Drew Pearson caught the original Hail Mary. December 28, 1975, NFC playoffs in Minnesota, Cowboys down and out of time, Roger Staubach throws it up and says afterward that he closed his eyes and said a Hail Mary. Pearson pinned it against his hip on the sideline and walked into the end zone, and a phrase entered the language permanently.

He was never drafted. He came out of Tulsa as a free agent in 1973 and turned into the best receiver of the decade, earning first-team All-Pro honors three times and a spot on the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1970s. He won Super Bowl XII with Dallas and finished with 489 receptions and 48 touchdowns in a run-first era.

The Cowboys put him in the Ring of Honor in 2011, and after a long wait he was finally elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the class of 2021. He is one of the great personalities in Cowboys history and an outstanding guest at a table.