There are so many aspects to a great sports logo. Could be the logo character involved, could be the colors or in this case, amazing heritage.

When you are commonly referred to as “America’s Team”, you have heritage. The Dallas Cowboys are not only the most popular franchise in America, Forbes recently named them the most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Before we jump into the iconic Star sports logo, there is an amazing story of how the Dallas Cowboys were born.

Legendary sports owner Lamar Hunt was the first to covet bringing an NFL team to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. At this time in league history, approval was necessary from all 15 owners. In his way was Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. The Skins were the southernmost NFL team and Marshall wanted his team to be the only game in town south of D.C. Hunt failed and instead created the AFL’s Dallas Texans.

The AFL was gaining strength and the NFL didn’t want them to take hold of markets like Dallas. That’s when Texas Oil Businessman Clint Murchison comes in. The way the rules were set, The Redskins would once again be able to block a Dallas team. That’s when a surreal story that you would swear is fiction began.

As the Dallas movement was once again happening, the Redskins owner quarrels shifted to of all things, a battle over the beloved “Hail to the Redskins” song with Band Director and song composer Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin and Murchison had a common enemy. So what did the composer do? He sold the trademark and all rights to “Hail to the Redskins” to the potential Dallas owner for $2,500. The offer was then made to Redskins owner Preston Marshall. Give me a team and you’ll have your fight song back. That’s how the Dallas Cowboys were born.

Tours haven’t opened yet for the new Cowboys practice facility, “The Star” in Frisco Texas but the original lyrics to “Hail to the Redskins” along with the story are in a glass case. The rivalry between Washington and Dallas has been strong ever since.

A sidebar to that story is that once the Dallas Cowboys were born, Lamar Hunt joined the NFL and moved the Dallas Texans to Kansas City and renamed them the Chiefs. Now that’s some awesome NFL history that many might not know.

Now that you know how they were born, lets look at the logo. Since their inception, the Cowboys have used a blue star as a tribute to the nickname of Texas, “The Lone Star State”.

Since 1960 the Cowboys have only used two logos. Here is the first from 1960-63.

Logos courtesy of sportslogos.net

A slight adjustment on the second logo with the addition of the border to the star in 1964. This logo has been the primary sports logo ever since.

There is a rare 3rd sports logo with the original logo design on display at the practice facility.

This alternate logo isn’t seen much and was used from 1960-1970.

The Cowboys logo is simple but with so much history around it, simple works perfect. You just think of names like Staubach, Aikman, Irvin and Emmitt Smith wearing “The Star”. You frequently hear people ask players their feelings of wearing “The Star”. That’s how prominent the logo is.

At Awesome Sports Logos, we feature a football sports logo with rich sports history. Bootlegging in Tennessee was huge during the Prohibition years. In fact, Al Capone was involved in the Nashville Bootlegging scene. The Nashville Bootleggers sports logo blends Bootlegging with the great game of football. This Bootlegger is on the run and giving the Heisman to anyone in his way. We replaced a football with a whiskey cask.

This t-shirt makes a great gift. Better yet, make it part of your T-shirt of the Month Club collection. You pick out your favorite t-shirts and in return, we give you discounts and free shipping. If you want to give it as a gift, we are happy to customize a gift certificate for you. We want this to be an awesome experience!

Thanks as always for reading!! Happy Holidays

Gavin Spittle

Founder, Logo Lover, T-shirt Wearer

Awesome Sports Logos