Name: The Hole in the Roof Home for America’s Team,1971-2008
Start: 2025-09-25T19:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-09-25T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Allen Heritage Village

$The Hole in the Roof Home for America\u2019s Team,1971-2008$

Burk Murchison will share stories from the early years of the Dallas Cowboys, including the construction of Texas Stadium, at Allen.
About this Event

In the fall of 1971, vast numbers of North Texans traveled to the intersection of Highways 183 and 114, in the city of Irving, to marvel at the new home for the Dallas Cowboys. The people of this region felt immense pride in this edifice that exemplified the familiar adage, "if you build it, they will come."

Burk Murchison will share stories from the early years of the Dallas Cowboys, including the construction of Texas Stadium, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 25, at the Allen Heritage Village, 450 E. St. Mary Dr. The son of the Dallas Cowboys' first owner Clint Murchison Jr., Burk was an eyewitness to this unprecedented era of sports history. Longtime Dallas Morning News journalist Michael Granberry will join Burk to offer his perspectives on the thrilling journey that led to the Dallas Cowboys’ inaugural Super Bowl victory.

During the first game at Texas Stadium, halfback Duane Thomas scored the first touchdown on a 56-yard run that electrified Dallas Cowboy fans. Later, former Dallas Cowboys linebacker D. D. Lewis famously said that the hole in the roof existed “so that God can watch his favorite team.”

Burk Murchison and Michael Granberry, are co-authors of "Hole in the Roof: The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., and the Stadium That Changed American Sports Forever." Books will be available for purchase and inscriptions.

Michael first served as a writer for the Dallas Morning News' High-Profile section and then 17 years as Arts Writer, breaking such stories as “The Glare” that continues to affect the Nasher Sculpture Center and the strange fate of a rare painting by Leonardo Da Vinci called Salvator Mundi. After retiring, Michael wrote the cover story on Willie Nelson for the August/September issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine and is a frequent contributor to the highly rated national podcast The Tony Kornheiser Show, whose host also serves as a cohost of Pardon the Interruption onESPN.

Burk Murchison is a partner in Murchison Capital Partners, LP, an investment management firm based in Dallas.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Allen Public Library, the program is free. Call 214-509-4911 for additional information.