The first 'Hail Mary': An iconic Cowboys moment and a 50-year Vikings beef

Not long before kickoff between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders on Oct. 19 at AT&T Stadium, Roger Staubach, now 83 years old and wearing his familiar No. 12 jersey, was twirling a football in his hands. Nearby was Drew Pearson.

"Roger gave me that nod, pointing like, 'Go down [the field],'" said Pearson, now 74 years old and donning his No. 88. "I said, 'OK, but not too far now.'"

Staubach floated a few passes to Pearson as memories flowed back. On that day in Arlington, Texas, the Cowboys were celebrating their alumni with the quarterback and the wide receiver, both Hall of Famers, among the former players on hand -- and the Cowboys had a surprise for them.

Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones presented footballs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the most memorable play in Cowboys history: the "Hail Mary."

On a cloudy and freezing day -- Dec. 28, 1975 -- at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, Staubach launched a bomb that Pearson caught for a 50-yard touchdown with 24 seconds left to beat the Minnesota Vikings 17-14 in a divisional round playoff game.

Staubach birthed the now iconic phrase with his postgame comment:

"I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary."

At The Star, where the Cowboys practice, the Ring of Honor statues of Staubach and Pearson are exactly 50 yards apart, with each player's cleats marked in cement. Inside The Star, there is a three-story-long stairwell with a frame-by-frame photo display of the play -- from Staubach taking the snap to Pearson crossing into the end zone. Thirty-six photos in all.

Some 471 miles away in Minneapolis, however, the Hail Mary is remembered for far different reasons.

Vikings players of that era remain embittered that "Push Pearson," as he is known in Minnesota, was not called for offensive pass interference after cornerback Nate Wright was left sprawled on the ground as Pearson made the catch. Wright, 77, said that it was "devastating because that's all I'm remembered for."

"All the plays I had, all the honors I've received have almost been whitewashed," Wright, a two-time All-Pro, said.

Hall of Fame safety Paul Krause, who was feet away as Pearson made the catch, said: "I'm sick about it. Sick. To this day."

As 5-8 Minnesota prepares to visit the 6-6-1 Cowboys on Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), neither former Viking has found comfort in Staubach's prayer.

"God didn't have anything to do with it," Krause said, "because they just pushed off and they won the game."

As Wright said, "God? His concern is not about who wins a football game. His concern is about saving souls."

But the Hail Mary wouldn't have been possible at all if it wasn't for another controversial play seconds earlier.

What follows is a look back in time at that play, the Hail Mary and the lingering aftermath of one of the NFL's iconic moments.

The play before the play

Two plays before the legendary catch, the Cowboys faced a fourth-and-17 from their own 25-yard line. Although Staubach didn't feel compelled to utter a Hail Mary, it would still take a miracle; the likelihood of converting a fourth-and-17 in 2025 is about 15%, according to ESPN Research.

Lined up against Wright, Pearson ran a post corner to the 50-yard line. Staubach threw what Pearson called a "frozen rope" toward the sideline.

"He hit me right on the sideline," Pearson said. "Had a little time to get my feet in."

The Vikings -- and an usher -- thought otherwise. Wright, Krause and linebacker Matt Blair surrounded the officials on the field, arguing the pass should have been incomplete.

"He caught the ball way out of bounds," Krause said. "The snow that day was packed up, and it just wasn't called right."

During the melee, a sideline usher with an admitted grudge against Pearson took a few steps toward him and kicked his leg.

Dick Jonckowski was a Minnesota celebrity of sorts, having drawn attention for retrieving footballs after kicks and tossing them behind his back to officials. Now 82, Jonckowski said he had developed a competitive enmity for Pearson over the years and once said to him: "You couldn't carry Charley Taylor's jock," a reference to Washington's Hall of Fame wideout who starred in that era.

As part of his sideline act, Jonckowski had his name embroidered on the back of his usher's jacket. That caught the eye of Cowboys coach Tom Landry's wife, Alicia, who reported the kick to commissioner Pete Rozelle, according to Jonckowski.

"I was just mad at the call," Jonckowski said. "Today, I'd probably go to jail for assault."

As a result of the incident, the Vikings' usher service took Jonckowski off the field for the next two seasons. He went on to become the longtime broadcast voice of University of Minnesota basketball, baseball and football. In 2022, Pearson accompanied an NFL Films crew to Jonckowski's house in suburban Minneapolis to settle the score.

"We got through all that," Pearson said, "and he said he got caught up into the moment."

A year later, Pearson returned to Minneapolis for an autograph signing. As he sat down at his assigned table, he looked at the man next to him. It was Jonckowski.

"He's signing with me," Pearson said.

The play

Trailing 14-10 with 32 seconds left, the Cowboys had the ball at midfield with no timeouts. Lining up in the shotgun, a novel idea Landry unveiled that season, Staubach dropped back to Dallas' 43-yard line, faked to his left and let loose a high, arcing deep ball. Pearson caught it at the Vikings' 5-yard line and walked backward into the end zone with Wright on the ground and Krause pleading for an offensive pass interference flag.

Here is how the Hail Mary unfolded in their words:

Pearson: Roger said run a turn-in, take-off on Nate Wright. The only other guy he told was [wide receiver] Golden Richards. Told him to run a good post on the left side, and that's the main reason Paul Krause was held over there.

He was trying to beat Paul Krause. He's still the all-time leader in interceptions if I'm not mistaken [No. 1 with 81 INTs]. Most of his interceptions are on overthrows because he plays so deep. We wanted to go get him out of the picture.

It was just Nate and I. I ran a turn-in, so he was expecting that, and spun out of there good. He was with me, but I figured I had another gear to go to the football because that's where I'm best. I could beat [Cowboys wideout and Olympic gold medalist sprinter] Bob Hayes to the football. That was my speed -- to the football. I had an extra gear to go get the football.

Because [Staubach] pumped Krause, by the time he came back to me, I was way downfield and I could see it was underthrown a little. That's when I used the swim move to get the position to make the catch.

I'll put it out there: There was contact, yeah, when I brought my arm around, trying to get inside position to catch the football. As a receiver, you're taught to use your outside arm to get inside. If it's the inside arm, you're turning into the defender, so you bring the outside arm.

Yeah, I hit him, OK. I'm sorry. We're playing the game of football right there. I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about making the catch. When I brought it around, it's no deliberate push, and I think any angle you look at on film, you see that. I would never do that. I would never do it.

I ain't Michael Irvin.

Wright: He ran a go or a deep or whatever you want to call it. And I was running with him. ... The ball is in the air, and you try to take the ball at the highest point. Just as I started to jump, he pushed me in the back. And so you're out of control then. And I didn't know what had happened because I thought I was going to be able to jump and take the ball at the top of its flight, but that didn't happen.

I didn't know exactly what had happened. I needed to see it on film. But I knew that I was running with him and getting ready to take the ball at the top of its flight -- and all of a sudden I'm on the ground.

Krause: He pushed Nate down and caught the ball -- and that's a penalty right there. I saw that. I watched the play, and he pushed Nate down. From there, he walks in. I blame the referee. Because [Nate] can't land on his back after being pushed in the shoulders. It was just a bad play. We got screwed, and that was basically the game.

Despite long-held beliefs in Minnesota, ESPN NFL rules analyst Russell Yurk recently reviewed video of the play and didn't see anything that would justify the Vikings' outrage.

Yurk: There's no foul. It's not even close. Pearson is turning back toward the ball. The defender is kind of off-balance. He's surprised by it. I think when Pearson turns around for the ball, just the action of that probably put a little pressure on the defender and caused him to lose his balance and fall down. I don't see any overt push. I don't see anything that would be OPI then or now.

The aftermath 'affected both sides way different'

The night before the playoff game, Pearson was talking to his roommate, defensive end Harvey Martin.

"I'm going to catch a touchdown and I'm going to throw the ball in the stands, not necessarily thinking it would be the game winner but just because that was my patented move," Pearson said.

Pearson's signing bonus as a rookie was $150. The fine for throwing the ball into the stands was $150.

"I think Golden Richards was the first one down there [after the touchdown], and I turned and threw it as far as I could throw it," Pearson said. "It went over the scoreboard and into the parking lot."

Nobody has claimed to have the ball since.

As he was walking off the field to the locker room, Pearson said a fan yelled to him.

"I turned around, and a cold beer hit me right in the face," Pearson said. "I'm like, 'Damn, you could've just given it to me.' They were mad."

Pearson wasn't the only one. Referee Armen Terzian was hit in the head by a whiskey bottle and knocked to the ground. As he got up, blood poured from his head. Later, Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton learned that his father -- whose name was, coincidentally, Dallas Tarkenton -- had died of a heart attack while watching the game.

Two years into his retirement in the mid-1980s, Pearson flew to Minneapolis for business.

"I still have the big afro," he said, "and I stick my head in a cab and the driver goes, 'Are you Drew Pearson?' I said yes. 'You catch the Hail Mary?' I said yes. 'I ain't taking you nowhere.' He radioed down, and the next five cabs didn't take me to the office. That's when, with the Hail Mary, I saw it affected both sides way different."

Over the years, Pearson has attempted to smooth over his relationship with Wright. In 1995, he visited Wright outside a gym as part of a story on the 20th anniversary of the catch for KENS-TV in San Antonio. According to Pearson, they discussed the Hail Mary and Wright told him: "You made a great play." Wright said he chatted with Pearson off camera but refused to go along with the story.

"He was trying to authenticate what happened," Wright said. "He knew what happened, but this was his chance to move on from it. I talked to him, but I told him I wasn't going to make a film with him trying to get affirmative action that the play was good. That's what he was trying to do. He flew all the way to California for that."

The two men had one other encounter, Pearson said, at an autograph signing about 10 years ago.

"Nate was totally different," Pearson said. "He was mad. He was talking noise: 'You pushed.' I wanted to jack him up right there."

Krause said there hasn't been much interaction between him, Pearson and Staubach over the years, even though all three are members of the Hall of Fame.

"They won't talk to me," Krause said. "They know I was standing right there, so they stay away from me, because I saw it all with my own eyes. I saw it all. It wears on me. It was so wrong, I don't want to come to peace with it. It took a championship away from us. We had a good year, but Dallas went on to win the [NFC] championship. Fifty years later, and it still makes my blood boil."

A couple of months ago, Pearson was doing a signing in San Antonio.

"Little kid comes up to me, and I said, 'You got to Google me,'" Pearson said. "He said, 'I already Googled you. You're the Hail Mary guy.'

"So, it lives on and on and on."

Staubach and Pearson's lasting bond

Staubach was 31 when Pearson joined the Cowboys as a 22-year-old undrafted rookie out of Tulsa in 1973. The quarterback was already a Super Bowl winner, a Heisman Trophy winner, a Vietnam veteran and nicknamed "Captain America."

"In many ways, he was the first who taught me to be professional, how to carry myself," Pearson said. "Not just being a great player, but how to approach the game, being accountable for what you were responsible for. Just the way he carried himself. I mean, he's Roger Staubach. My mom even knows who that was."

In 1984, Pearson was in a car accident in which his brother, Carey Mark Pearson, died. Drew also was injured and required treatment in intensive care. As Pearson's parents dealt with the devastation of losing a son, Staubach was at the hospital for his teammate, as were Martin and Landry.

"Roger's always been there for me," Pearson said.

Unable to continue playing, Pearson spent a year as a Cowboys assistant coach before going into business. He started Drew Pearson Marketing with some partners and got into headwear. He had deals with all of the major American professional sports leagues.

Staubach was Pearson's initial investor, lending him $25,000.

"We turned that around, and I went to pay him back, and he didn't want it," Pearson said. "He said, 'Let it ride.' I still owe him. That's the kind of influence he's had on people and he had on me."

The legacy and the evolution of the Hail Mary

Dak Prescott was talking with Staubach a few years ago when the Hall of Famer mentioned the Hail Mary.

"Roger said he's the creator of the Hail Mary," Dallas' current star quarterback said. "He said obviously they've given it to Aaron Rodgers now, who's completed more of them, but he's the first. And the real reason it's the Hail Mary is because he said a few Hail Marys when he broke the huddle before he threw the ball deep, threw it up, and Drew came down with it."

If not for the discussion with Staubach or the series of still frames that run down the stairwell leading to the Cowboys' front office, Prescott said he wouldn't know about it.

Like Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, the current holder of the Cowboys' No. 88 jersey, has talked with Pearson.

"He called it his favorite play. Obviously as a receiver, everybody's [favorite] play is the Hail Mary," Lamb said. "You just run deep and catch the ball. As for him, he says he got the matchup that he wanted and [he] turned and saw the ball, and all he saw was like hands in his face and the ball just literally fell into his lap. That's a great ball by Roger, by the way.

"But as for Drew, man, it's resilience. It's that tenacity, that adversity to overcome, the will to win. And I feel like we all got that in common. I've learned a lot from him."

Lamb said he caught a Hail Mary in high school on back-to-back plays.

"I caught one one-handed; got called back. Caught it again. Game over," Lamb said. "[That's] high school, but that's not the league."

The play has evolved from hope and a prayer to a scripted plan.

"We don't call it Hail Mary, but we've got like four different versions of a Hail Mary," Prescott said. "It's a real thing that actually takes like true detail and focus to get to where your spots are. Now, essentially you're throwing to this area, but there's a front-tip guy, a back-tip guy, a side-tip guy. Those guys aren't even supposed to jump. Just one jumper is supposed to go up, and depending on what it is, there's a back guy if it all goes over everybody's head.

"When you get in those situations, you're just trying to, as a quarterback, put enough air on it where you do get a tip and it goes one way or another."

Did Pearson push off?

"They don't call flags down there at the end," Prescott said. "Look at it, half the time now defensive guys just tackle receivers, and they don't call flags. It's Hail Mary for a reason."