A picture sits on an easel in a crowded library. This picture was taken during the 1978 season of the Dallas Cowboys and features several players sitting around legendary Head Coach Tom Landry.

He is surrounded by the likes of wide receiver Drew Pearson and tight end Billy Joe Dupree, both three-time Pro Bowlers.

Standing at the far left just barely in frame and obscured by another player stands Robert Steele, a young wide receiver who made the Cowboys roster after being signed as a free agent, a difficult feat to accomplish.

Steele had been a member of the UNA Lions football team just months earlier, yet he would go from playing at Braly Stadium to playing in Super Bowl XIII in only a year’s time.

“Obviously for me it was a dream come true, first and foremost,” said Steele. “Two, it was extremely humbling, being able to make the Cowboys as a free agent, because they were the ‘world champion’ Cowboys.

“I was able to sit there as a very young person and learn so much from some extremely talented players and talented coaches. [Mike] Ditka was my receivers coach and Coach [Dan] Reeves was my offensive coordinator. These were guys that were really the best in the league.”

Steele referred to the picture mentioned above as the “who’s that” picture, because Pearson once saw the photo and went around the group naming everyone, but when he got to Steele, he said “who’s that?”

Steele was a member of the Lions football team from 1975 through 1977. He said that he was unexpectedly contacted by two separate NFL scouts shortly after graduating from UNA.

One was from the Seattle Seahawks and the other represented the “world champion” Dallas Cowboys, so called because they were the defending Super Bowl champions in 1978.

He would go on to play special teams for the Cowboys, including in the 35-31 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIII.

“The most interesting part of it was when you walked on the field and you saw literally what looked like every person with a camera and every flash was flashing,” said Steele. “It was like a moment in time where you just felt suspended, and it was an eerie feeling.

“That first moment stepping on (the field) was like something you could not even experience or imagine experiencing. It was something that was so surreal that you had to just almost stop and say I really am here.”

Steele would go on to play a season for the Minnesota Vikings during the next season but his career was cut short by injury. He went on on to found a healthcare consulting firm in 2008 called EBET, in which he is the CEO.

He was inspired to tell his underdog story after watching the movie “Invincible” on a flight to San Francisco. The resulting book is called “Steele Here: The Underdog’s Secret to Success.” It was released in paperback at the Florence Public Library last Tuesday, where Steele held a book signing and held a brief conference on his time with the Cowboys.

“It’s funny: when I first got to the Cowboys I told some of the guys that were trying to make the team with me that the Cowboys and UNA were both the same,” said Steele.

“Both football fields are 100 yards long, 55 yards wide and they both have goalposts. The biggest difference was knowing that you’re being paid to play the game; it is a job and every single play could be your last because they don’t have to keep you. If you’re not performing to NFL standards, you can be cut and sent home with no obligation.”

The title of the book came from Coach Landry calling roll during the Cowboys training camp in 1978. One morning when Landry called Steele’s name, he said “here,” to which Pearson called out “You still here?” The book is a memoir and was written by Steele to be a tale of perseverance. In it he mentions both his time at UNA and with the world champion Cowboys.

“I think there is a tradition that is here [at UNA], a heritage from way back,” said Steele.

“When you look back at the Harlon Hill era, and what he did to help put this place on the map, and the great teams of the ‘80s, ‘90s and now with Coach Bowden leading the charge and continuing to keep that winning tradition alive, you see that UNA is so different from back then, but it is because of a lot of hard work from a lot of players over a lot of years.”