DALLAS — Former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday night in Canton, Ohio.
Johnson went in as part of the hall's Centennial Slate from the 2020 class, which was delayed a year due to COVID-19. Johnson coached the Cowboys from 1989-1993 and later the Miami Dolphins from 1996-99.
The two-time Super Bowl winning coach attributed the success of getting into the Hall of Fame to his assistant coaches and players.
"I went into the College Football Hall of Fame a long time ago because I had great assistants and great players," Johnson said. "Maybe I had something to do with bringing them together, but they won the games. Those players won the games. I didn't win the games."
Dallas went 1-15 in Johnson's first year in 1989 in which the club traded Pro Bowl running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings. The eight draft picks were used as currency as the Cowboys used the 1990-92 NFL drafts to build their dynasty.
"What made you think that you're going to win a Super Bowl when you were 1-15? I didn't dream about it; I believed that we were going to win a Super Bowl," said Johnson. "When you believe it, it has something with the way you act and you deal with people."
The 78-year-old, who became the first football coach to win a national championship, which he did with the Miami Hurricanes in 1987, and a Super Bowl, touched on his relationship with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"You know what? We — we — made sports history," Johnson said. "Not only for the Dallas Cowboys, but for the NFL. To go from the worst team in the league two years in a row to winning back-to-back Super Bowls and building a heck of a football team, we did it. And let me tell you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Jerry. Thank you for giving me that opportunity."
Three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Troy Aikman, who was with the Cowboys his entire career from 1989-2000, presented Johnson.
"It's football immortality to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame," Aikman said. "For someone who has meant so much to me and so many others, for him to finally have his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is pretty cool."
Johnson also used his platform to campaign for former players linebacker Zach Thomas and safety Darren Woodson to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Said Johnson: "Looking back, I counted, I drafted or recruited 13 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And let me tell you what: Zach Thomas belongs up here. Darren Woodson belongs up here. They were two players — they were key factors. We led the NFL in defense in Dallas. We led the NFL in defense in Miami. And those two players were key parts of it, and they need to be Hall-of-Famers. That way I'll have 15 of them or whatever."
Johnson also thanked his sons, Brent and Chad, along with his wife, Rhonda, for sacrificing the time behind the scenes to help him achieve football immortality.
"My sons, Brent and Chad, and their mother, Linda Kay, she was a great, great woman," Johnson said. "My wife and my best friend, Rhonda, hey, Bill Cowher knows that a coach, he has to struggle with the family life, and wives put up with a lot of crap."
The NFL on FOX studio analyst cautioned that football lifers need to balance their desire to be great at the game with a commitment to being great with loved ones. Johnson relayed that former Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga was aware of how hard the coach worked, but he told him to be aware of QTL: quality time left.
"Let me tell you something, folks," said Johnson. "The people that I love, like my family right over there, appreciate those people because there will come a day you're not going to be able to appreciate them because you're not going to be around."
Which Cowboys great do you think will next be enshrined in Canton? Share predictions with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.