A (Too) Tall Tale

Apologies for my tardiness.  As I write this, I am sitting on an airplane on my return flight from Cancun, Mexico.  Unfortunately, I was without Internet access, though I did sneak in a couple of visits to the Business Center during the week to post some pictures and check the Red Sox scores.  It was our first trip to Cancun.  If you have never been to this lovely Mexican paradise, I highly recommend you consider a visit in the future.  I have to say it was a family vacation that I will never forget, for many reasons, least of which was a chance encounter with one of my boyhood football idols, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, a member of the Cowboys famed Doomsday Defense.  Given that the kickoff to the 2013-14 NFL season is this upcoming weekend, the timing couldn’t have been better to take a break from baseball and talk some football.

It was Thursday, more than half way through our Cancun family vacation and things were going great.  The weather had been perfect all week. The food was good, the drinks even better, the service at the Omni Cancun resort was super and there was plenty to do.  My wife and I got up early, as we did every morning on vacation, to watch the sun rise and to take a long stroll on the beach before breakfast. Once we finished breakfast with our son, daughter and her boyfriend, we set up our towels in a strategic spot at one of the resort’s pools to maximize the sun’s rays and that was central to all the food locations, libations and activities.  Activities like, trivia in the pool bar, touch football on the beach and beach volleyball.

Touch football on the beach! That’s where I was headed as I passed a man, a very TALL and distinguished looking man in the lobby. I paused and thought, “I know that guy,” as I stood there trying to recollect who he was.  Suddenly, a random voice from my right softly asked, “you know who that is don’t you?  It’s ‘Too Tall’ Jones.”  A man had noticed that I was trying to connect the face with a name and thoughtfully saved me the agony of trying to figure it out.   My heart rate probably doubled at that moment as I flashed back to my 13-year-old self when I idolized Jones, Tony Dorsett and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys of the 70’s and 80’s. 

I quickly spun and caught up to Jones, while trying not to appear like a stalker and also trying not to act like a 13-year-old boy who was chasing down one of his sports idols.  Of course, I think I sucked in both cases, but I didn’t care.  My mind raced as I had to quickly figure out what to say, how to get his attention.  “How’s it going # 72?” I blurted.   Jones turned, with a big grin on his face and held out his hand, which I proudly shook.  My hand was dwarfed in his right mitt.  Geez this guy is huge, 6’ 9” with hands the size of a baseball glove.  I continued, “I grew up a huge Cowboys fan! You, Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach, Randy White, Drew Pearson; I loved you guys!”  Jones smiled even broader, “That was my era!” he exclaimed proudly.   “I figured you were a Patriots fan,” he said as he pointed to my Red Sox shirt.  I nodded and confessed that the Cowboys slipped to #2 back by the mid-80’s, but before that, it was all Cowboys.  Just before he turned to head into one of the restaurants, he said, “Nice meeting you!  I’ll catch up with you later around the resort.” <Insert “Holy $%*#, did that just happen?” here>

I got top the beach, only to find that the kid who had the only American football on the entire resort had lost it the night before, so the game was postponed.  I decided to lounge on the beach instead.  A while later, people starting to congregate on the volleyball court so I gathered up my belongings and headed over to play.  As I passed the open-air restaurant next to the court, I noticed Jones sitting at the second table with some of his friends, including two beautiful young women whom I’d met earlier on the beach while trying to find an open beach chair.  As I walked past, Jones looked up and gave me a big peace sign and a nod.  “Cool,” I thought as I walked onto the volleyball court, so cool!”  

Marco, the resort’s Entertainment Director and his volleyball savvy staff had just schooled us in game one, badly.   They kiddingly taunted us, declaring it a ‘Mexico against the World’ tournament.  Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “I got you some recruits,” Jones said reassuringly as he walked past and took a seat in one of the beach bar swings facing the court.  His two (beautiful) friends that I’d met earlier waltzed onto the court to play.  At least now we’d look better losing.

After playing a couple of more games, I decided to take a game off in hopes of chatting with Jones who was sitting there quietly watching the games.  He was more than accommodating.  I asked him how many Super Bowls he’d played in.  “Three,” he said with pride, “Won one of them,” referring to Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos. We talked about Robert Newhouse who had thighs like tree trunks.  “He was a fire plug, tough to get him down,” praised Jones. He continued, “Robert suffered a stroke last year.”  I was relieved when Jones added, “he is doing well though.”  

I found Ed “Too Tall” Jones to be a humble, genuine man who looked much younger than 62 years old. He had an incredible presence, a beaming smile and a commanding, yet gentle voice.   We chuckled about Drew Pearson’s skinny legs & admiringly about Randy “Manster” White’s incredible tenacity. We touched upon the two tough 4-point tough losses to the Steelers in Super Bowls X and XIII.  But what was most revealing was when I looked at him and said two words, “Benny Barnes.”  Barnes was the victim of perhaps the most controversial call in Super Bowl history when he was flagged for pass interference after Lynn Swann fell after clipping Barnes heel while attempting to chase down a long Terry Bradshaw pass in the 4^th quarter of SB XIII.  I expected bitterness, but instead Jones simply stated, “That was a big turning point.  We had them backed up pretty good at the time, too.”  Not a hint of anger or bitterness.

“How about the Jackie Smith drop?” I asked.  (Smith dropped an easy 4^th quarter touchdown pass in SB XIII that would have tied the game at the time) “Another big turning point,” Jones said softly.  Again, no animosity, no anger. Refreshing!

Jimmey, How did you forget this!!!

We talked for a few moments more then I thanked Jones for his time and apologized if I had bothered him at all while he relaxed. “No, man, we’re just talking football here,” he chuckled.  Relieved, I thanked him & told him that I would have regretted not trying to talk to one of my favorite players that I grew up watching and idolizing!  Jones shook my hand and grinned,  “Thank you for saying that, I really appreciate it and thanks for coming over and talking football.” If I wasn’t ready for football before this past week, I am now, thanks to my chance encounter with Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones, a truly classy and humble guy!

Jimmy is 6’8…

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