AUSTIN — As the Cincinnati Bengals prepared to announce their first pick of the 1990 NFL Draft, James Francis was on the phone with another team, unaware that the call was about to alter history.
On the other end of the line was Tex Schramm, the longtime general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, who, at that stage of his Hall of Fame career, was more of a consultant to owner Jerry Jones and head coach/general manager Jimmy Johnson. Schramm was informing Francis the Cowboys had a deal in place to move up to the 13th overall selection in order for Dallas to select the Baylor All-America linebacker to help anchor their young defense.
“They were telling me that I was their guy and that they had made the trade with the Kansas City Chiefs,” said Francis, whose older brother, Ron, was on the Dallas roster. All of a sudden, I looked up at the TV and saw that the Bengals had picked me. Tex then told me, ‘it looks like you’re a Bengal now,’ wished me luck and then moved on.”
With the deal dead, the Chiefs held on to the 13th pick and selected Michigan State linebacker Percy Snow. Still holding the 17th selection, the Cowboys went to their Plan B and settled on a running back from Florida named Emmitt Smith.
The rest — as in three Super Bowl titles and becoming the NFL’s career leader in rushing yards en route to a Hall of Fame career — is history.
“Jimmy Johnson had told me the Cowboys were going to try to draft me,” he said. I knew I was going to go early, but I obviously didn’t know where I’d end up. The football part of things never bothered me. It was the question of which city I was going to. No matter where I was going, it would be a place I wasn’t familiar and where I didn’t know a lot of people.”
Francis had a solid career, playing nine seasons with the Bengals (1990-98) before ending his career with the Redskins in 1999. He is still an avid football fan and finds the draft process more different than when he stayed at home in La Marque to await who would select him.
“I got an invite to go to New York but chose to be with family. The draft wasn’t anywhere near as commercial as it is now,” he said. “If it was like that back then, I probably would have gone and taken part in all of it.”
He will have an eye on where Texas City’s D’Onta Foreman and La Marque’s Brian Allen will be selected when the second and third rounds of the draft resume this evening. Foreman is expected to be drafted in the second round, while the fast-rising Allen could go near the end of the third round.
“My advice to them is not to worry about where they get drafted,” Francis said. “It’s not about where you get picked. The real work begins when you get on the field and start proving that you belong on the field and not be star struck by the players you once watched on Sundays. It’s a blessing to be selected to play in the NFL, so I hope both of them will be patient as they await where they go and take it from there once they do.”
Francis feels the Galveston County area has the talent to eventually add more players to the NFL, yet also laments about the number of players who didn’t make it.
“I’ve always felt there’s too much talent down there that should have seen more players get here,” he said. “This area has always been abundant with guys who had the talent but who never lived up to the potential, but there’s still a lot of it there today. There will be others who will come and continue blazing the path while also making Galveston County proud.”
