Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, one of the architects who helped turn the Dallas Cowboys from an expansion franchise into “America’s Team,” died Thursday at the age of 91.
He was the Cowboys’ vice president of player personnel for 28 years, from 1960 when the team entered the NFL as an expansion franchise until May of 1989, when he was fired by new owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
Under the leadership of Brandt, coach Tom Landry and general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys posted 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1965 until 1985 and made five Super Bowl appearances with two championships. The Cowboys won those titles by defeating the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI and the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII.
Landry was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 and Schramm in 1991, but Brandt had to wait to join them until 2019, when he was inducted as a contributor. He is also in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor, added in 2018.
“We are so deeply saddened by the passing of Gil Brandt — a true icon and pioneer of our sport. Gil was at the very core of the early success of the Dallas Cowboys and continued to serve as a great ambassador for the organization for decades beyond that. His contributions cemented his spot in the Ring of Honor,” Jones said in a statement. “He was my friend and a mentor not only to me, but to countless executives, coaches, players and broadcasters across the National Football League, which rightfully earned him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame where his legacy will be celebrated forever.”
Brandt is credited with being the first in the NFL to use computers to enter number grades for prospects at each position in evaluation for the NFL draft and the first to test prospects’ mental makeup under pressure through psychological testing.
Using that computer system as a guide, he oversaw the drafting or signed nine players who went on to be inducted in the Hall of Fame: defensive lineman Bob Lilly, his first selection in 1960, defensive back Mel Renfro (1964), wide receiver Bob Hayes (1965) Roger Staubach (1964), offensive tackle Rayfield Wright (1967), defensive back Cliff Harris (signed as undrafted free agent in 1970), defensive tackle Randy White (1975), running back Tony Dorsett (1977), and wide receiver Michael Irvin (1988).
Brandt said the Cowboys had a system in place that, “if we would follow the computer, we’d do all right.”
He also helped Jones with his first draft in 1989, when the Cowboys selected Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman with the first overall pick. Jones fired Brandt after that draft, but the two men remained friends and Brandt selected Jones to present him at his Hall of Fame induction in 2019.
“Gil Brandt set the standard for all scouts and personnel executives to follow, and aspire to, in the NFL,” Jones said when he accepted the offer to present Brandt at his induction. “Gil changed the NFL in the draft room and is more than worthy of this recognition.”
He is credited, along with Schramm with spurring the creation of the NFL scouting combine. The two men proposed to the NFL’s competition committee that the scouting process should be centralized, which led to the creation of the National Invitational Camp in Tampa, Florida. Two other such camps were also held in other parts of the country and, in 1985, the three camps merged into one and became known as the NFL scouting combine.
Brandt was born on March 4, 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin. His first job after college was as a baby photographer.
He got his start in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams as a part-time scout in the 1950s, when Schramm was the team’s general manager.
Brandt also wrote for NFL.com as a player analyst and historian and was a regular contributor for SiriusXM NFL Radio.