Former Cowboys great Dennis Thurman has fond memories of football career, the one trading card he collected
Ten games into the 1978 NFL season, the defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys fell to 6-4 after losing back-to-back games at home against the Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins.
Quarterback Roger Staubach called a players-only meeting. “We will not lose another game,” he said.
Sure enough, the Cowboys won their remaining six regular-season games with no opponent scoring more than 14 points.
Dallas continued to dominate in the 1978 NFL playoffs, first stopping Atlanta and then blitzing the Los Angeles Rans, 28-0, in the NFC Championship Game.
The Cowboys advanced to Super Bowl XIII on Jan. 21, 1979, ironically back in Miami against the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ultimately, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw was named Super Bowl MVP after completing 17 of 30 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Pittsburgh won, 35-31.
Related Content:
The Super Bowl capped Dennis Thurman’s rookie season after he was drafted in the 11th round (306th overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft. A college safety, Thurman switched to cornerback with Dallas as a rookie and also played on special teams.
Thurman recovered an onside kick in Super Bowl XIII and finished the season with 20 tackles and two interceptions.
Despite the loss, Thurman said playing in the Super Bowl “was a great experience.”
“A lot of players play a long time and never get to the Super Bowl. I can always say that I got there and I know what it feels like to play in that game,” he said.
Thurman played for the Cowboys from 1978-85, then finished his career in 1986 with the St. Louis Cardinals. His NFL career spanned 137 games and he finished with 36 interceptions (for 562 yards) with four touchdowns. He also recovered seven fumbles.
“I started playing sports when I was 8 years old and I never missed a game in any sport, for any reason—baseball, basketball or football. And I retired at age 30. That’s something I think about more than anything else,” he said. “When they talk about availability, I was available for every game, not just [in] football.
“[I played in] 137 [games] … I just got ready to play. I took care of my body, my mind. Was my body beat up at times? Sure, but, when they blew the whistle, I was ready to go.”
Thurman’s career included the famed pick-six multiple times. He has a unique explanation.
“To get the interception is to make a deposit into your account. What you do with it after that is interest,” he said.
“Getting the football was something I was always able to do, from the time I was in Pop Warner to high school to college to the pros. If you know how to find the football, you don’t forget that.”
Interceptions, Thurman said, come from “having a knack, an anticipation, an ability to read the quarterback and receiver and route combinations. Not everyone can do it. And when you get an interception, it’s a great feeling because you took the ball from your opponent and gave your team the opportunity to put points on the board.”
For Thurman, there also was the interception that he missed.
During a 1981 game in Detroit, “the flanker went in motion, came across, ran a quick out, and the ball hit off my chest, then hit the ground,” Thurman said.
Dallas ultimately lost, 27-24, on the road.
Had he made that interception, Thurman said, the Cowboys would have played San Francisco in Dallas in the NFC Championship game best known for “The Catch” by Dwight Clark.
“That’s one I think about more than any others for that reason,” he said. “If we had played that [NFC Championship game] at Texas Stadium, I believe the outcome would have been different.”
Also in 1981, during a Week 15 home game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Thurman tied a franchise record with three interceptions, helping clinch the NFC East championship.
Thurman’s 187 interception return yardage in 1981 ranked second in club history.
“I guess they thought they could throw the ball on me that day … thank you very much to the Philadelphia Eagles,” Thurman said, laughing.
Thurman had 43 tackles and three interceptions in 1982, including a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown against Minnesota. He tied a club and NFC playoff record with three interceptions, including a 39-yard return for a touchdown to clinch a victory in the playoffs against Green Bay.
He followed that in 1983 with 66 tackles, one fumble recovery and led the team with six interceptions.
In 1985, Dallas quarterback Danny White nicknamed Thurman and fellow safety Michael Downs and cornerbacks Everson Walls and Ron Fellows as “Thurman’s Thieves” for their opportunistic play in the secondary.
TROJAN WARRIOR
Thurman was a star in college at USC, too. He is tied for sixth in school history with 13 interceptions, two which were returned for touchdowns. He also had 77 tackles, six pass deflections and seven fumble recoveries.
As a freshman, Thurman was part of the 1974 national championship team.
“There was never a time in my four-year college career where we were not ranked No. 1 or No. 2,” Thurman said. “We won one national championship and if they had the system they have today, we would have gotten to play Pitt in the national championship game my junior year, and I think we would have handled Pitt, so we would have won two national championships.
“I had a great four-year ride [at USC]; it was great, I don’t regret one moment of my college career.”
As a junior in 1976, Thurman was named the starter at free safety, leading the team and the Pacific-8 Conference with eight interceptions. He intercepted passes in seven straight games. Thurman led the nation with interception return yardage (180) and led the team with 17 punts for 68 yards.
As a senior, Thurman was second on the team with three interceptions. He was named the team’s 1977 MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. He played in the 1978 Senior Bowl and was a Playboy Preseason All-American.
Decades later, Thurman fondly recalls his time with the Trojans.
“The guys I played with [stand out], the learning experience of learning how to play the game, being coached by two legends, and just understanding what it was like to be part of something unique and special,” he said. “USC was the first university to call themselves a family. Everyone else, they were a team. Everyone is saying it now.
“Going to USC was one of the best decisions I made as an athlete.”
Thurman, who later coached at USC, said several moments from his USC career stand out. As a freshman, for instance, USC was playing UCLA at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which led him to a flashback of the 1973 USC-UCLA game, which the Trojans won, 23-13, in front of 88,037 fans and a nationally televised audience.
Thurman attended the 1973 game with his pastor who told Thurman, “This time next year, you’ll be down there playing.”
“For that to come to fruition and happen, and then score a touchdown in that [1974] game with two interceptions, that stands out,” Thurman said.
A week after beating UCLA in 1974, the Trojans ended their regular season with a 55-24 home win over then-No. 5 Notre Dame.
“There were a lot of moments that stood out for me,” from USC.
Thurman’s USC career will be memorialized with his induction into the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame.
The 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class will officially be inducted during the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 9 at Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
When the 2025 class is inducted, only 1,111 players and 237 coaches will have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.78 million who have played or coached the game during the past 155 years. That’s less than .02 percent of the individuals who have played or coached the game to earn this distinction.
“It means a lot, [it is] recognition of your career,” Thurman said. “One question I ask is, ‘What took so long? I haven’t made a play in 47 years. Why wasn’t I [inducted] earlier?
“Still, it is quite an honor and I’m happy about it.”
LANDRY DESCIPLE
After retiring following the 1986 season, Thurman returned to the field in 1988 as a coach, launching his next career. He has been an assistant coach in the pros and college and in January 2024, the University of Hawaii named Thurman its defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach.
Hawaii, he said, “is a beautiful place; I understand why they call it paradise.”
“Overall, it’s been a good experience,” he said. “It’s now just a matter of getting reacclimated to college football after having done professional football for so long. But I’m having fun, enjoying it. Winning cures a lot of ills. As long as we continue to win, I’ll be just fine.”
Thurman admitted he never envisioned himself as a football coach, but rather in a broadcast booth like Ryan Clark and Stephen A. Smith.
“Not quite as vocal as Stephen A., more on the cerebral side like Ryan Clark,” Thurman said. “But Tom Landry planted the [coaching] seed and after that, it just took off.”
Thurman’s coaching career started with the Phoenix Cardinals in 1988. It also has included time on the sidelines with USC, the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, and others.
When asked if he’d want to be a head coach, Thurman didn’t hesitate: “Oh, no. … Why? Who wants that headache?! I have enough on my plate; I don’t want all of that other stuff.”
ONE-CARD COLLECTOR
Thurman’s football rookie card came out in 1982, but trading cards are not high on his priority list.
“I don’t have any of those cards. I don’t care about those cards,” he said. “I’m not Michael Jordan where someone is going to buy one of my cards for $6 million.
“When people used to send [cards] to me to sign, I used to sign them all the time. Now, I look at them and just put them in a box.
“[Playing] is in the past, whereas I’m looking forward.”
All the cards he receives land in a big box, he said, and it’s full.
“I’m hitting long-range 3s like Steph Curry,” throwing the cards into my box, he said, laughing.
As a collector, Thurman only had one card ever: a card of his hero, Willie Mays.
“My dad was a Dodgers fan, but I was a Giants fan. I loved the San Francisco Giants because of Willie Mays,” he said.
Where’s that Mays card nowadays?
“I don’t know what happened to it,” he said.
Thurman also is not an autograph collector.
“I’ll be 70 in April. Do you think I’m still thinking about doing autograph sessions and hanging out with football cards? I don’t,” he said.
Thurman also did not save any game-used equipment or jerseys from his career.
“Once it’s over, it’s over. Don’t live in the past, gotta keep moving [forward],” he said.