It’s so refreshing to listen to a person with a positive attitude and a lack of bitterness Put that together along with a sense of humor and you have Jay Novacek. The former Dallas Cowboys tight end delighted attendees at a question and answer press luncheon preceding the KROD Sports and Health Expo at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino last weekend. “I had a wonderful career,” he told the gathering of media and special guests in the Monte Cristo Room. “I don’t talk badly about players or coaches or owners.”
About Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who has often been criticized, he said: “He won three Super Bowls. How many NFL owners have done that? Has he made mistakes? Yes. Who hasn’t? But he’s done a lot for the National Football League.” About former coaches Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer: “They had different styles and different personalities but they were both great coaches.”
NOVACEK LIVED through the strike season of the 1980s but sees the present situation as much different. He said, “I’m sure it’ll be settled before the season begins. There’s a long time between now and then.”
And he wouldn’t take sides in the present battle between NFL owners and players over the billions of dollars of revenue. He said, “The question is how to split it. Each side has its own point of view.”
He pointed out that not every NFL player is making millions. “If you’re a player making $100,000 a year and another player is making millions and there’s money for it, you’d want a raise, too, wouldn’t you?” he said.
AS ALL NFL fans know, Novacek is one of the Cowboys’ all-time brightest stars. He was a five-time pro-bowler and helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls during the 1990s. Like tight end Jason Witten has been the last few years, he was the go-to guy in key situations then. Novacek played five years with the St. Louis Cardinals, who weren’t very successful, before going to Dallas. He likes to kid that he went from a sorry team to the sorriest team in all of the NFL. “I got to the Cowboys when they
went one and fifteen,” he jokes. Yes, he says he enjoyed the miraculous turnaround that Jones and Johnson went on to perform.
HE SEES GOOD things ahead for new Dallas coach Jason Garrett. “He’s been around professional football a long time and he no doubt learned a lot from coach Wade Phillips,” Novacek said. He had good things to say about Tony Romo, too. “Romo’s an outstanding quarterback,” he said. “Who would you trade him for outside of the few elite quarterbacks now playing? Winning Super Bowls is a team effort. All players have
to contribute. He just hasn’t had the team.” Maybe it’s Novacek’s positive attitude talking, but Dallas Cowboys fans sure hope he’s right.
LOOKING ALMOST as fit at 48 as when he was playing, Novacek is enjoying his retirement. He has a strikingly pretty wife, Pam, whom he married less than a year ago, does a lot of fishing and hunting, makes personal appearances and attends special events. He cheerfully signed autographs and posed for photos at the KROD Sports and Health Expo, which, by the way, has grown by leaps and bounds under the direction of Steve Kaplowitz. Some 7000 people attended the event and browsed through the various events and
booths. It’s no surprise. Kaplowitz has been a success as a sports talk show host, a sports columnist for the weekly publication What’s Up and, now, as an entrepreneur. Talk about a golden touch.
23 Apr