Dallas Cowboys History: 1963 Season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 14, 1963	St. Louis Cardinals	L 34–7	36,432
2	September 22, 1963	Cleveland Browns	L 41–24	28,710
3	September 29, 1963	at Washington Redskins	L 21–17	40,101
4	October 6, 1963	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–21	60,671
5	October 13, 1963	Detroit Lions	W 17–14	27,264
6	October 20, 1963	at New York Giants	L 37–21	62,889
7	October 27, 1963	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 27–21	19,047
8	November 3, 1963	Washington Redskins	W 35–20	18,838
9	November 10, 1963	at San Francisco 49ers	L 31–24	29,563
10	November 17, 1963	Philadelphia Eagles	W 27–20	23,694
11	November 24, 1963	at Cleveland Browns	L 27–17	55,096
12	December 1, 1963	New York Giants	L 34–27	29,653
13	December 8, 1963	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 24–19	24,136
14	December 15, 1963	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 28–24	12,695

Season recap

The Cowboys were expecting to turn their fortunes around and have a good year, but won only 3 of their first 10 games. The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, stands out as a pivotal moment in the season. Not only was the nation's psyche impacted by this event, but also the image of the city of Dallas was tarnished. On November 24, just two days after this historic event, the NFL decided to play its normal schedule of games, with the Cowboys traveling to face the Cleveland Browns. On game day when the team was introduced, the public address announcer would not say the Dallas Cowboys, they were just the Cowboys. The crowd also vented their frustration and pain at the players during the contest. The Cowboys lost that day 17–27 and would go on to have only one more win in the remaining 3 games.

On September 29, 1963, Billy Howton became the NFL's all-time receiving leader, breaking Don Hutson's record for career receptions and receiving yards. He retired at the end of the year, after playing in 12 seasons with 503 catches, 8,459 yards and 61 touchdowns.