Tuesday, February 17, 1998

Cowboys apparently taking training camp to Wichita Falls

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) - This North Texas city near the Oklahoma border is apparently the new training camp home of the Dallas Cowboys.

The team, which has trained in Austin for eight years, has scheduled a news conference for today at the campus of Midwestern State University, a NCAA Division II school in the Lone Star Conference.

Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels confirmed the 11 a.m. news conference is about training camp, and said team owner Jerry Jones and new coach Chan Gailey will attend.

Everyone involved in the negotiations was mum Monday about whether Wichita Falls was the new training site, but the Wichita Falls Times and Record News quoted a source in Dallas who confirmed the decision.

The paper also quoted a member of the Wichita Falls lobbying committee, who said, "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know why they (Jones and Gailey) are coming. We know this - it must be good news, otherwise they would call and give us the bad news by telephone." The committee member asked to remain anonymous.

Midwestern State President Dr. Louis J. Rodriguez said the university will improve its practice fields for the Cowboys - if they come, that is.

"The Cowboys are the premiere sports franchise in the world," Rodriguez said, "We will start work immediately, if it comes about. We have a lot of work to do."

The team announced in September it would leave Austin's St. Edward's University because of a lack of space at the private Catholic college. Both sides said it had nothing to do with several thousand dollars' worth of damage that players caused in dormitory rooms at the end of last summer.

The team also considered El Paso, Arlington, San Antonio, Tyler and other sites in Austin.

The Cowboys previously trained in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Following the official announcement today, the Cowboys' representatives will participate in luncheon and a tour of the campus. A media advisory from the Cowboys public relations office Monday afternoon said the campus tour would also include a sight survey for television live shots and truck parking.

Wichita Falls is 125 miles northwest of Dallas, just a few miles south of the Oklahoma border.