by Kevin Sherrington, The Dallas Morning News , The Dallas Morning News

Not until he more or less retired from running automobile dealerships at 50 did he take stock of where he'd been and where he'd still like to go.

His first big adventure was the 1963 AFL All-Star Game in San Diego. He slept on a rollaway bed in the hotel room shared by the Texans' Len Dawson and Sherrill Headrick, whom he'd befriended at the North Dallas bowling alley where Headrick worked in the off-season, which tells you how long ago and far away it really was.

Pollard, 68, never missed a Cowboys game in those days, so he was in Miami when Dallas lost Super Bowl V to Baltimore. He's made nine Super Bowls since.

By the time he tried retiring in 1990, Pollard had been to the Masters and a Formula One race and a Final Four and baseball and basketball all-star games and a heavyweight title fight. With nothing better to do, he stepped it up a notch.

Since 1993, the roll call in golf alone includes three U.S. Opens, two more Masters, a Ryder Cup, a British Open and a PGA. He's been to a couple of Stanley Cup Finals, the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the National Finals Rodeo and the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.

He's been to a World Series and a World Cup. He's seen tennis at Flushing Meadows as well as Wimbledon.

Experienced the America's Cup in Valencia. Partied with Austinites at the Tour de France. Considered running with the bulls at Pamplona.

Wisely, only watched.

Best trip: In '94, flew in a private jet on an all-expenses-paid trip for the Lillehammer Olympics, where he stayed in the USOC hotel.

Biggest ticket: Fifteen hundred for the World Cup in Munich, and he doesn't know a thing about soccer.

Best bargain: Fifty bucks for himself and his wife, Charlie, for a pair on the 25 to the 2005 BCS title game between USC and Oklahoma.

Biggest regret: Passing on the '06 title game between Texas and USC because he'd heard a ticket couldn't be had.

Normally, the natural salesman wouldn't think twice about walking up.

"I'd go anywhere in the world without a ticket," he said.

Case in point: On the flight to Atlanta in '87, he met a guy who loaned him a badge for two days of the Masters.

In case you need documentation, he's wallpapered the proof all over his house on the 15th hole of the Northwood Club:

Programs, posters, paintings, pictures, plates, prints, newspaper covers, golf balls, bobblehead dolls, wristwatches, coffee cups, champagne bottles, matchbook covers, the works. It's like trying to find free space on Dennis Rodman.

"My wife's upset with me," Pollard says, opening the door to the laundry room. "She used to have baskets and flowers in here."

Coming up on the list: the Preakness and the French Open this year, and next year, the world's most famous sled race.

He can't pronounce "Iditarod," but he's going, just the same.

"If somebody asks," he says of the philosophy behind it all, "I can say I did that, too."

A LA CARTE

-- If one of the changes Wade Phillips has in mind is getting tougher, here's what a teaching colleague once advised me: Start out tough with your students, because you can always get softer. Try it the other way around, and they'll ignore you. ...

-- First choice if Jerry Jones changes his mind on his head coach: Bill Cowher. But Cowher may not be interested in working for Jerry, and Jerry probably isn't willing to concede what it'd take to get him. Second choice: Mike Shanahan. Here's how Jerry saves face when asked about his strong endorsements of Phillips: Shanahan wasn't available then. ...

-- Nice to see the Mavs playing better. Imagine what they'd do if Josh Howard lived up to what's expected of him. ...

-- No disrespect to Joe Paterno, who should go out as he pleases, but Penn State officials should tell him if he's going to send halftime messages to the team from the Rose Bowl press box, he can do it just as easily from his living room. ...

-- Down in the Alamodome this afternoon, something called Football University is putting on the Youth All-American Bowl. For seventh- and eighth-graders. Ray Lewis III will play. Question: At this rate of exposure, how long before we get to watch Ray IV? ...

-- Check out KKDA-AM's Roger B. Brown weekday evenings on the Homeboy Network. Never can tell who'll show up. ...

-- Jason Garrett is getting interviews. Ray Sherman is getting interviews. Imagine the job possibilities if the Cowboys could win a playoff game. ...

-- Just guessing here, but do you think 60 Minutes' interest in Mike Leach was helped by the fact that Scott Pelley grew up in Lubbock and went to Texas Tech? ...

-- The Fiesta Bowl has been a hard sell, and not just because Texas fans are miffed they aren't in Miami. Two years ago in the BCS title game, an Ohio travel agency booked 13 buses for Glendale, Ariz. This year, the agency needed one. Bad economy? Or Buckeye burnout? ...

-- New Year's resolution: No more Frito pie, at least until next Football season.

To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Dallas Morning News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Copyright 2009 The Dallas Morning News
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.