Staubach Tells Aikman That It’s Too Soon to Retire

Although Roger Staubach left the Dallas Cowboys to avoid more blows to his head, he doesn’t believe Troy Aikman should retire after two concussions in eight days.

“Someone didn’t tell me to retire,” the Hall of Fame quarterback said Thursday at Irving, Texas. “I wanted to remember why I retired. I was 38. If I was 33, I wouldn’t have retired.”

Aikman, who turns 33 a week from Sunday, will miss a game because of a concussion for the first time in his career Sunday when Dallas plays Green Bay. Aikman has had seven concussions in his 11-year career.

With three Super Bowl victories, tens of millions of dollars in the bank and a wedding just months away, a case could be made for Aikman to walk away from football while he still can.

Staubach said the only way he could imagine Aikman even thinking about retiring would be if doctors say he should.

“Some people don’t realize how intense Troy is,” Staubach said. “He’s got Michael Jordan’s mentality on winning. Backing away is not going to be easy.

“Besides, he’s still playing great. I think he has another Super Bowl or two in him.”

Staubach was still playing well in his last year, 1979, but he was concerned by the number of concussions he had suffered over 11 seasons. With backup Danny White capable of replacing him, Staubach did what he thought was best.

“I had one doctor who said I should and one who said there was no medical reason why I should. But I felt it was time,” said Staubach, who led Dallas to four Super Bowls, winning two.

Aikman became a Cowboy a decade after Staubach left, but the two have become good friends. They’ve talked about lots of things, including concussions. The circumstances around Staubach’s retirement hasn’t been a topic of conversation.

“We’ve never discussed anything about it,” Staubach said.

Staubach has had that discussion in recent weeks with Steve Young, the San Francisco quarterback who has been told by doctors he should retire after long-lingered effects from his most recent concussion.

“He asked me what my thinking process was, what I went through, what my feelings were, how much I missed it,” Staubach said.

Staubach spoke to Aikman a few days after he took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Indianapolis’ Jeff Burris on Oct. 31.

The hit by Burris left Aikman more susceptible to another concussion when he played Minnesota on Monday night. Sure enough, Jerry Ball dumped Aikman on his head and the headaches and dizziness returned--only this time, they were more intense.

“When I saw him on the sidelines, I knew right away,” Staubach said. “It looked familiar.”

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After 19 years in Fredonia, N.Y., 60 miles southwest of Buffalo, the Bills are moving their training camp 75 miles east of home to a private college in suburban Rochester.

St. John Fisher College, a Catholic liberal arts school in the suburb of Pittsford, was selected for the three-week training camp next July.