Walt Garrison Dies: Dallas Cowboys Running Back And Rodeo Cowboy Was 79

Walt Garrison, who won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys and competed as a rodeo cowboy, has died at 79. The NFL team posted the notice on its website Thursday that Garrison died overnight. It did not give a cause of death.

Garrison played nine years in Dallas and retired in 1974 as the No. 3 rusher and No. 4 receiver in franchise history. He is still fourth on Dallas’ all-time list with 4.32 yards per carry and ninth with 3,491 rushing yards.

But it was Garrison’s rodeo career that made him stand out. During his rookie season, the Cowboys said Garrison would compete in local rodeos as a steer wrestler, then get back to the team hotel before 11 p.m. curfew.

“I wasn’t starting,” Garrison recalled. “I was returning punts and kicks and covering on the kamikaze squad, that’s all I was doing. And hell, you could get hurt worse on them than you can rodeoing. I didn’t think much about it, but the Cowboys did.”

Garrison was eventually told to give up his moonlighting during the season. After that, he confined his rodeo career to the off-season.

Garrison ran for 65 yards in a 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Colts in the fifth Super Bowl, after the 1970 season, and ran for 74 yards in the next year’s Super Bowl, when Roger Staubach led Dallas to a 24-3 victory over Miami.

In 1972, Garrison made the Pro Bowl after running for 784 yards and seven touchdowns and adding 390 yards and three more scores receiving.

Unfortunately, Garrison tore up his knee in 1975 while steer wrestling. He was forced to retire at age 30.

He is a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma State Athletics Hall of Honor. Garrison was also named to the Dallas Cowboys’ 25th anniversary team, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

No information on survivors or memorial plans was immediately available.