An architect of 'America's Team,' Gil Brandt: 1932-2023

The football world today is recalling the life of GIL BRANDT, whose nearly three-decade career in the Dallas Cowboys’ front office and keen eye for talent helped forge a perennial championship contender eventually labeled “America’s Team.”

Enshrined as a Contributor with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019, Brandt died Thursday, Aug. 31. He was 91 and the third-oldest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the time of his death.

“You can’t tell the story about the success of the Dallas Cowboys and their two-decade run of winning seasons from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s without mentioning Gil Brandt,” said Jim Porter, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“His innovative approach to scouting and player evaluation helped the organization find players others overlooked. The result was discovering future Cowboys from smaller colleges, or even off college basketball or track teams. He is credited with advancing the use of computers in the front office of pro football teams, but the real computer was the one in his own head, where he stored an incredible amount of information that he loved to share with anyone who appreciated the game like he did.”

Brandt joined the Cowboys’ organization in 1959, before the expansion team took the field. Partnering with fellow future Hall of Famers TEX SCHRAMM and TOM LANDRY, the three introduced technology into the drafting and player evaluation processes.

They assigned values based on a player’s measurables, his position, his productivity in college and other data they could measure, then used computers to assist their decision-making. Brandt and the Cowboys also were the first to use psychological testing to evaluate and predict a player’s mental composure under pressure.

The analytical approach gave the organization an advantage over other teams with less sophisticated scouting departments, helping the franchise succeed not only through the draft, but also in the acquisition of undrafted free agents and players through trades.

“I don't think there is anyone in the United States who is better equipped to get information better than Gil,” Landry once said.

As a result of the players they acquired with that information, the Cowboys strung together an NFL-record 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966 to 1985. They played in five Super Bowls and won twice (Super Bowls VI and XII) during that span.

Brandt’s first and final picks in the first rounds of NFL drafts he oversaw – BOB LILLY and TROY AIKMAN – are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as are nine other Cowboys acquired under his watch. They range from high-round draft choices MICHAEL IRVIN, RANDY WHITE, TONY DORSETT and MEL RENFRO, to later-round picks RAYFIELD WRIGHT, BOB HAYES and ROGER STAUBACH.

Also in the Hall are undrafted free agents CLIFF HARRIS, from Ouachita Baptist College in Arkansas, and DREW PEARSON, the Class of 2021 Seniors enshrine, from Tulsa University. They combined to play 21 seasons and earn All-Pro honors six times.

While some of Gil’s greatest “finds” didn’t make it to Canton, they contributed mightily to the Cowboys’ success. He scoured HBCUs for players like future All-Pros Nate Newton (undrafted), Jethro Pugh (11th round) and Everson Walls, an undrafted free agent who led the NFL in interceptions three times, including his first two seasons in the NFL, and finished his career with 57 overall.

“I'm extremely proud that with the backing of the Dallas Cowboys during a highly volatile time in race relations in our country I was able to get in on the ground floor of doing scouting at predominantly Historically Black Universities and Colleges,” Brandt said in his Enshrinement speech.
 

Basketball courts were fair game for Brandt

Brandt even scouted college basketball courts for talent. That’s where he found Cornell Green, a three-time All-Pro defensive back and 13-year NFL veteran who never played a down of football at Utah State.

He also found talent overseas, with kicker Toni Fritsch as a prime example. An 11-year NFL veteran from Austria, Fritsch began his career in Dallas, scoring 317 points in four seasons.

“Over my 60 years in this industry, I still get the biggest thrill I got out of seeing college kids I scouted and believed in and championed grow into some of the greatest players to ever wear a uniform,” Brandt said at his Enshrinement.

Having an eye for talent was not an extension of Brandt’s own ability on the football field.

Born March 4, 1932, in Milwaukee, Brandt played some defensive back in high school but at 150 pounds wasn’t destined to go further as a player. He attended the University of Wisconsin, but left college after two years, saying in an interview: “I didn't have good study habits. I guess I wasn't motivated.”

Brandt moved back home and began working for a business that sold baby pictures. He developed photos that nurses had taken in Milwaukee hospitals under a profit-sharing arrangement.

“I think I made $14,000 one year, which is more than Tex (Schramm) hired me at to go to work for the Cowboys,” Brandt told Bob McGinn in a 2009 interview for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.



Brandt’s big break and entry into professional football came through another Hall of Famer, ELROY "CRAZYLEGS" HIRSCH. A Wisconsin native who knew Brandt’s family, Hirsch helped get Brandt in the door as a part-time scout with the Los Angeles Rams, where Schramm was general manager.

Schramm, himself a trailblazer in scouting, hired part-time scouts across the country. Based on Hirsch's recommendation, Brandt took that role in the Midwest.

“I'm sure I'd never be in the NFL if it wasn’t for Elroy,” Brandt said.

When the NFL announced it was expanding into Dallas, Schramm was hired as general manager. He brought in Landry and Brandt, and together the three influenced several facets of scouting and team-building across the NFL.

Before picking Renfro in the second round of the 1964 NFL Draft, the Cowboys conducted a last-minute assessment on him that delayed the selection. (There was no clock requiring picks to be made within a certain timeframe.) An exasperated Vince Lombardi approached Brandt and the Cowboys’ table and sarcastically asked: “What happened? Did your computer break down?”

Other teams mocked the Cowboys, but several also copied their tactics. Eventually, such thorough player evaluations became standard practice, not only in the National Football League to evaluate potential draft picks and free agents, but also at colleges looking to identify the best high school recruits.
 

Growth of the NFL Combine

An evolution of scouting linked to Brandt is the explosive growth of the annual NFL Combine. His influence helped turn bench presses, shuttle runs and 40-yard dashes into a three-day event and must-see TV for diehard football fans.

“I guess life’s what you make of it,” Brandt told McGinn while attending the 2009 Combine.

Within a few weeks of selecting Aikman, Brandt was let go from the Cowboys in new owner Jerry Jones’ front office makeover. He spent much of the next six years on the periphery of pro football.

The two later mended fences. Jones presented Brandt for enshrinement, and Brandt was announced as the 22nd member of the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor in 2018.

“We are so deeply saddened by the passing of Gil Brandt – a true icon and pioneer of our sport. Gil was at the very core of the early success of the Dallas Cowboys and continued to serve as a great ambassador for the organization for decades beyond that,” Jones said in a statement Thursday. “His contributions cemented his spot in the Ring of Honor. He was my friend and a mentor not only to me, but to countless executives, coaches, players and broadcasters across the National Football League, which rightfully earned him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where his legacy will be celebrated forever.

“He was an innovator and set the standard for excellence in player acquisition. From the creation of the NFL Combine to revolutionizing the NFL Draft, Gil finished his over six-decade NFL career with an eye toward the future of the league and teaching fans about the sport he loved as a radio broadcaster,” Jones continued.

“Gil was as good a storyteller as it gets, with a memory as sharp as a tack. His dedication to, and passion for, this game left a lasting impact on generations of Hall of Fame players and coaches. There are very few people that have been able to have the kind of generational impact that he did. Gil was as dedicated to growing this league and sport as anyone ever was, and we are all grateful and better for it.”

In 1995, the NFL was launching its website and was looking for someone with credibility and name recognition. They quickly found their man.

For the next quarter-century, Brandt provided draft analysis, historical perspective, expert opinions on prospects and contributions to the game through fan engagement and commentary, notably to his 155,000-plus followers on Twitter. His last official biography listed him as “Senior Analyst” and “NFL Media's personnel guru.”

He wrote regularly for NFL.com and appeared on numerous shows on SiriusXM’s “NFL Radio” channel and other outlets.

“I’d like to be remembered as somebody that helped grow pro football,” Brandt said in his Enshrinement speech. “And somebody that helped the Dallas Cowboys become one of the most respected businesses of all time.”

Brandt’s legacy and his contributions to the game will be remembered forever at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.