By Mike Ramczyk
For the 14th consecutive summer, 1998 Burlington High School graduate Tony Romo returned home last week for his annual football camp.
But this year, the camp took on a much different feel.
The press conference, which featured several Milwaukee-area TV stations and newspapers from the tri-county area, focused on Romo the former National Football League player for the first time.
Romo, 37, recently retired from the Dallas Cowboys after 14 seasons to join the lead Sunday NFL broadcast team at CBS.
After multiple Pro Bowl selections and several Cowboys passing records, Romo is finally ready to settle down and ride off into the sunset with his wife, Candace, boys Hawkins and Rivers, and a third child expected in August.
An upbeat Romo, with his 5- and 3-year-old boys sitting on his lap, addressed a room of roughly 25 media and fans on the east end of Burlington High School’s football field.
Fighting back his kids’ propensity to steal the microphone away from daddy, Romo candidly reminisced on his football beginnings with late coach Don Dalton, his decision to leave football and his aspirations for his second career.
Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Romo along with a plethora of local football coaches instilled fundamentals and techniques for third- through 12th-graders.
Here’s a transcription of the press conference from Southern Lakes Newspapers Sports Editor Mike Ramczyk:
On retirement?
TR: My wife talks about athletes dying two deaths – the natural one that we all do and what you did for your life’s work. It’s going to end at some point, but I don’t think you’re ever truly prepared. These guys (gestures to kids) help a little bit. I’m excited about the next opportunity, and it’s a challenge. It’s going to be fun.
On broadcasting so far?
TR: You’re not going to learn everything until you get out there and do the games. A lot of it will be learned through experience. I need to work hard, and try to study from people who are great at what they’ve done.
How different has this offseason been?
TR: It’s been different. It’s been the same schedule for 15 years, but I do think it’s the next part of what you want to do. I’m lucky enough that someone wants me to do something. It’s been good.
Is it a relief to not have to do training camp?
TR: Relief isn’t the right word. It’s more just, I’ve immersed myself in the next thing, and that takes your brain off it. I couldn’t imagine if I retired and didn’t have something else going.
On a possible return to NFL?
TR: I’m shocked you guys asked that question. I don’t think of it like that. I know it seems silly, but I feel comfortable with where I’m at. I’ve got two kids that talk way too much (kids haven’t uttered a word). I feel good about the decision. You never know how you’re going to feel until you do it. I’m excited about the challenge at CBS, it’s going to be difficult, but I hope I can be good at it at some point.
What does Burlington mean to you?
TR: Burlington always means home. It means family, it means small town, and it means community. I live in Dallas, I’ll be there for good, but every time I come home, I’ll feel the warmth and the love and the aspect of knowing you always have something to come back to. That’s a special thing, not everybody has that.
On Don Dalton, legendary BHS football coach who passed away June 19?
TR: Don Dalton was probably the biggest legend to ever come through here. Anybody who knew Don knows how much he meant to this community and this school. Personally, I don’t play football if it wasn’t for Don Dalton.
I went out for soccer my freshman year. We couldn’t even field a freshman team. We had six guys. OK, I was like, what am I going to do in the fall? Don came up to me two weeks into training camp and told me to come out for the team.
I was waiting to play basketball at the time. They don’t let guys show up two weeks into training camp and join the team, unless you moved in or something. He pretended like, “You know, I’ll make some calls, slash walk down the hall and tell (head coach) Gerber what he was going to do.”
He’s Don Dalton; he can pretty much do what he wants. He got me right after school and told me to be there Wednesday, next week.
And that was literally how I started playing football.
It started with Don Dalton. He saw something in me and knew I had a chance to be a decent player. Freshman year, I went out for like three weeks. I played safety and like the eighth-string quarterback for maybe a day.
Sophomore year, I broke my finger on the second day and didn’t play. I wasn’t going to play football again, but Dalton and Gerber convinced me to play. Dalton touched a lot of lives like that. Without him, I’m not playing football. He will be missed.
How was Dalton off the field?
TR: You see in all these coaches now, they’re all disciples of Don Dalton. Through their coaching and teaching, and they were influenced by Don. Hans Block, Gerber, and Steve Tenhagen, they all started with him.
It’s hard to put into words what someone like that really means to a school. He’s bigger than life around here. It’s his passion, but it’s the way he ran it. He was going to run his system, and you were going to do it. He was tough, but tough love in a good way, like the way a father should be. He cared about his kids, and he cared about the game.
It was a great example to everyone.
How excited are you for your third child?
TR: We’re excited, a third baby boy on the way. We’re almost to the basketball team at this point. It’ll be probably the end of August, around the 28th or 29th.
Any names you really wanted?
TR: Tony was one of them, but that kind of got poo pooed pretty early.
Were you amazed the video of you playing catch went viral?
TR: Kids are just God’s gift. When you have kids, you recognize the enjoyment of it. First few months, they’re a little bit of work, but then they get really fun. They’re good kids, and every day I come home, it’s a new day, and anyone that has them at this age knows.
Did your kids affect your decision to retire?
TR: Yeah it did. These kids like to play. They like to play sports, they run around and tackle dad – while he’s sleeping sometimes.
They want me to be active, and that played a little bit of a role. You always want to get out a year or two early, rather than a year or two late. We all say that, it’ just really hard to do.
There are a lot of reasons I retired. Big decisions in life, you want to make sure you don’t make them quickly or emotionally. Usually, they end up revealing themselves.
I’m in the best shape of my life. My routine doesn’t change too much. Once I had the back surgery, I’ve had to adjust.
It’s pretty cool kids can get this kind of guidance for $25.
TR: You have to watch what you tell kids, because I remember when someone would come back from Whitewater and tell me something and it was Gospel.
You have to tell them fundamental things because I’m not going to be here every day. You have to say things that can hold up for a year or two. You can hurt them if they try to do something that’s wrong. There’s a lot of quarterback coaching out there that I disagree with. Kids are trying to emulate it, and they get better at that thing that’s not right.
It’s a little bit deeper than ‘step into your throw.’ I get more into technique with kids who are a little more advanced.
Some kids just need to figure out the right way to grip a football.
What do teammates think now that you’re joining the dark side with the media?
TR: Now all of a sudden they love you.
Now they know you can control whether they played well or not.
The nice thing is you can let people know about someone who’s doing a really good job that they didn’t know about.
What’s one of your favorite high school memories playing at Burlington?
TR: We lost in the state semifinals my junior year at Cudahy. It was a close game, and we feel we should’ve won.
It was a Saturday afternoon game, and it was Steve (Tenhagen’s) final game, and we were hanging out with his brother Jeff in the basement after the game watching “The Program.”
There’s a scene where music by the BoDeans is playing, and it’s emotional, and we literally all started crying at the same time. It’s over, but you did it all together.
You put it all out there. That forges relationships that stand the test of time. Those moments are literally what you remember. As much as how great the games are, it’s the relationships. I can remember that clear as yesterday, and it’s one of my favorite moments.
Did the high school perspective help in your NFL career?
TR: I always had the attitude like I never arrived. The game is difficult, and if you’re lucky enough to play for a long time, you recognize how unique that is. You have to work hard to be any good. When you come from Burlington, Wisconsin, and Eastern Illinois on a half-scholarship, you recognize that life isn’t always the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.
At any point, that can be taken away. You appreciate it, and you grind.
Do you anticipate working any Cowboys games, and do you think you could get the “itch” to play again?
TR: Well, Ramczyk, I don’t know (room laughs). For me, the itch isn’t there. Everyone tells you there’s always an itch.
But right now, I literally feel anxious with the analyst role. It’s going to feel like you’re playing in your first game again.
That’s exciting, it’s also nerve-wracking.
There are people who think you’re going to do good or bad, but that’s what makes it fun.
Did you go to broadcasting training camp?
TR: That’s a great question. Those are my secrets. I don’t like just hoping. It’s very seldom I’m put in a position where people are able to evaluate you, where I will randomly hope.
Are you still golfing?
TR: It depends on the day. I am playing in a little tournament up North in Wisconsin with my dad this weekend.
What will you remember the most about the NFL?
TR: There’s a million things. There are so many unbelievable things you get to do. The environments, just playing the game. The friendships you built. My friendship with Jason Witten will be the one thing that will stand the test of time.
It’s one of the greatest things I’ll have accomplished, weirdly, is just that connection playing in our biggest moments. We could talk about them until 4 in the morning every night.
I was lucky to have him as a teammate and as a friend.
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