 Pearson in 2012 | |||||||||
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| Position | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1951-01-12)January 12, 1951 (age 75) South River, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 184 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | South River | ||||||||
| College | Tulsa | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1973: undrafted | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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Drew Pearson (born January 12, 1951) is an American former professionalfootball player who was awide receiver for 11 seasons with theDallas Cowboys of theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theTulsa Golden Hurricane. He was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
Pearson was born and raised inSouth River, New Jersey,[1] and began his football career atSouth River High School as one of thewide receivers ofJoe Theismann. As a junior, he succeeded Theismann as the startingquarterback.[2] He alsolettered inbaseball andbasketball, graduating in 1969.
He accepted a football scholarship from theUniversity of Tulsa. As a sophomore in 1970, he was the backup quarterback behind John Dobbs. He started four games, making 36 out of 86 completions (41.9%), for 423 passing yards, one touchdown and 5 interceptions.
As a junior in 1971, he was converted into awide receiver. He was second on the team with 22 receptions for 429 yards. He led the team with an average of 19.5 yards per reception and 3 receivingtouchdowns.
As a senior in 1972, he led a run-oriented offense with 33 receptions for 690 yards (20.9 yards per reception) and 5 touchdowns. He finished his college career with 55 receptions for 1,119 yards, 8 touchdowns and a 20.3-yard average per reception.
In 1985, he was inducted into the Tulsa Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1998, he received theNCAA Silver Anniversary Award.[3]
In1973, Pearson was signed as anundrafted free agent by theDallas Cowboys and made the team as a third-teamwide receiver because of hisspecial teams play. As a rookie, he replacedOtto Stowe after Stowe suffered a broken ankle in the seventh game of the season against thePhiladelphia Eagles,[4] and his backupMike Montgomery would also fall to injury in the next game.[5] He appeared in 14 games with six starts, making 22 receptions for 388 yards and twotouchdowns.[6]
In1974, Stowe asked to be traded and Pearson became the full-time starter oppositeGolden Richards. He led the team with 62 receptions and 1,087 yards, while also catching 2 touchdowns. He would keep leading the team in receiving until1978, whenTony Hill took over the number one role at wide receiver.
In1979, he and Tony Hill—along withTony Dorsett—helped the Cowboys become the first team in NFL history to have two 1,000-yards wide receivers and a 1,000-yardrunning back, when he recorded 55 receptions, 1,026 yards and 8 touchdowns. Pearson and Hill also became the first wide receiver tandem in Cowboys history to record 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the same year.
In1980, he surpassedBob Hayes' club mark in receptions and was selected by the Cowboys as their nominee forNFL Man of the Year. In the1981NFC Championship Game against theSan Francisco 49ers, Pearson almost rendered "The Catch" irrelevant when, in the waning moments of the game, he caught a 31-yard pass fromDanny White that might’ve gone for a touchdown and won the game for the Cowboys had 49erscornerbackEric Wright not made a one-handedhorse-collar tackle, a legal tackle at the time, stopping him at the San Francisco 44 just outside field-goal range (White fumbled on the next play, thus preserving victory for the 49ers and putting them inSuper Bowl XVI).
In1982, he delivered a key downfield block during Tony Dorsett's NFL record 99-yard touchdown run.
In1983, he passed Hayes as the franchise leader in receiving yards.
On March 22,1984, at 1:30 a.m. Drew fell asleep while driving, and crashed his car against a parked tractor-trailer. Drew's brother Carey was killed; Drew himself sustained a career-ending liver injury in the crash.[7]
Pearson helped the Cowboys to threeSuper Bowl appearances and a victory inSuper Bowl XII in1978. He also scored atouchdown inSuper Bowl X. Pearson was known as "Mr. Clutch" for his numerous clutch catches in game-winning situations, especially theHail Mary reception fromRoger Staubach that sealed the victory over the Vikings in a1975 playoff game, one of the most famous plays in NFL history. He also caught the game-sealing touchdown in a1973 playoff game against theLos Angeles Rams and the game-winning touchdown pass from reserve quarterbackClint Longley in the1974 Thanksgiving game against theWashington Redskins. All three plays were named among the Top 75 plays in NFL history byNFL Films in 1994. Pearson figured prominently in a fourth play on that list, throwing the final block to clear Tony Dorsett's path to the end zone on his 99-yard touchdown run in 1983. In addition, in the1980 playoff game at Atlanta Pearson's clutch receptions helped win that game in a comeback by the Cowboys.
He rose to become one of the NFL's greatest wide receivers, earning career records of 489receptions and 7,822 receiving yards, along with 189 rushing yards, 155 yardsreturning kickoffs, and 50 touchdowns (48 receiving and two fumble recoveries). Pearson was named one of the Top 20 Pro Football All-Time wide receivers, he was also recognized for his achievements by being named to theNFL 1970s All-Decade Team. Despite this fact, he was the only player from the team to not be inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame at the time, including the only one from the offensive first team category.[8]
Pearson was namedAll-Pro three times (1974, 1976–77) All-NFC in 1975 and second Team All-NFC in 1978. In addition, Pearson was aPro Bowler in1974,1976 and1977. He was named TheFootball Digest NFL receiver of the year in 1977. He led theNational Football Conference (NFC) in pass receptions in1976 with 58. He served asoffensivecaptain for the Cowboys in1977,1978,1982 and1983.
In 1984, he was named to the Dallas Cowboys' 25th-anniversary team.
In 2009, on theNFL Network show "NFL's Top 10", in the episode titled "Greatest Dallas Cowboys", he is number 10 on the list, although the update in 2016 where Drew was not on the list and was replaced byRandy White as #10 as well.
On August 19,2011,Cowboys ownerJerry Jones announced that Pearson had been selected for inclusion into theDallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. Pearson,Charles Haley andLarry Allen were inducted during the half-time show of the Cowboys-Seahawks game on November 6, 2011.[9]
TheProfessional Football Researchers Association named Pearson to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2010.[10]
Pearson was named as a senior finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2020 as a part of its "Centennial Slate" of 20 senior finalists. However, he fell just shy of getting inducted. The following year, he was named the lone senior finalist for the class of 2021.[11]
On February 6, 2021, Pearson was named to the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame class and his bust was sculpted byScott Myers.[8][12]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1973 | DAL | 14 | 6 | 22 | 388 | 17.6 | 40 | 2 |
| 1974 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 62 | 1,087 | 17.5 | 50 | 2 |
| 1975 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 46 | 822 | 17.9 | 46 | 8 |
| 1976 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 58 | 806 | 13.9 | 40 | 6 |
| 1977 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 48 | 870 | 18.1 | 67 | 2 |
| 1978 | DAL | 16 | 16 | 44 | 714 | 16.2 | 53 | 3 |
| 1979 | DAL | 15 | 14 | 55 | 1,026 | 18.7 | 56 | 8 |
| 1980 | DAL | 16 | 15 | 43 | 568 | 13.2 | 30 | 6 |
| 1981 | DAL | 16 | 15 | 38 | 614 | 16.2 | 42 | 3 |
| 1982 | DAL | 9 | 8 | 26 | 382 | 14.7 | 48 | 3 |
| 1983 | DAL | 14 | 13 | 47 | 545 | 11.6 | 32 | 5 |
| Career | 156 | 143 | 489 | 7,822 | 16.0 | 67 | 48 | |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1973 | DAL | 2 | 2 | 4 | 111 | 27.8 | 83 | 2 |
| 1975 | DAL | 3 | 3 | 11 | 196 | 17.8 | 50 | 2 |
| 1976 | DAL | 1 | 1 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 22 | 0 |
| 1977 | DAL | 3 | 3 | 7 | 113 | 16.1 | 31 | 0 |
| 1978 | DAL | 3 | 3 | 10 | 167 | 16.7 | 39 | 0 |
| 1979 | DAL | 1 | 1 | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 29 | 0 |
| 1980 | DAL | 3 | 3 | 11 | 165 | 15.0 | 23 | 3 |
| 1981 | DAL | 2 | 1 | 3 | 52 | 17.3 | 31 | 0 |
| 1982 | DAL | 3 | 3 | 13 | 153 | 11.8 | 35 | 1 |
| 1983 | DAL | 1 | 1 | 2 | 49 | 24.5 | 30 | 0 |
| Career | 22 | 21 | 67 | 1,105 | 16.5 | 83 | 8 | |
On April 28, 2017, Pearson was selected to announce a pick at the2017 NFL draft, which took place at Philadelphia. Amidstboos from the Eagles fans in attendance, he announcedChidobe Awuzie as the 60th pick for the Cowboys.[13][14]
Pearson is married to Marsha, a daughter ofHarlem Globetrotters starMarques Haynes.[15]
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
