A few years after picking up his third Super Bowl title, while waiting for a coffee at the Starbucks in Highland Park Village, Troy Aikman found himself in a conversation.
Since Aikman played a little quarterback back in the day, the man was wondering what he thought of the kid right down the street, Matthew Stafford. He’d heard the high school senior was considered the top quarterback in the state and the country.
“I need to let UCLA know about him,” Aikman said of his alma mater.
“Too late," the man replied. “He’s going to Georgia."
That was the day Stafford appeared on Aikman’s radar. In the 17 years since that conversation took place, Stafford led Highland Park to a perfect record and state title, excelled at the University of Georgia and was the first player taken in the 2009 draft. After spending 12 seasons in the NFL wasteland known as Detroit, he was traded to the LA Rams.
A quarterback who had no playoff victories in his time with the Lions has presided over three in the last four weeks. When the Rams take the field at SoFi Stadium Sunday afternoon against Cincinnati in Super Bowl LVI, it will mark the first time the game has been staged in the Los Angeles area in 29 years.
The Cowboys beat Buffalo, 52-17, in that game. The Most Valuable Player was a quarterback making his first appearance in the title game.
Troy Aikman.
“I came here for a new beginning, a new opportunity," Stafford told reporters on his 34th birthday to kickoff this week. “Just because I came here doesn’t mean we were going to get to this point.
“I’m sure on Sunday I’m going to be as excited as I’ve ever been playing a football game. There’s no question about that, understanding the magnitude."
Babe Laufenberg didn’t need a random encounter to hear about the Dallas teenager who was tearing it up. The former backup quarterback for the Cowboys and four other NFL teams was the lead anchor and sports director for KTVT Channel 11 when he went to a Highland Park game to stand on the sidelines and watch Stafford.
Laufenberg played against John Elway in high school. The way Stafford threw the ball at such a young age reminded him of the Denver Hall of Famer.
What was Laufenberg thinking when he walked back to his car later that evening?
“Wow," he said. “Just wow.
“He was as good of a high school quarterback as I had seen. He probably had a stronger arm as a high school senior than half of the guys in the NFL at that time. You knew five passes in, just the velocity, the way he spun it."
Laufenberg paused.
“I said five," he said. “I meant two. If it took you five passes to know that, you were sleeping.
“I looked at Matthew Stafford and thought, ‘OK, if that kid doesn’t make it, someone screwed him up."'
A few years after his conversation over coffee, Aikman was having dinner at Mi Cocina when a friend pointed out that Stafford and his mother were sitting at a table on the other side of the restaurant. Aikman went over to introduce himself.
“You’re the guy I’ve been hearing so much about over the last several years," Aikman said.
The two have been friends since.
Stafford and the Lions were in town to play the Cowboys during the 2016 season. Laufenberg was having dinner at Coal Vines in Uptown when he noticed a large group of people get up and leave. The manager came over and told Laufenberg that Stafford was in the group.
The next day, Laufenberg walked over to Stafford during pre-game warm ups to introduce himself and tell him they dined at the same restaurant.
“Yeah, I saw you," Stafford told the color analyst for the Cowboys radio broadcasts. “But I didn’t know if you would know who I was."
Laufenberg laughed.
“That’s kinda how he is," he said.
It took longer than he hoped. But the promise Stafford showed during his days at Highland Park will now be on display in the Super Bowl.
Aikman, in his role at FOX, interviewed Stafford before the network broadcast a Rams game in Week Three.
“I asked him what his experience was like with the Rams," Aikman remembered. “He said, you know, this is what I had always envisioned the NFL to be.
“Knowing where he is now, in the Super Bowl, I can only imagine what his visions are of the NFL now compared to the years he spent in Detroit. I know being a Lion was really important to him and I know he wanted to have this same success in Detroit. It didn’t happen.
“When he got traded…anything short of where they are right now, it would have been regarded as a not so great trade. So he’s lived up to it. He’s played great in the postseason.
“I couldn’t be happier for him."
