Kamal Ghorui
Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman (Getty Images)
The Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s were two very different teams rolled into one. On the field, they were ruthless and disciplined, one of the most dominant franchises the NFL had ever seen. Off it, a good number of them lived by completely different rules. Wide receiver Michael Irvin, who recently opened up about those years on his podcast The White House with Michael Irvin, summed it all up with one story about Troy Aikman that you genuinely could not make up.When asked which player never once showed up to the infamous “White House,” Irvin didn’t skip a beat. “Troy, Troy never came,” he said. And then came the reason.
Was Troy Aikman really different from the Cowboys’ party culture?
“Troy was different. Troy Aikman, dude, I’m telling you, I’ve never seen someone so mature at a young age, man,” Irvin said. “Troy, he was he’s always been that way, man. I mean, we were winning Super Bowls. He would come home, and he would have naked women out of his pool already having a party waiting on him. And Troy would call the police on him.”The locker room reaction the next day was one of pure disbelief. “Dude, this true story, dude,” Irvin added, laughing. “He comes in that locker room, the next thing we were like, what the f***? You had all our numbers. You didn’t call anyone else before you called the police? What are you doing?”ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.For Aikman, though, this was entirely consistent with who he was. During the season, he stuck to a strict routine, studied his playbook, and kept a low profile. He’d reportedly wind down watching Jay Leno before bed rather than heading out. Off the field, he quietly visited sick children and was awarded the 1997 NFL Man of the Year for his work with the Troy Aikman Foundation, which built playrooms in children’s hospitals. Teammate Darren Woodson, who played alongside him from 1992 to 2000, put it simply: “When you talk about leadership skills, you talk about controlling the huddle… [Aikman] is probably the most accurate quarterback I’ve ever seen throw the ball.”
What Was the Dallas Cowboys’ ‘White House’ and How Did It Start?
While Troy Aikman was calling the cops, his teammates were busy building something of a legend nearby. The “White House” was a two-story party house near the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters, and Irvin considered himself its president. It came to life after Jerry Jones replaced strict head coach Jimmy Johnson with Barry Switzer, whose relaxed approach gave players a freedom they had never had before. “Barry came into that locker room, the dynamic, the accountability, the work ethic, that had changed,” former safety James Washington recalled. Switzer himself said what players did off the field was “none of our business.”Irvin recalled the logic behind buying the place: “We were like, ‘Man, we spend a lot of money for these hotels, all of these women.’ So then we said, ‘Let’s do a house.'” The house reportedly had five separate rooms, each with its own scene and atmosphere.
