Las Vegas Metro Police investigators work at the scene of a fatal crash Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Las Vegas. Police in Las Vegas say Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was involved in the fiery vehicle crash early Tuesday that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)
The NFL franchise announced that Super Bowl passed away today in a story that went up on their website today. The reason of death are stated below…
DALLAS: Walt Garrison, who won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, led the Big 8 in running as an Oklahoma State Cowboy, and participated in rodeo competitions during the NFL summer, has passed away. He was seventy-nine.
The NFL franchise announced that Garrison passed away over night in a story that went up on their website on Thursday. The reason of death was not stated.
After playing for nine years in Dallas after being selected in the fifth round of the draft out of Oklahoma State University, Garrison retired in 1974 with the ranking of No. 3 rusher and No. 4 receiver in franchise history. With 4.32 yards per run and 3,491 rushing yards, he remains ninth on Dallas’ all-time ranking.
But what really made Garrison the ultimate cowboy was his rodeo career, which he referred to as his first love. The Cowboys said that after team meetings, the little-used backup from his rookie season would go out and compete as a steer wrestler in nearby rodeos, returning to the hotel before the 11 p.m. curfew.
“I wasn’t starting,” according to a quote from Garrison. “All I was doing was covering for the Kamikaze squad and returning kicks and punts. Hell, you might suffer more injuries from them than from rodeoing. While the Cowboys gave it some thought, I didn’t.”
Soon after, Dallas coach Tom Landry forbade players from working two jobs throughout the season. But during the off-season, Garrison persisted.
“Coach Landry pointed out that there was a clause in my contract that if I got hurt doing another sport, that my contract would be null and void,” Garrison stated. “And I said, ‘OK.’ I didn’t think rodeo was that dangerous.”
Garrison ran for 65 yards in the fifth Super Bowl against Johnny Unitas, Earl Morrall, and the Baltimore Colts following the 1970 season. He also ran for 74 yards in the Super Bowl the following year when Roger Staubach led Dallas to a 24-3 victory against Miami. Garrison was chosen for the 1972 Pro Bowl after rushing for 784 yards and seven touchdowns, as well as adding 390 yards and three more touchdowns from receptions.
The Cowboys claim that Garrison did suffer a knee injury in 1975 while engage in steer wrestling, sometimes known as “bulldogging,” which forced him to retire from the NFL at the age of thirty.
“There are a lot of parallels between football and rodeo,” Garrison remarked, drawing a comparison between the length of an NFL play and the three or four seconds it takes to drag a steer to the ground. “And the amount of energy and the amount of focus you need to have in bulldogging is the same as in football.”
After playing linebacker for Oklahoma State, Garrison switched to running back. In 1964, he outpaced Gale Sayers to lead the Big 8 in rushing, and in 1965, he finished with 924 yards and five touchdowns in ten games.
He is inducted into both the Oklahoma State Athletics Hall of Honor and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In addition, he was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the Dallas Cowboys’ 25th anniversary team.
