Roger Staubach Net Worth

What Is Roger Staubach's Net Worth?

Roger Staubach is a former American football quarterback, businessman, and Hall of Famer who has a net worth of $600 million. Roger Staubach is one of the most respected figures in NFL history. After serving in the U.S. Navy, including a tour in Vietnam, Staubach joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1969 at age 27. Over the next decade, he became synonymous with leadership, poise, and late-game heroics, earning the nickname "Captain America." Staubach led the Cowboys to six NFC Championship games and two Super Bowl victories (VI and XII), earning Super Bowl MVP honors in 1972. Known for his scrambling ability, accuracy, and calm under pressure, he was one of the NFL's first true dual-threat quarterbacks and set numerous passing and rushing records for his era.

Staubach retired in 1979 after 11 seasons, having thrown for over 22,000 yards and 153 touchdowns with a .746 winning percentage as a starter—one of the highest in NFL history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, cementing his status as one of the league's all-time greats. Beyond statistics, Staubach's character and work ethic made him a symbol of integrity in professional sports.

Following football, Staubach built an enormously successful real estate empire. He founded The Staubach Company in 1977, specializing in commercial real estate and tenant representation. The company grew into one of the nation's leading firms before being sold to Jones Lang LaSalle in 2008 for roughly $613 million, making Staubach one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world. His transition from athlete to business leader is often cited as a model for professional success after sports. Combining athletic excellence, military service, and business acumen, Roger Staubach remains a rare example of achievement across multiple arenas.

Early Life

Roger Thomas Staubach was born on February 5, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the only child of Elizabeth and Robert Staubach. Roger grew up in Silverton, a northeastern suburb of Cincinnati. He graduated from Purcell High School (now Purcell Marian High School), a Catholic high school in Cincinnati, in 1960.

College Career

Staubach entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1961 after spending one year at the New Mexico Military Institute. He joined the Navy Midshipmen football team in the quarterback position and played his first game in 1962 when he was a third-class midshipman (sophomore) in the third game of the season against the University of Minnesota. In his debut game, he relieved the starter Ron Klemick, although they ultimately lost to Minnesota 21-0. A few weeks later, Staubach was given the opportunity to start in the famous Army-Navy game, where President John F. Kennedy performed the coin toss. Roger led his team to a 31-14 victory over Army.

Staubach continued to perform well throughout his college career. During his second class (junior) season in 1963, he led the Midshipmen to a final ranking of No. 2 in the country after losing out on New Year's Day to the No. 1 team, the University of Texas, in the 1964 Cotton Bowl. During his junior season, he also received widespread praise and recognition, winning the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy and gracing the cover of "Time" magazine in October 1963. In total, during his three seasons at Navy, Staubach completed 292 of 463 passes, 18 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. He also set a school record at the time, with 4,253 yards of total offense. He was accepted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981, and in 2007, he was ranked #9 by ESPN on their "Top 25 Players in College Football History" list.

Military Service

Staubach was diagnosed with color blindness during his junior year at the Naval Academy. As a result, he was commissioned directly into the Supply Corps, where his inability to distinguish between red and green lights was not an issue. Following his graduation from the Naval Academy in June 1965, he chose to volunteer for a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam. He served until September 1967 as a Supply Corps officer at the Chu Lai base/port, supervising 41 enlisted men. He finished out the remainder of his naval career in the United States, where he played football on various service teams to prepare for a future career in the NFL.

Professional Career

The Dallas Cowboys selected Staubach in the 1964 NFL Draft as a tenth-round "future" selection. The NFL had allowed them to draft Staubach one his before his college eligibility was over because it had already been four years since he was in high school. However, he did not play professional football until 1969, after he had completed his four-year military commitment, when he debuted as a 27-year-old rookie.

After a few games alternating with Craig Morton as quarterback, Staubach assumed the position full-time during week eight of the 1971 season. He would go on to lead the Cowboys to ten consecutive victories, including the team's first Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl VI in January 1972 over the Miami Dolphins. Following this successful season, Staubach negotiated his own contract, landing a three-year deal estimated at around $75,000 a year.

Roger was forced to vacate the position of quarterback for most of the 1972 season due to a separated shoulder, but returned in a divisional playoff against the San Francisco 49ers, throwing two touchdown passes in the last 90 seconds of the game to win 30-28. He would remain as the starting quarterback for the rest of his career, including in 1977, when he led the Cowboys to their second Super Bowl win in Super Bowl XII, beating the Denver Broncos.

Ultimately, after 11 NFL seasons spent with the Dallas Cowboys, with 1,685 completions for 22,700 yards, 153 touchdowns, and 109 interceptions, Staubach announced his retirement in 1979 and officially left football in March 1980. The main reason behind his retirement was a warning from his doctor regarding his health, after he suffered twenty concussions during his career, and the serious consequences if he were to suffer another head injury.

Contracts, Salaries & Career Earnings

Roger Staubach's NFL earnings were remarkably modest by modern standards. When he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1969 as a 27-year-old rookie, he earned just $25,000 for the season—roughly equivalent to about $215,000 today. Even as he became one of the league's most accomplished quarterbacks, his salaries never approached the multimillion-dollar deals of later generations. Throughout the 1970s, the average NFL salary hovered below $50,000, and Staubach's highest annual paycheck reportedly topped out at around $160,000.

After leading Dallas to victory in Super Bowl VI, Staubach negotiated his own three-year contract worth approximately $75,000 per year, a respectable sum for the era but a fraction of what his successors would earn. At one point, near the end of his career in 1979, the Cowboys offered him a two-year, $750,000 extension to continue playing. Staubach turned it down, choosing instead to retire and focus full-time on his real-estate business—a decision that would ultimately make him far wealthier than any NFL contract could.

Over eleven seasons, Staubach's total on-field earnings amounted to well under $2 million. By comparison, many modern quarterbacks make more than that in a single game. Yet his disciplined financial approach during and after football, coupled with his military background and entrepreneurial drive, allowed him to build a fortune that dwarfed his NFL paychecks. Every dollar he earned on the field was effectively the seed capital for what would later become a $600 million real-estate empire.

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Business Career

Learning the Ropes in Real Estate

During his playing days with the Cowboys, Roger Staubach approached the offseason differently than most of his teammates. While others rested or vacationed, he put on a suit and went to work. In 1970, with a wife and growing family to support, Staubach began working at the Henry S. Miller Company, one of Texas's top commercial real estate firms. He joined the insurance division so he could earn on commission while still attending team workouts in the afternoons. Staubach quickly earned his real estate license and proved to be a natural in the business world. After leading the Cowboys to a Super Bowl win in 1971, he received a telegram from Henry Miller himself promoting him to vice president.

Over six offseasons at the firm, Staubach learned the fundamentals of commercial real estate and developed an idea that would eventually define his business empire. He questioned why brokers focused solely on representing landlords and decided there was an untapped opportunity in representing tenants—helping companies find the best possible space rather than pushing them toward a firm's own listings. It was a simple but transformative idea that set the foundation for his future success.

Founding The Staubach Company

In 1977, while still an active player, Staubach launched The Staubach Company. He started with just five employees and a focus on tenant representation for office and industrial clients. At the time, the concept was still relatively new in the commercial real estate world, but Staubach believed that advocating for tenants rather than landlords would create lasting relationships built on trust. His instincts proved right.

By the early 1980s, The Staubach Company was landing major corporate clients such as Commercial Metals and Steak & Ale. Staubach's reputation as a disciplined leader helped open doors, but it was his firm's results that sustained the business. He created a culture of shared ownership by offering equity stakes to regional partners, allowing them to share both profits and losses. That model fueled rapid growth throughout the 1990s and 2000s as the firm expanded into dozens of markets across North America.

By 2007, The Staubach Company had grown to roughly 1,500 employees across 70 offices and was handling more than $28 billion in transactions annually. What began as an offseason side job had evolved into a national real estate powerhouse.

The Sale to Jones Lang LaSalle

In 2008, recognizing that his clients were increasingly operating globally, Staubach agreed to merge The Staubach Company with Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). The deal was structured as a multi-year buyout valued at roughly $650 million, including an initial payment of $613 million and additional performance-based earn-outs over several years.

Staubach ensured that the success of the company was shared widely. More than 300 employees held equity in the firm, thanks to the ownership model he had implemented. When the merger closed, hundreds of longtime staffers received life-changing payouts. Staubach himself remained with JLL as Executive Chairman of the Americas division, helping oversee integration and maintaining client relationships. At one point during this period, he was earning an estimated $12 million per year in salary and bonuses, making him the highest-paid retired athlete in the world.

He finally stepped down from JLL in 2018, more than four decades after he first entered the real estate business. The company's success cemented his reputation not only as one of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks but also as one of the most accomplished athlete-entrepreneurs in history.

Other Ventures and Ongoing Legacy

Not all of Staubach's ventures were sold in the JLL deal. His retail brokerage division, Staubach Retail Services, and development arm, Cypress Equities, continued independently. Staubach Retail was later rebranded as SRS Real Estate Partners, which still operates nationwide and remains one of the largest retail tenant representation firms in the United States. Cypress Equities continues to develop major retail and mixed-use properties under the leadership of his longtime partner Chris Maguire.

Staubach's success also allowed him to pursue other ventures, including co-owning the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series team Hall of Fame Racing alongside fellow former Cowboy Troy Aikman. Today, his family manages Staubach Capital, a Dallas-based investment firm led by his daughter and son.

Personal Life

Staubach has been married to his wife, Marianne, since September 4, 1965. Together, they have five children.

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