Why Isn't Cowboys 'Greatest All-Time Athlete' In Ring of Honor?

FRISCO - Deion Sanders is the only man on the face of the Earth to play in both the World Series and a Super Bowl.

Bob Hayes was the fastest man on the planet in 1964 after winning two sprint gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

Larry Allen could both bench press 700 pounds and chase down defenders and block them 60 yards downfield after a hand-off.

Herschel Walker won the SuperStars competition twice in the 1980s.

Michael Irvin, Terrell Owens and Dez Bryant could run, jump and make catches in traffic with the best of them. And in addition to running for more yards than anyone in NFL history, Emmitt Smith confirmed his fancy feet by winning "Dancing With The Stars.'

But when it comes to the best true athlete in Dallas Cowboys’ history? Well, he just passed away.

How gifted was Cornell Green? He was one of the best defensive backs in Cowboys’ history, playing his second-best sport.

Green, who died this week at age 86 after a long battle with dementia, made the Pro Bowl at both cornerback and safety and finished his career with 34 interceptions (still 5th-most in franchise history) and a Super Bowl ring.

More impressive, he did it as a basketball player who played only one year of football. In high school.

Green was a two-time All-American hoops star at Utah State. He was selected in the 5th round of the NBA Draft in 1962, but got a call from Cowboys’ player personnel guru Gil Brandt about an experiemental tryout.

He couldn’t pass up the $1,000, and the rest is Cowboys’ history.

Green’s debut wasn’t great, as he arrived at Tom Landry’s training camp in Thousand Oaks, California and immediately put his pads on backward. But he soon blossomed into one of the NFL’s stickiest cover corners.

In a day when receivers rarely reached 6-foot, Green was 6-3 and 210 pounds. Jerry Jones would salivate over his size and skills right now. He was versatile, making All-Pro at both cornerback and safety. And durable, amazingly never missing a game during a 13-year career.

He could have played receiver, but he often - inexplicably - dropped passes in practice and interceptions in games right in his hands.

“The football isn’t round,” explained the basketball star.

Touche.

Green arrived in Dallas a wild experiment at a time when Blacks couldn’t find housing north of the Trinity River. He succeeded, was perfect off the field, and opened the door for Brandt to find more unique talent in unorthodox places (think track star Hayes and soccer player Toni Fritsch).

The discussion of which Cowboy - after Jason Witten, obviously - should be enshrined into the Ring of Honor should start and stop with Cornell Green. He was the uber-talented square peg that fit perfectly into the Cowboys’ secondary hole.

RIP, best Cowboys’ all-time athlete.