FOX Names Witten The NFL's Ultimate Tough Guy
Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com
Feb. 6, 2008
Sometimes getting your helmet knocked off and then proceeding to run another 25 yards with a national TV-viewing audience getting the rare chance to watch the intensity of a professional football player's face is a good thing.
In fact, that little incident likely went a long way toward Cowboys Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten being named Howie Long's Ultimate Tough Guy for the 2007 NFL season Sunday afternoon on the Fox Super Bowl XLVII pregame show.
Accompanying the award is a check for $50,000, presented the Elizabethton (Tenn.) High School Athletic Department, Witten's high school and where his brother Shawn Witten has taken over as the head football coach for their grandfather Dave Rider.
Long actually traveled to Elizabethton on Friday of this past week to present the award to the school officials and Witten's family members at Treadway Gymnasium.
"When his helmet went off, he thought, 'This is a chance for me to become one of Howie's Tough Guys,' " NFL Hall of Fame member Long said with a big smile on Friday morning at Elizabethton High School to the Johnson City Press. "It was his signature moment."
That it was for Witten, a four-time Pro Bowl tight end who led the Cowboys in 2007 with 96 catches for 1,145 yards and seven touchdowns.
Witten also was one of four finalists for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, given to an NFL player who not only performs well on the field but gives of himself off the field. The award was presented Sunday to Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor just before kickoff for Super Bowl XLII.
At least Witten knows he will have won something on Sunday.
"It's comprised of players who play the game the way it should be played," Long said of his annual award. "They play a complete game, tough and passionate.
"Everybody who plays football at every level is tough. But we wanted to pick a team that was not necessarily comprised of the best players stat-wise."
