Schramm to Head NFL’s International League

Tex Schramm, the architect of “America’s team,” took on the job of transplanting the interest in the National Football League overseas when he resigned Tuesday as president of the Dallas Cowboys to head the experimental International Football League.

The man who ran the Cowboys for all of their first 29 years turned in his resignation on the day NFL owners unanimously approved the sale of the franchise to Arkansas oilman Jerry Jones.

Although it appeared to be an amicable parting--”We’re flying back to Dallas together,” Schramm said--there was no alternative because Jones has taken over control of the team.

“I still wanted to make something work with Jerry after that happened,” Schramm said. “But I had to be realistic. Nothing was going to be the same and I had to move on.”

The NFL hopes that the new league will popularize the sport around the world while serving as a feeder league.