DALLAS, TX -NFL Hall of Fame and former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett is hosting one of the many galas this week but this one is close to his heart.
They asked my wife and I to be the host and I obviously said yes, Dorsett explained. How can I turn down my ex-roommate and one of my best friends.
It'll raise money for the Ron Springs and Everson Walls Gift For Life Foundation. It takes place Thursday before Super Bowl XLV at the Fashion Industry Gallery.
Years ago we went to Camp Reynal for kids for kidney disease, Dorsett says. On our way back to Dallas Ron (Springs) said you know what I want to do something for these kids.
Springs slipped into a coma on October 16, 2007 after going into cardiac arrest while having an operation on an elbow cyst the previous weekend. He remains in that state.
Dorsett's time has been in high demand during the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl and that demand increased after the Steelers won the AFC Championship. After all, he grew up in Pittsburgh.
That's home, Dorsett says. I always said I'll never forget where I came from. As a kid growing up in western Pennsylvania, it was ever kids dream to wear the black and gold.
That all changed when Dorsett was drafted in the first round by the Cowboys in 1977.It was part of a 13 month period during which he won a the Heisman Trophy, a National Champion for Pittsburgh before following it up with a win in Super Bowl XII. To this day, no other player can make that claim.
I think that is correct, Dorsett says. I'm not totally sure, but I'd bet a lot of money on it, he says with a smile. My first year here, we go back to the same city, in the same stadium. That's a little football trivia, back to New Orleans because we played in the Sugar Bowl and won a national championship. Then my rookie year we go down to New Orleans again for fight for a World Championship.
I think he enjoys the celebrity side of his life, but I also know he really enjoys just being daddy to his girls, a husband to me and lead a regular life, says Janet Dorsett, Tony's wife.
But leading a regular life this week is next to impossible in a game that has brought two teams to town that Cowboys fans have never really liked. People are going to be entertained by the two biggest nemesis in the history of the Dallas Cowboys, Dorsett says.
Because of his Pennsylvania roots, everyone he knows has been in touch. I've had room ticket requests, room requests, transportation requests, you name it I ve had it, Dorsett says.
