Former Cowboys Pro Bowl fullback Walt Garrison dies at age 79

Walt Garrison (Google Images)

According to Yahoo! Sports on Thursday, former Dallas Cowboys fullback Walt Garrison of Denton, Texas passed away on Wednesday night at the age of 79. He spent nine seasons with the Cowboys from 1966 to 1974.

In 119 National Football League regular season games, Garrison had 899 rushing attempts for 3886 rushing yards, and 30 rushing touchdowns. He also had 182 rushes for 1794 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches. In 1972, Garrison was selected to the Pro Bowl. That year he had 167 rushes for 784 rushing yards and a career-high seven touchdown runs, along with 37 catches for 390 receiving yards and a career-high three touchdown runs.

Twice Garrison reached 100 rushing yards in a game. He had 102 yards rushing against the New York Giants in a 25-3 Cowboys win on October 27, 1969, and a career-high 121 yards rushing against the Washington Redskins in a 34-24 Cowboys win on December 9, 1972.

Four times Garrison had games with two touchdown runs. They came on September 15, 1968 in a 59-13 Cowboys win over the Detroit Lions, on November 24, 1968 in a 34-3 Cowboys win over the Chicago Bears, on October 21, 1973 in a 45-28 Cowboys win over the Giants, and on December 7, 1974 in a 41-17 Cowboys win over the Cleveland Browns.

Garrison also won one Super Bowl with the Cowboys. It came in Super Bowl VI in a 24-3 Cowboys win over the Miami Dolphins on January 16, 1972. In the game, Garrison had 14 rushes for 72 rushing yards, and two catches for 11 receiving yards.

In addition to being a running back, Garrison was a high performance steer wrestler. The long time Cowboy was actually a cowboy. Ironically it was a knee injury from a steer wrestling accident in an exhibition rodeo event that ended his NFL career.

Almost three years ago, Garrrison’s teammate from Super Bowl VI, punter Ron Widby of Knoxville, Tennessee also passed away. Like Garrison, Widby was a multi-sport athlete as he was a high-performance golfer.

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