Super Bowl XXVII : THROUGH THE YEARS : Footnotes To History : XIII : RANDY WHITE : DALLAS COWBOYS

For the past two weeks, Randy White has been answering questions about sharing the most-valuable-player award with Harvey Martin in the 1978 Super Bowl.

Fans even stood in line for more than three hours at a Dallas-area optical sales store to get his autograph and ask him about it.

But he admits his memories of his spectacular failure the next season in Super Bowl XIII are just as vivid.

Had he only not tried to play so hard with a broken left thumb. Had he only kept the thumb in a cast, as doctors had recommended.

If he, a star defensive tackle, had only not insisted on playing on the kick-return team.

And with an NFL championship on the line, had he only not tried to run with that darned kickoff.

With the Steelers leading, 28-17, in the fourth quarter, White was faced with fielding a squib kick from Roy Gerela. He decided to pick it up and run.

Wrong move. He moved the ball from his right hand to his left hand just before he was hit, forgetting that his left hand was useless because of the thumb problems.

The ball popped out on contact, the Steelers recovered, and on the next play, Terry Bradshaw connected with Lynn Swann on an 18-yard touchdown pass to give the Steelers a 35-17 lead.

After Dallas rebounded to score twice in the final minutes, only to lose, 35-31, the fumbled kickoff grew in stature.

White, ironically, became a goat because of the same traits that made him a Cowboy legend. Even though he had broken his thumb only two weeks earlier in the NFC championship game against the Rams, he was not about to miss any plays or take any precautions.

“Shoot, I was the kind of player who didn’t even want his backup playing during practice,” White said from Dallas, where he is involved in marketing. “A broken thumb? It was nothing. It was about like a paper cut.”

* 1979 AT MIAMI

Pittsburgh 7 14 0 14 -- 35 Dallas 7 7 3 14 -- 31

Pit--Stallworth 28 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)

Dal--Hill 39 pass from Staubach (Septien kick)

Dal--Hegman 37 fumble recovery return (Septien kick)

Pit--Stallworth 75 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)

Pit--Bleier 7 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)

Dal--FG Septien 27

Pit--Harris 22 run (Gerela kick)

Pit--Swann 18 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)

Dal--DuPree 7 pass from Staubach (Septien kick)

Dal--B. Johnson 4 pass from Staubach (Septien kick) A--79,484

Winning Coach--Chuck Noll

MVP--Terry Bradshaw