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Last modified: 07:47 PM CDT on Thursday, October 17, 2002
Former Cowboys' trumpeter Tommy Loy dies
10/17/2002
By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News
Tommy Loy, who for 22 years opened Dallas Cowboys home
games with a solo trumpet rendition of the national anthem, died Thursday of
pancreatic and liver cancer at his Plano home. He was 72.
Mr. Loy started a Tom Landry-era Cowboys tradition when he
played before the start of the nationally televised game on Thanksgiving Day
1966. He became so well known that his last name was once the answer to a
New York Times crossword puzzle clue: Cowboys trumpeter.
A memorial will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Sparkman/Hillcrest
Funeral Home, 7405 W. Northwest Highway.
Trumpeter Tommy Loy played during the Tom Landry
memorial service at the Meyerson on Feb. 17, 2000.
(FILE 2000 / DMN)
A household name to a generation of Cowboys fans, Mr. Loy
was nationally known for his work as a recording engineer, said his
daughter, Lisa Loy Laughlin of University Park. He also made voice-over
recordings for commercials, but his passion was playing the trumpet and
French horn.
“Dad was a musician first, and he did these other jobs to
have other work,” his daughter said.
Born in Denison, Texas, Mr. Loy received his first trumpet
when he was 9 years old.
“As a young boy, he had an ear for it,” his daughter said.
Mr. Loy began playing in the Dallas area in 1947 as a
freshman at Southern Methodist University, where he studied music. He
graduated in 1955 after serving in the Air Force.
Since then, he has been the featured trumpeter with
various bands, playing Dixieland, jazz and classical music.
He played with Cell Block 7, a Dixieland band that
performed in prison-striped pajamas. The group almost made it on The Ed
Sullivan Show but was cut at the last minute when time ran out.
From 1961 to 1974 Mr. Loy was a featured performer with Ed
Bernet and the Dixieland 7 at The Levee, a Dallas nightspot near the SMU
campus.
Also Online
Video: Tommy Loy plays the National Anthem
at the Tom Landry memorial service, Feb. 2000
But it was the Thanksgiving Day game that made Mr. Loy
famous. The team owner at the time, Clint Murchison, wanted something
different for the Cowboys’ first color broadcast at the Cotton Bowl.
The day before the game, a friend tipped him off about the
tryouts, being held five hours before kickoff.
Mr. Loy played his solo, competing against a high school
band. He thought the students were a lock and decided the audition wasn’t a
total loss because he’d get to see the game. He hadn’t been able to get a
ticket.
Then, five minutes before game time, he learned he had the
job.
“I didn’t have time to get nervous, so I just marched out
to the 50-yard line and played it,” he once said.
Mr. Loy’s crisp style was the trademark of his pre-game
solo.
“I play it pretty brightly, which is the way it’s meant to
be played,” he said. “The Star Spangled Banner is not a ballad.”
The trumpeter was among those cut when Jerry Jones bought
the Cowboys from H.R. “Bum” Bright. Mr. Loy later was offered a chance play
for the new Cowboys organization but declined.
“Jerry Jones came in and screwed up the whole thing,” Mr.
Loy’s daughter said.
In a fitting tribute to the team’s former coach, Mr. Loy
played at Mr. Landry’s funeral in February 2000.
His favorite performance, according to his family, was
Super Bowl V in Miami, where Dallas lost to Baltimore.
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Loy is survived by his
wife, Shirley Loy of Plano; his first wife, Carolyn Loy of University Park;
daughters Lindi Loy Boyer of University Park, Lewelen Loy Empie of Melissa,
Texas, and Laura Loy Capps of Dallas; four step-daughters, Leigh Chilton of
Phoenix, Ariz., Julie Vines of Plano, Fran Chapman of San Mateo, Calif., and
Adair Thompson of Plano; and 14 grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the SPCA, 362 S. Industrial
Blvd., Dallas, TX 75207; or the SMU Mustang Band, P.O. Box 750493, Dallas,
TX 75275-0493.
E-mail jsimnacher@dallasnews.com
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