LR Touchdown Club

Former Dallas Cowboys Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson, both recent inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, regaled an audience of about 400 with stories at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday afternoon.

Oh, the stories they can tell.

Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson, two recent inductees into the NFL Hall of Fame, regaled an audience of about 400 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday afternoon, with stories and more stories.

Club founder David Bazzel stirred the discussion between the former Dallas Cowboys teammates, then Harris and Pearson took over at downtown Little Rock’s DoubleTree Hotel.

“We were two free agents that overcame,” Harris said. “That showed that anybody can achieve, no matter what, just keep trying, and put your head down and you can win.”

Harris, 73, started his NFL career three years before Pearson, 70, and it was Harris’ success coming out of a tiny Arkansas college in Arkadelphia that inspired Pearson, coming from the University of Tulsa.

“I chose the Dallas Cowboys,” Pearson said, “because I figured, if a guy from Ouachita Baptist could make the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, then I’ve got a chance.”

Pearson, who grew up in New Jersey before choosing Tulsa over Nebraska, was a quarterback before switching to wide receiver his sophomore season.

Harris was a quarterback at tiny Des Arc High School, and his recruitment involved a cup of coffee between old friends at Red Nelson’s Southwest Sporting Goods store in Arkadelphia.

Nelson, the story goes, told legendary OBU Coach Buddy Benson that the son of Buddy Harris, Cliff’s father and Nelson’s college roommate, was a pretty good quarterback. Nelson then told Benson that he should give Harris a scholarship.

Benson’s response was simple: “OK.”

Harris was a two- time All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference player at OBU and was good enough to get the attention of the Cowboys but not quite good enough to get drafted.

Harris ended up signing a 3-year contract for a total of $45,500 before heading to rookie camp with more than 100 other invitees in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

“I’m not going to brag about this, but I think I got a $500 bonus,” Harris said. “I thought I was really a big dog because I signed a 3-year contract, and I told all the other guys that I signed a 3-year contract, and they said, ‘You idiot, if you play really well, they locked you in.’ ”

Harris ended up making the roster and became a starter in his first season, one of 10 he spent with the Cowboys, and his contract was renegotiated after his initial success.

Pearson, also undrafted through 17 rounds and 452 players of the 1973 draft, said he received a $150 cash bonus — 7 $20 bills and a $10 bill.

“No one thought Drew Pearson was good enough to waste a draft pick on,” he said. “Now, I’m almost over that.”

Pearson’s Cowboys career also spanned 10 seasons, and both spoke reverently about their former coach, Tom Landry.

“He had a system, that was a complex system, that fortunately I got,” Harris said. “At the time, the defenses that were played in the NFL was the free safety and two corners.

“That’s the way they played it. We had 50 different defenses and because he knew that I got the defenses, the Landry flex scheme, that’s how I played.”

Harris ended his career as a six-time Pro Bowler who played in five Super Bowls, winning two and later getting inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

“He was a guy, even though he was quiet, knew how to motivate the players,” Harris said. “He wouldn’t have to say very much to me at all to get me to understand.”

Pearson, who like Harris was named to the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team and the Cowboys Ring of Honor, caught 489 passes for 7,822 yards and 48 touchdowns in his career, which ended in 1983.

“Coach Landry was looking for four things when he was looking for players,” Pearson said. “The first thing he looked for was character, the second thing was intelligence, the third thing was passion, and the last thing, was talent. If you had the other three and some talent, he could coach you up to be a good football player. And it was that system. You learned that system, and you executed that.

“The greatest compliment Coach Landry gave me was, ‘Drew, you’re very coachable.’ I said, ‘Coach, what does that mean?’ He said, ‘When I tell you to do something, you do it, and if you do make a mistake, you don’t make that same mistake over and over.’ So that was a great compliment to me coming from Coach Landry.

“He not only taught me how to be a pro, he taught me how to be a professional. How to carry yourself. We’d wear suits and ties. We didn’t carry gym bags, we carried briefcases. Briefcases in one hand, computer printouts in the other. In 1973. As a rookie. We were breaking down our opponents’ tendencies even back then … It was the little things you had to do that enabled you to produce the big things, and that’s what Coach Landry was all about. I loved him, I respected him, I miss him and he was a big part of my life. We didn’t want to disappoint Coach Landry. That’s the respect I had for him.”

Both men had to wait to get their call from Canton — nearly 40 years for Harris and almost that long for Pearson.

“What an elite group for a kid out of Ouachita Baptist to join,” Harris said during an audio clip of being told by David Baker of the NFL Hall that he had made it.

“I did get emotional,” Harris said. “But I wasn’t crying. I had a cold. I get some flack from Ouachita guys because they thought I was crying.”

Pearson said he found out he made it under the guise of a having a business meeting with Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

“I’ve always wanted this for a long time,” Pearson said.

“I promise I’ll live up to what the Hall of Fame is all about. This is amazing.”