Daryl “Moose” Johnston came to Texas Wesleyan on Thursday, and encouraged students to find their passion in life.

Johnston, who played fullback for the Dallas Cowboys during their glory days in the 1990s, told around 75 people at Martin Hall that he pushed himself to be the best version of himself.

“I think the biggest mistake people make is they don’t understand who they are and what they can do,” Johnston told well-known Metroplex sports journalist Scott Murray. “That is one of the most important things to becoming the best you can be.”

Johnston and Murray discussed several topics – but mainly Johnston’s career – during the second edition of the Marjorie Herrera Lewis Endowed Speaker Series. Herrera Lewis covered a variety of local sports teams, including the Cowboys and the Texas Rangers, for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News.

She did not speak during the event. Johnston and Murray were introduced by Beverly Volkman Powell, a Wesleyan graduate and chairman of the board of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees.

“These two men are two of the best in their respective fields,” Powell said. “Scott Murray has won Emmy awards and Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston has won three Super Bowls as well as become a successful broadcaster.”

Johnston, who is currently a FOX sports broadcaster covering the NFL, told the audience that he was just as good at soccer as he was at football.

“I never really dreamed that I would play in the NFL,” Johnston said. “I started on the high school JV soccer team when I was in eighth grade and many people thought that was the road I should take.”

Johnston also talked about how he ended up at Syracuse University instead of attending Cornell University, which is where he thought he would go.

“Well, if I would have to say the real reason I went to Syracuse is because a Division III coach laughed at me when I said they were recruiting me,” Johnston said. “The coach told me I would never start at a place like Syracuse and I wanted to prove him wrong.”

Near the end of the hour-plus event, Murray said that Johnston is one of the nicest athletes he has met during a long career of covering sports in the Metroplex.

“Daryl is a great father and public figure as well as a broadcaster and when I had him on a while back I thought he could have taken over my job once he left the NFL,” Murray said.

At the end of the event, Wesleyan’s head football coach Joe Prud’homme handed both Murray and Johnston gift bags that included a Wesleyan football shirt.