Despite many great football moments during his career, Roger Staubach doesn't have a hard time pinpointing his greatest pass.
The original "Hail Mary" to Drew Pearson against the Vikings in the 1975 playoffs? Nope.
One of his two touchdown passes against the Dolphins in the Cowboys' first franchise Super Bowl win? No again.
According to Staubach, none of his 494 passes at Navy or 3,368 passes as a Cowboy were as important as his last-minute game-winning touchdown pass in his first game as quarterback for Purcell High School.
Staubach played defense during his junior year at the Cincinnati high school. Before his senior season in 1956, his coach asked him — after seeing him pitch — to compete against incumbent starter Tom Schneeman.
"Tom was a great guy," Staubach said. "He was a big guy. Good passer."
Staubach won the competition and was named Purcell's starter.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
During the season opener against Chaminade-Julienne High School, the legend of "Captain Comeback" began. With Purcell losing in the fourth quarter, Staubach threw a touchdown pass to Freddy DeFinney, leading his team to a win.
"Honestly, if we hadn't won that game and Freddy hadn't caught that touchdown pass, you'd be interviewing Tom Schneeman right now," Staubach said. "I think the coach would've said, 'OK, Roger, you had your chance.'"
Staubach said that pass was his most important because it was the moment he started to enjoy being a quarterback.
"It changed my life," he said. "We used to have dances in our gym. Girls liked me more."
And, of course, it led to winning the Heisman Trophy and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.
NBC 5 morning anchor Marc Fein contributed to this report.
