Cowboys rookie tight end Rico Gathers catches a pass during the Dallas Cowboys rookie minicamp at Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, Friday, May 6, 2016. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)
Rico Gathers isn't the first man who didn't play football in college or high school before taking it up with the Cowboys, and not the second or third, either.
By Gil Brandt's semi-official count, Tom Landry's Cowboys drafted or signed more than a dozen athletes without college football experience: half-dozen basketball players, couple of world-class sprinters, one centerfielder and an Austrian soccer player.
Best of the bunch: Cornell Green, a 6-3 forward from Utah State who hadn't played football since junior high but managed five Pro Bowls as a defensive back, just the same.