10 things to know about Cowboys legend Troy Aikman, including successes on, off the field (2024)

Here are 10 things you might not know about former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.

1. Early struggles in Dallas

During the 2022 season, Cooper Rush became the first Cowboys quarterback to win his first five starts.

Aikman wasn’t as lucky.

Before he led the Cowboys to three Super Bowls, Aikman went 0-11 in starts during his rookie season in 1989.

Over his first three seasons in Dallas, Aikman threw for 31 touchdowns and 46 interceptions and went 14-26 in his starts.

2. 3 Super Bowls in 4 years

After early struggles, Aikman developed into one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

From 1992-95, Aikman threw for 12,525 yards and 67 touchdowns and led Dallas to a 46-14 record and three Super Bowl wins in 1992, 1993 and 1995.

In 1992, Aikman had career highs in passing yards (3,445) and touchdowns (23 yards).

3. Career stats

Aikman is career second on the Dallas Cowboys’ all-time passing list with 32,942 passing yards. He also threw 165 touchdowns and completed 61.5% of his passes.

Cowboys career passing leaders

4. From Fox to ESPN

The Pro Football Hall of Famer first called games for Fox Network in 2001.

He’s since been one of the preeminent NFL television analysts for the past 21 years, 20 of those years spent alongside his broadcasting partner Joe Buck.

The duo called six Super Bowls together while at Fox, according to a CNBC report before the pair announced they would both be leaving to host “Monday Night Football” on ESPN.

The official announcement came on the first day of the new league year in 2022.

“When you have the opportunity to bring in the iconic, longest-running NFL broadcasting duo, you take it, especially at a time when we are on the cusp of a new era in our expanding relationship with the NFL,” said ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement.

“The NFL continues to ascend, and we now have more games than ever before, providing additional opportunities for Joe, Troy and our deep roster of commentators.”

The announcement came following reports that the Hall of Fame quarterback would receive a five-year, $90 million contract (an average of $18 million per year) with ESPN.

When Aikman isn’t commentating games, you might have seen him in Wing Stop commercials. He ended up selling his company shares for more money than he made in the first four years that he played in the NFL.

5. His latest business venture? Beer.

Aikman announced in early 2022 that he was getting into the beer business. He co-founded an Austin-based company that released his 90-calorie light beer in Texas this year.

Aikman told The News in January 2022 that he feels like he’s been in the beer business for years. He worked for a Miller distributor in Oklahoma in college — a job he got at the suggestion of his coach, Barry Switzer. After Aikman retired from the Cowboys, he did some national campaigns for Miller Lite. When he opened his restaurant, Troy’s, in Arlington, he called himself a “Miller Lite guy” at the time.

Aikman also said he “didn’t like the options” out there for light beers.

“Being so meticulous and mindful of what I’m putting in my body, it would be great if there was a better beer than what was available,” he said.

Eight is currently only being sold in Texas, for now.

6. The ‘dresses’ comment

Former NFL players and fans were frustrated about a pair of controversial roughing the passer penalties during one week during the 2022 season.

One of the calls occurred during one of Aikman’s Monday Night Football broadcasts, where he gave his take on the roughing calls.

“It’s too much,” Aikman said on the broadcast. “My hope is the competition committee looks at this in the next set of meetings and, you know, we take the dresses off.”

Aikman later apologized for his comment.

“Yeah, I mean, my comments were dumb. Just shouldn’t have made them, just dumb remarks on my part,” Aikman said during his an interview with Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket [KTCK-AM].

“But the other part of ... what came from that, what I said was that it implied that I’m not in favor of protecting the quarterbacks, which could not be further from the truth. I’m totally in favor of the protection that the quarterbacks are afforded, and all players for that matter. But there’s no question there has been over-enforcement of the protection for quarterbacks.”

7. ‘Highway to Henryetta’

Aikman truly has an affinity for his hometown of Henryetta, Okla. You can hear it in a voice that now makes him a living as an NFL broadcast analyst.

Likewise, the city of about 5,400 residents has returned the love and embraced the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback. You can see it inthe way the community welcomes him.

Aikman, 55, moved from Cerritos, Calif., before his eighth-grade year in 1979, settling on a 170-acre ranch outside of town. He’s enjoyed the big-city life in and around Dallas for the past 30 years.

On more than one occasion, he’s given back to the modest Oklahoma town with special appearances at events such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Hometown Hall of Famers program 10 years ago.

On June 11, gave back in a big way with “Highway to Henryetta,” a one-day country music marathon headlined by superstar and Oklahoman,Blake Shelton.

The lineup also includedPat Green,Stoney LaRue,Wade Bowen,George Dunham and the Bird Dogs, theJosh Abbott Band, theSteve Helms Band,Mikayla LaneandVal Mooty.

8. Was he almost a Philadelphia Eagle?

DeMarco Murray might have once been a villain for jumping from the Cowboys to the rival Eagles before being shipped off to the Titans. But Aikman reportedly almost did the same in 2003 by coming out of retirement.

Here’s a small excerpt of an interview Aikman had about then-Eagles coach Andy Reid calling him to replace Donovan McNabb:

"I got back to Santa Barbara and this was around November or whenever it was and I woke up and I'm thinking, 'I can either enjoy the next couple of days in Santa Barbara, California, it's about 65, 70 degrees, or I'm going to be on a plane flying to Philadelphia and probably going to be playing on Monday night against the 49ers.' I called Andy and I said, 'Hey, I'm honored that you've called me, but I'm going to stay put.'"

9. Aikman shows off his pipes

Cowboysfans who tuned into the Monday Night Football broadcast on Oct. 3, 2022 were in for a surprise.

In a nod to the late Cowboys legendDon Meredith,Troy Aikmansang, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

“When I started it, they told us we were going to commercial, so I didn’t get to finish the song,” Aikman said in an interview Thursday morning onSportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket [KTCK-AM]. “I would have at least sang a little bit more of the song.”

10. He almost requested a trade from The Cowboys

In the 1991 season, Aikman said he was healthy going into the last week of the season. He had missed the previous five games due to an injury. Steve Beuerlein had started all five games, won them, and got Dallas to the playoffs. Jimmy Johnson stuck with Beuerlein and they won a playoff game.

Aikman would play in the next playoff game, but the team lost to Detroit. He told media member Randy Galloway that he planned on asking for a trade.

“After that game in the locker room I just happened to run into Troy,” Galloway said. “And he went, ‘I’m gone. I’m asking for a trade. This is not going to work.’ And I didn’t know if he was really serious or not. So I went, ‘Well I’m going to write that for tomorrow.’

“And Aikman went, ‘Hold off. I’ll call you Monday.’ Sure enough on Monday he calls and he went, ‘Jimmy called me into the office a couple of hours ago. Jimmy said, ‘This is your team. You are my guy. No more fooling around.’’ And that meant more to Aikman than anything. That officially started the dynasty.”

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.