Start ranking the most popular and best-known Cowboys players of all time, and it will take a while to get to him. His name isn’t hanging in the team’s Ring of Honor. He’s not instantly recognizable as a go-to media-darling representative of his era’s contributions to the sport. On his own thoroughly dominant teams, he was usually overshadowed by bigger stars with flashier nicknames. In the most famous photograph he appears in, his face isn’t even visible, the lens focused instead on a guy who wasn’t supposed to be there. For thirteen seasons, five Super Bowl appearances, and two world championships, he was practically anonymous.
That’s exactly how Larry Cole wanted it.
He and two of his defensive teammates formed the “Zero Club,” as in: zero attention. During the height of the Doomsday Defense of the 1970s, the Zero Club prided itself on wrecking games on Sundays, but staying decidedly out of the spotlight off the field. Their first commandment? “Thou Shalt Not Seek Publicity.”
But the story of Cole’s remarkable playing career transcended any attempt to stay under the radar.