van Poppel’s Arlington Martin baseball team in 1990 and, of course, the Rangers in 2010 and 2011, falling short – excruciatingly so in Game 6 of the World Series at Busch Stadium. The Rangers’ 2011 squad – powered by Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and Neftali Feliz – beat the Rays, 3 games to 1, the Tigers, 4-2, and came within one strike of beating the Cardinals, 4-2.
But it’s not just the almost champs that are excluded from our ultra-exclusive list. Also some champs.
SMU won its only football national title in 1935, beating Sammy Baugh and TCU en route to an undefeated season. In the Rose Bowl, the Mustangs lost to the Stanford “Indians” 7-0, but were somehow still awarded the championship via something called the Dickinson System. Three of the Cowboys’ five title teams didn’t crack our list: the 1995 squad that needed two Larry Brown interceptions to survive the Steelers in the Super Bowl, the 1993 team that started 0-2 and won its three playoff games by only 10, 17 and 17 points, and the 1971 team that featured six future Hall of Famers and allowed just one touchdown in three post-season games. Dunbar High School legend Robert Hughes finally brought Stop Six its first state title in 1993, but that team lost four games.
Yes, our bar is set that high.
Pull up a barstool and let the rating and debating commence. The Top 10 All-Time Greatest Sports Teams in DFW:
- Dallas Stars, 1999 – With Mike Modano’s offense, Ed Belfour’s goaltending, Derian Hatcher’s grit and Brett Hull’s early-morning sniping in Buffalo, the Stars lifted their only Stanley Cup. Though their desire and effort remain unprecedented, they were pushed to 6, 7 and 6 games in their final three playoff series.
- Argyle High School Baseball, 2018 – Launching a historic two year-run, the Eagles went 37-0 in a dominant season in which they pitched 20 shutouts, won only four one-run games, waltzed to the state title and finished No. 1 in national rankings. Led by seven Division I scholarship players including Dillon Carter and Preston King, Argyle went 77-1-1 from 2018-19.
- Dallas Mavericks, 2011 – Though they won only 57 regular-season games and finished second in their division behind the Spurs, the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki produced one of the most remarkable runs in NBA playoff history. They went 16-5 in the postseason, along the way eliminating the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Westbrook, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
- Allen High School Football, 2013 – Before he won the Heisman and became the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, Kyler Murray was torching defenses all across Texas. Led by their quarterback’s mind-boggling 5,000 yards and 64 touchdowns, the Eagles went 16-0, averaged 50 points per game and blasted Pearland, 63-28, in the state championship game.
- Dallas Cowboys, 1992 – Led by the NFL’s No. 1 defense and an offense fueled by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys went 16-3, including two losses by a field goal. In the playoffs they outscored their three opponents by a combined, 116-47, and cruised to Super Bowl 27 by 35 points over the Bills.
- Southlake Carroll High School Football, 2005 – Innovative head coach Todd Dodge was a catalyst for today’s pass-happy offenses, implementing an unstoppable, high-paced unit that powered the Dragons to a 16-0 record, state title and No. 1 national ranking. In the midst of a 49-game winning streak, quarterback Greg McElroy and running back Tre Newton led an offense that averaged 48 points and won every game by 10-plus points. Just for fun, the defense threw in four shutouts. Carroll manhandled previously undefeated teams in its last three playoff games.
- Duncanville High School Girls Basketball, 2016 – Difficult to pinpoint the best Pantherettes team, considering they have nine state titles and five undefeated seasons. But this coach Cathy Self-Morgan squad was overwhelmingly superior. Led by Zarielle Green and McDonald’s All-American Ciera Johnson, Duncanville went 39-0, all by at least nine points. At the state tournament they won by 40 and 34 points, and held a 33-9 halftime lead in the championship game against a team that entered with a 37-game winning streak.
- Dallas Cowboys, 1977 – The best of America’s Teams, they featured NFL Offensive Player of the Year Roger Staubach, Defensive Player of the Year Harvey Martin, Rookie of the Year Tony Dorsett, 10 Pro Bowl players, six future Hall of Famers and the league’s No. 1 offense and defense. The Cowboys went 15-2 and then smothered three opponents in the postseason by a combined, 87-23, including a 17-point win over the Broncos in Super Bowl 12.
- TCU Football, 1938 – After losing Baugh in 1936, head coach Dutch Meyer designed a futuristic offense based on the forward pass and a team strategy centered on a 152-pound dynamo named Davey O’Brien. The Horned Frogs went 11-0, outscoring opponents, 269-60, and trailing just once all season, 7-6, in the Sugar Bowl national championship game. In that game against Carnegie Tech, O’Brien rallied TCU for a 15-7 win by throwing two touchdowns, kicking a field goal and sealing the title with an interception.
- Dallas Lincoln High School Boys Basketball, 2002 – Before he was winning multiple championships in the NBA, Bosh was leading the most impressive team in DFW sports history. Powered by Bosh’s inside scoring and the playmaking of co-McDonald’s All-American Bryan Hopkins, the Tigers cruised to a 40-0 season and Texas’ Class 4A state title. The team’s top six players – including Bosh (Georgia Tech), Hopkins (SMU), Kevis Shipman (Baylor) and Byron Eaton (Oklahoma State) – received Division I scholarships. What sets them apart, however, is not only the way they won, but whom they beat. Lincoln never won a game by less than 12 points and routed its six playoff opponents by an average of 26. Along the way Bosh and Co. beat top 5A teams Cedar Hill (led by McDonald’s All-American and future Michigan star Daniel Horton) and The Colony (featuring future NBA All-Star Deron Williams and future Indiana star Bracey Wright), and in the state title game served a 20-point romp on defending champion Beaumont Ozen and its future NBA star, Kendrick Perkins. Despite not playing in Texas’ largest classification, Lincoln finished the season ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation by both USA Today and Prep Hoops.
(Above UIL photo by Beaumont Enterprise).