erbert C. Scott had been accepted by the U.S. Naval Academy when Willard Bailey, then the football coach at Richmond's Virginia Union University, came to visit him in his Virginia Beach home in 1971.

"I went down and talked with him," Bailey told a reporter years later. "I sort of changed his mind."

The persuasive Bailey talked Scott into coming to VUU, a historically back university with a Division II football program, for the opportunity to secure an education and to continue his passion for football.

Scott would thrive at VUU. He got an education that would prepare him for a business career later, and he played football well enough to draw the attention of the pros.

Born in Virginia Beach in 1953, Scott attended Kempsville High School for two years and spent his junior and senior years at Floyd Kellam High.

In high school, Scott was a tight end on the football field. At Virginia Union, Bailey shifted him to offensive guard. The move would last through his successful professional career.

Bailey, now the coach at Saint Paul's College, didn't make the position switch permanent until the final game of Scott's freshman year. Bailey let Scott play tight end in that game, and Scott suffered a broken arm. From that point on, Scott was a guard. No exceptions.

At 6-foot-2, and on his way to 250 pounds, Scott anchored an offensive line that would help the VUU Panthers post a combined 17-3 record his junior and senior seasons. Scott was named All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association first team and earned national Division II All-America honors.

National Football League teams show interest in few small-college players, but Scott was not ignored. The Dallas Cowboys picked him in the 13th round of the 1975 league draft.

Seldom does a player drafted that far down make a significant contribution to a team. Scott was the exception. He made the Cowboys squad and became an important component in one of the best eras of the franchise.

Scott played in three Super Bowls with the Cowboys - two narrow defeats at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers and a resounding 27-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII at the New Orleans Superdome in January, 1978.

He started in the Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game, in 1979, '80 and '81 - three seasons in which the Cowboys logged a 35-13 record. During his 10 seasons with the Cowboys, the team posted a 107-39 record.

Scott retired after the 1984 season. For some pro athletes, retirement offers too few options. But Scott's education - and the work ethic instilled by Bailey and nurtured by Cowboys Coach Tom Landry - gave him the tools to succeed in the corporate world.

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