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Tom Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football coach, player, and World War II veteran. Regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons.

In King of the Hill, Tom Landry is one of Hank Hill's role models whom he looks up to, and in Arlen, Texas, one of the city's middle schools, Tom Landry Middle School, is named after him.

History[]

Season 3[]

In "Hank's Cowboy Movie", Hank privately talked to his inanimate Tom Landry plates and lamented that he apparently could not get his son Bobby to like Arlen as much as he did. Although Bobby had no negative opinion of Arlen, he and Peggy were baffled that Hank was talking to the plate.

Season 4[]

In the episode "Hillennium", when Hank passed out in his garage before New Year's after inhaling varnish which he was using, he had a dream sequence where he and other people (including Bobby) were anthropomorphic moles inside of a whack-a-mole arcade machine. When Hank intentionally avoided putting his head outside the machine due to fear about the unknown, Tom Landry suddenly appeared nearby, sitting on a peg. Landry greeted the surprised Hank, who had a poster of him in his garage and warned him about the peg and gear system that would raise him outside of the machine. Stating that he was aware, Landry told Hank that he did not get hit every time he popped out, saying that by going outside, he got the opportunity to get sunshine, fresh air, and see football on the TV. Feeling that his peg was raising, Landry prepared to pop out and saw "Troy" and the Dallas Cowboys playing. Hearing Landry's wisdom, Hank assured his son that their future would be all right, but he woke up as soon as his head popped out.

Later, in "Movin' On Up", Hank hung up a picture of Tom Landry in his den after Luanne moved out of his house.

Season 5[]

In "Yankee Hankee", while Hank was waiting for Dale to find his birth certificate for him, he had doubts about Cotton being his real dad. He even speculated that Landry could be his father, reasoning that he had his strong chin and a predilection for the flex defense. Hearing his comment, Dale responded that he needed his social security number before they could potentially sue the Landry estate for child support.

Season 8[]

In "Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon" an excited Hank told Bobby that he was finally entering the Grill-Off competition at the State Fair of Texas and that it was just like in his dreams, except in the dream he was wearing Tom Landry's hat.

Season 11[]

In "Hank Gets Dusted", sometime later after Landry had passed away in 2000, Hank remarked that before Landry's death, his cousin Dusty Hill pranked him by claiming that Landry had died. When Landry actually passed away, Hank did not believe it because of Dusty's previous claim and went to work anyway, finding out soon after that Dusty had lied. Later on, Hank commented that he still felt mortified by the incident.

Season 12[]

In "Trans-Fascism", after hearing that his son Bobby was punished with detention for chewing gum in class, in addition to helping his boss Buck Strickland break the law with an illegal food truck business, Hank had another conflict within his mind. While sleeping, Hank had a dream where he was inside an airplane during a WWII dogfight in Nazi-occupied Europe. Entering the cockpit, he was surprised to see Landry piloting the plane, asking him what he was doing. Looking forward, Landry nonchalantly replied that he was helping George Washington and Abraham Lincoln liberate Europe from Nazi Germany's rule. Seeing Hank wonder why he was in the dream, Landry informed him that he and the other two historical figures were against Hank breaking the law by helping his boss's illegal business. Confused, Hank pointed out that all three men broke the law in their own way, with Landry in particular breaking NFL rules with his revolutionary flex defense. When Washington and Lincoln criticized Hank and Bobby's law-breaking, he clarified that he thought they would be proud of him, but Landry coldly answered that he was not proud at all. Suddenly, a Luftwaffe plane began shooting at them, damaging their plane's wing engines to make it fall, waking Hank up from his dream. Because of Landry's vision, Hank decided that he would no longer help out Buck and later helped Nancy Gribble expose the illegal food truck business.

Episode appearances[]

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