Legendary Dallas Cowboy Walt Garrison dies at 79

By Tom Ensey, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
October 13, 2023 at 9:31 am EDT

Walt Garrison, who won a Super Bowl as a hard-running fullback for the Dallas Cowboys and who actually was a rodeo cowboy, has died at 79, according to multiple sources.

Garrison was one of the game’s great characters. ... His rookie season when he wasn’t playing much he would leave team meetings and go compete in local rodeos as a steer wrestler, then beat the 11 p.m. curfew back at the hotel, The Associated Press reported. Even after Coach Tom Landry benched Garrison’s rodeo career during the season, he would still go off and compete in roping, riding, and wrangling steers in the off-season.

When Landry reminded Garrison of a clause in his contract that if he got hurt doing another sport, his contract would be null and void, he responded with his characteristic dry wit. ... “I said OK,” Garrison said, according to AP. “I didn’t think rodeo was that dangerous.” ... It turned out to be worse than he expected -- his career ended in both sports when he tore up his knee wrestling a steer in Bozeman, Montana at the age of 30, the AP said.

But before and after his playing career, Garrison always played his cowboy persona to the hilt -- and he always said rodeo was his best sport. He was a longtime spokesman for U.S. Tobacco, the AP reported, and its smokeless product Skoal. He kept his tongue and his dip both firmly in cheek for his ubiquitous TV commercials during football season back when tobacco commercials were allowed on TV. His catchphrase, which he cracked with a grin through his thick Texas twang, “Just a pinch between your cheek and gum is all it takes, and it feels real good in there,” became part of the national lexicon.

He lost one Super Bowl and won one for the Cowboys, a perennial power in the league. Small for a fullback even then at 6-0, 205, he was a Texan to the core. He was from Denton, a suburb of Dallas, and played football at Louisville High School. He played college ball for Oklahoma State, where he was a linebacker before they shifted him to running the ball. In 1964, he led the Big 8 conference in rushing beating out Kansas’ superstar Gayle Sayers. He gained 924 yards and scored five touchdowns in 10 games in 1965. ... Dallas, his hometown team took him with a fifth-round pick out, WFAA reported. He played all nine years of his pro career for the Cowboys.

{snip}

SPORTS

Walt Garrison, who played for Cowboys in college and NFL and was a real rodeo cowboy, dies at 79



FILE - Walt Garrison, running back for the Dallas Cowboys, is shown in this 1974 photo. Walt Garrison, who led the Big 8 in rushing as an Oklahoma State Cowboy, won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, and in the NFL offseason competed as a rodeo cowboy, has died. He was 79. The NFL team said in a story posted on its website Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, that Garrison died overnight. (AP Photo/File)

Updated 6:20 PM EDT, October 12, 2023

DALLAS (AP) — Walt Garrison, who led the Big 8 in rushing for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, won a Super Bowl as a fullback with the Dallas Cowboys and competed as a rodeo cowboy, has died. He was 79.

{snip}

Walt Garrison - 2001

Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame
798 subscribers

4,572 views Jan 12, 2023
https://www.tchof.com/post/walt-garrison