Tex Schramm

Tex Schramm, sports legend, has been named the 1999-2000 College of Communication Outstanding Alumnus.

Schramm graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. He worked as a sports writer for The Austin American-Statesman while enrolled at the university.

Schramm would eventually move to Los Angeles to handle public relations for the Los Angeles Rams professional football team and eventually became their general manager. He hired a promising young man to head his PR department; Pete Rozelle would go on to become commissioner of the National Football League and build the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world. After leaving the Rams Schramm became assistant director of sports for CBS. He originated the idea of using a sports anchorman for major athletic events on television and it was at Schramm’s insistence that the Winter Olympics were telecast for the first time; Schramm selected Walter Cronkite as the official announcer for that telecast.

Schramm, however, longed to return to football and eventually became president and general manager of a new NFL franchise – the Dallas Cowboys. He hired legendary coaches Gil Brandt and Tom Landry, becoming the only man in history who, for two different teams, hired head coaches ranked among the top-10 all-time winners. Schramm is also credited as co-architect (with Lamar Hunt) of the 1966 NFL-AFL merger, father of football’s instant replay and builder of the NFL’s first bona fide scouting system. He is also the only NFL executive elected to the Professional Football Hall of Fame who never coached or owned a team.

Recipient of the 1998 Pete Rozelle Award, Schramm, now retired, is well known in the sports fishing world for his competitive tag and release search for deep sea marlin.