HORSESHOE BAY, Texas – Marianne and Roger Staubach are preparing for the happy onslaught of kids, spouses and grandkids for the Fourth of July weekend at their vacation home on Lake LBJ.

Mr. Staubach just sold his commercial real estate company for at least $613 million – perhaps more, if the company continues to perform.

His personal take could be up to $87.2 million, with more than 300 company insiders divvying up the rest.

But the name Staubach Co. will disappear – absorbed by the purchaser, Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

CHRIS CARSON/Special Contributor

Roger and Marianne and Roger Staubach married 42 years ago, when he was fresh out of the Naval Academy and she was a newly minted nurse. They've owned their lake house since 1985 and remodeled and expanded it so there's space for their five children, their spouses and 13 grandchildren.

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Nobody's quite certain how the 66-year-old star-quarterback- turned-real-estate-ace really feels about this.

"I've asked Roger several times if he's OK," says Mrs. Staubach, looking quizzically at the man she's known since both were in the fourth grade in Cincinnati. "He says he is."

He ignores our visual inquiries and says he never wanted to name the company Staubach.

"I was football. It was real estate. Somebody talked me into it," Mr. Staubach says.

Then he smiles and adds: "When we opened the office in Washington, there was all the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry. Now that was fun. That office has always been one of our top performers."

"Sustainability," says Mr. Staubach as he settles on the back porch to chat. "I didn't see how we could remain sustainable under our current situation. We're committed to being a global real estate firm, but we can't get to that level on our own. That's why this came about."

The world of real estate has changed dramatically since 1971, when the 29-year-old Dallas Cowboys quarterback went to work for real estate legend Henry S. Miller Jr. to supplement his football salary. Even future Hall of Famers needed financial padding back then. In his final playing days, Mr. Staubach made about $225,000 a year.

Mr. Staubach started his own company in 1977, brokering real estate the usual way: representing landlords and trying to find renters. Five years later, he turned the tables by representing tenants in office, industrial and retail transactions – considered quite an innovation then.

Over the years, Staubach Co. handled some of the largest local commercial property transactions on record, including the moves of Exxon Corp. (now Exxon Mobil) and GTE Telephone (now Verizon) to Irving.

By 1993, his company had revenue of $20-plus million. In fiscal 2008, ended last month, it had $550 million in revenue generated by 1,600 employees in 70-plus North American offices.

But its domestic-based customers now need help with sites around the world. As well-known as Staubach Co. was nationally, it didn't have the clout to take on the three largest globetrotters: CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Staubach Co.'s partnership with a foreign real estate firm wasn't cutting it.

Consequently, it was losing out to the Big Three. And everyone knows Roger Staubach hates to lose.

But he didn't put out a for-sale sign.

"We had people come to us," he said. Most wanted the Staubach brand and little else – "something for nothing," as he puts it.

More important to him was preserving the business, its people and the culture. He wanted his company to be part of a winning team as playmakers, not benchwarmers.

That's what Jones Lang LaSalle wants, too, he says.

"If we had done something with someone else, we would have just disappeared."

Mr. Staubach's 5-year-old black Lab, Ryan, bounds in with her rubber ball, putting our conversation on pause. (She's named after Father Joe Ryan, a military chaplain and Vietnam buddy, who died six years ago.)

"She'll drive you crazy," he says, mindlessly throwing her ball just short of the water's edge.

Then he returns to business at hand. "The most important part is: Is this the right move for our company and our people?" he says. "I believe it is."

Last June, Mr. Staubach stepped down as his firm's chief executive, remaining as executive chairman. It was part of a restructuring that brought 68 licensed U.S. offices under the Staubach corporate umbrella. Mr. Staubach distributed 88 percent of the company's stock to more than 300 insiders.

"This wasn't easy, but it never would have been accomplished if our people hadn't had confidence in the overall company and trust in each other," he says.

Jones Lang LaSalle wanted Staubach's U.S. tenant-rep business badly enough to pay $613 million in cash and stock over the next five years. It agreed to tack on another $114 million if performance measures are met.

"Most of that is cash, some stock; most of it guaranteed, some of it performance," explains Mr. Staubach, who owns the remaining 12 percent of the company's stock and maintains voting control.

"You see that number, and it's a big number," he says. "But this isn't Roger Staubach making $600 million. That's ridiculous. If that were the case, I would have sold out on everything that I've preached: 'We're all in this together.' What makes me feel as good as anything is to share this success with so many."

The sale of Staubach Co. does not include two affiliated firms, Staubach Retail and Cypress Equities.

Mr. Staubach learned the value of teamwork from two legends: Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry was his mentor on the field, Henry S. Miller Jr. his coach off it.

"They both had the same haircut," he jokes about the two famed bald domes.

"They were a lot alike in the way they handled themselves and their demeanor."

Coach Landry died in 2000. Mr. Miller, 93, is retired.

"I can't emphasize enough how that's been the essence of what we've accomplished. We just don't put the words 'integrity' and 'trust' on the wall.

"People who only take out of life, you can't trust them. Those who can take out of life and give back, you really can."

Frankly, Mr. Staubach already has more than he and Marianne, his wife of 42 years, would ever want.

The couple married when he was fresh out of the Naval Academy and she was a newly minted nurse. They grew up modestly in Cincinnati and have a Catholic family-first grounding.

They live well, but not flamboyantly. This lake house, bought in 1985, remodeled and expanded, is spacious yet homey, with plenty of bedrooms for their son, four daughters, their spouses and 13 grandchildren who land here for family gatherings.

There's a basketball court, the workout gym, a game room with a pool table and video-arcade games, dollhouse, Jet Skis and a motorboat.

So does Mr. Staubach intend to slow down and enjoy this more?

"I haven't done this to go off into the sunset," he says. "When you're getting up there, people talk about relaxing. I can't really relax, so I can't retire. I love coming down here and getting away for a while, but then I have to get back."

He gets The Dallas Morning News and The Wall Street Journal , even when he's at the lake. And he's reading a book about the history of Islam by British author Karen Armstrong.

Most people don't realize that he played basketball and baseball, along with football, in college.

He wishes he'd paid more attention to golf. This afternoon, he's off to the links with a company director.

"I like golf, but I'm not passionate about it," says Mr. Staubach, who figures he has a slightly better-than-average 15 handicap. "But I could be because I'm competitive."

Don't expect him to get into politics – something rumored since he retired from football.

"I would have been interested in politics if I'd ever needed a job," he says with a chuckle. "But I was building a business, and I couldn't just walk away from it. I didn't want to walk away from it."

When George W. Bush asked him to be secretary of the Navy in 2000, Mr. Staubach said thanks, but no. His company does business with the government; that would have caused conflicts.

"There was just no way I could drop what I was doing and get involved in politics," he says.

That's just one way that politics and business don't mix.

"When you take a stand and 54 percent are for you – that still means 46 percent are against you," he says. "That's a lot of people who don't like you. ...

"It's not easy running a business, but being a politician isn't something ...," his voice trails off. "I don't know that I would have done it, even if I hadn't started my business."

Then he concludes: "I'm too old for politics."

What has captured his attention is putting on a world-class Super Bowl in 2011.

"I'm excited about that because Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, this whole region is going to really benefit," he says. "I'm worried about making sure it's done right. There's plenty for me to do."

Mr. Staubach has agreed to serve on the board for five years. He has new cards that read: Roger Staubach, Executive Chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

"My role won't change a lot," he says. "I'll still be devoting time to the customer, not operations."

Other Staubach Co. officers also will have top management positions in the firm. Gregory O'Brien, who is based in the Washington, D.C., office, took over the Staubach reins, and Mr. Staubach expects him to stay in place.

Mr. Staubach says the company still plans to move into its new Dallas office building next year.

Mr. Staubach realizes real estate is in for a bumpy ride.

"The whole economy – and real estate is right in the middle of it – is going to have a shakeout based on fuel prices, subprime and the financial markets," he says. "But there will still be people who need space. Some will be consolidating, so they're more concerned about controlling costs. That's what we do. We were busy in the '80s when the perfect storm hit real estate."

How will he determine if this merger is a success five years from now?

"It will be a success," he says flatly. "The question is to what degree."

The stock market will help define that.

Based on last year's transactions, the two companies put together deals worth more than $170 billion – which would have ranked the combined company second behind CB.

Mr. Staubach intends to help push it to No. 1.

For the time being, he'll hang on to his Jones Lang LaSalle stock.

"I want to get up in the morning and win business," he says. "I want to be part of the finest global real estate firm in the world. I think I will be."

The deal was completed Friday.

Staubach Co. will open for business as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. on Monday.

In 2007, Roger Staubach was honored with the Horatio Alger Award in Washington, D.C. – along with Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks Coffee Co.

The three-day event focuses on high school scholarship winners from severely disadvantaged family situations.

"The kids all knew that the Starbucks guy was there," recalls the 66-year- old former Cowboy turned real estate executive. "Even after the third day, some of them were coming up to me and saying 'Hey, Mr. Starbucks, I love your coffee.' I'd tell them, 'No, that's Mr. Schultz. He's Starbucks.'

"I asked Schultz at the deal, 'Do you think I could start up a Staubach's Coffee? Would that infringe on your naming rights?' And he said, 'Yeah. I'd have to sue you for that.' "

The Staubach Co. chairman says it's a frequent fumble that he finds hilarious, albeit humbling.

"We had a temporary receptionist in D.C. who came in and after a full day there, she still thought she was working for Starbucks Coffee."

And no, she didn't get a starting position.

Cheryl Hall