Original 'Ice Bowl' Traveler Earned Title Of #1 Cowboys Fan
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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Almost 50 years ago, as a teenager, Arlington resident David Holloway man went to the Ice Bowl in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The trip earned him the title of number one fan, but not for the reason you might think.
Holloway knew it would be cold 1,100 miles away from North Texas, but maybe you had to know the Dallas Cowboys like he knew them in the 60's.
He recited the list of superstars, "Mel Renfro and Cornell Green, Y.A. Tittle, Don Meredith, Robert Newhouse."
As far as getting to the game, none of the other obstacles mattered. "I was ready to go. I didn't care what it took to get there. I wanted to go see the Cowboys play."
Before the famous Ice Bowl, Holloway's older brother made him an offer. He'd pay for the bus ticket to Green Bay, if the then 17-year-old David wanted to go.
"'Cause he thought I was crazy and wouldn't do it."
The Cowboys were in for a battle, and David had one of his own. After sleeping in a Chicago bus station, riding a bus with no heat, he made it to Green Bay, and was greeted with a proverbial punch to the gut.
"I got inside, and the man told me, 'well I hate to tell you this, but your luggage is in Chicago.'"
The lost bag didn't just mean an inconvenience of toothbrush or bathrobe. "I said, 'there ain't no way I could go out there in that cold, wind blowing in your face, [with the] dinky track jacket I had on.'"
So, Holloway listened to the famous game, on the radio, from the Green Bay bus station. The Dallas Morning News wrote about the failed trip later that week, calling Holloway the team's number one fan.
When asked if he would do it again, Holloway said, "If someone offered me and my son a round-trip ticket and put us in that ballgame we'd go right now -- no matter where it is."
But what if that ticket was on a Greyhound bus? "Well I'd have to rethink that. Don't know if I'd ever do that again," he said laughing.
Just a footnote, David Holloway saw the two teams play in August the next season, in a much warmer, and closer venue – the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
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