The first Dallas Cowboys Ron St. Angelo photographed were the Dallas Cowboys'
cheerleaders. It was a good start. Studio shots of the cheerleaders led to photographing
the players, then the games. Today his business card reads, "Official
photographer of the Dallas Cowboys." Ron's been with the team from
the late 1970s, from Landry and Staubach, through Johnson and Aikman, to Parcells
and Testaverde and now Parcells and Bledsoe. Highlights were plenty: a division
playoff in '79, a conference championship game in '80, and Super
Bowl victories in '92, '93, and '95. There were rough times,
too: 3-and-13 in '88, 1-and-15 in '89 come to mind. "I've
been through all the good and bad times," Ron says, "but luckily
for us it's been more up than down."
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Wide
receiver Michael Irvin, 1992.
All Photos © 2005, Ron St. Angelo, All Rights Reserved
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As the Cowboy's designated shooter, Ron has the advantage of pre-game
access to the Cowboy's bench that other photographers may not enjoy, but
at game time he's merely one among many. "When the game starts I
work the field like everybody else," he says. Team practice sessions,
though, can give him an edge. "I'll know the plays they're
working on that week and the areas of concentration. I'll talk to the
coordinators and get a feel for what they're planning. And I have a friendship
with the guy who manages the radio frequencies between the coordinators and
Coach Parcells. He monitors the plays as they're piped in, and if I talk
to him I might get some information. But even the called play isn't necessarily
what happens. Things can break a different way because of the defense's
setup. At the line of scrimmage the quarterback reads the defense, makes an
adjustment--like Drew [Bledsoe] runs a quarterback sneak on fourth down
because he saw a situation. And if I've got the camera on him the whole
way instead of swinging it with the running back, I feel pretty good. There's
a certain amount of luck in this, you know."
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Fullback
Daryl "Moose" Johnston, NFC Championship, 1993.
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Homework tends to reduce the need for luck. "I'll take a look
at the other team's players and what their tendencies are," Ron
says. "I look at a lot of still images, and I monitor the Internet."
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Annual
field photo shoot, Texas Stadium, 2003.
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Defensive
end Greg Ellis, 2001.
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There are tip-offs to the kind of routes receivers will run in certain situations.
If, say, you know that the opposing quarterback doesn't have the strongest
arm, you'll figure he's not going deep. "That holds true for
how the coaches design the plays for a particular player," Ron says. "Vinny
[Testaverde] had a terrific arm. He could throw all the routes and power the
ball in there. Knowing which routes the receivers like to run, that's
important, too. When Michael Irvin was here he ran all those slants. There was
no mystery; Irvin was fairly predictable. It was like he said, here's
what I'm gonna do, see if you can stop me."
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Running
back Emmitt Smith prior to breaking the NFL rushing record, 2002.
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