A unique piece of NFL memorabilia will be auctioned on Sunday. While bidders for this twenty-year-old football will no doubt focus on the importance it has to the man who threw it, Cowboys fans have an additional connection with the player who caught it in the 2001 season.
The ball from Tom Brady’s first professional touchdown throw has been in the hands of a private seller since October 14 of this year, the day the Patriots wide receiver shot it into the stands at the old Foxboro Stadium.
Terry Glenn, who played for the Cowboys from 2003 to 2007, was Brady’s target in that regard. After Glenn went down with the throw, he went to the back end zone and threw it into the crowd, unaware that one day the ball would be considered a valuable piece of NFL history.
Tom Brady’s first TD career pass to Terry Glenn.
RIP to this legend pic.twitter.com/0RzsKoWlyY
– Patriot Militia (@PatsMilitia) 20th November 2017
“It was hand-to-hand combat. I got up in my seat and pushed my buddy to the left, ”the anonymous salesman said in a fascinating ESPN article about the ball’s journey in the years since then. “I gently passed my beer to the other two. I jumped up, fought with a group of other fans around me, and hit the ground with the ball. “
After catching (and then giving away) Brady’s first touchdown pass, Glenn finished the 2001 season in New England and then spent 2002 at Green Bay.
He was traded to Dallas in 2003, where he was reunited with former Patriots coach Bill Parcells and later quarterback Drew Bledsoe. He was fired by the Cowboys before the start of the 2008 season on concerns about a knee injury.
Glenn tragically died in a car accident near Dallas in late 2017. In 54 games as a cowboy, Glenn caught 208 balls for 3,337 yards and 20 scores.
But it’s one he got from Tom Brady – the very first touchdown of the greatest who ever played the position – who will undoubtedly make a handsome sum if he hits the auction block this weekend.
