| No. 32 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Fullback,running back | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born | (1944-07-23)July 23, 1944 Denton, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died | October 11, 2023(2023-10-11) (aged 79) Weatherford, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school | Lewisville(Lewisville, Texas) | ||||||||||
| College | Oklahoma State | ||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1966:5th round, 79th overall pick | ||||||||||
| AFL draft | 1966: 17th round, 151st overall pick | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Walter Benton Garrison (July 23, 1944 – October 11, 2023) was an American professionalfootball player who was afullback in theNational Football League (NFL) for theDallas Cowboys. He playedcollege football for theOklahoma State Cowboys.
Born inDenton, Texas, Garrison attended nearbyLewisville High School. He played as alinebacker in football. He also playedbasketball andbaseball.[1]
Garrison accepted a football scholarship fromOklahoma State University, with the intention of playing defense as alinebacker. He started school in the fall of 1962 and played linebacker in the only two games the freshmen team played that year (Arkansas in Stillwater and Oklahoma in Norman).[2]
In the spring of 1963,Phil Cutchin became the new head coach and moved Garrison torunning back, even though he hadn't played the position in high school. Although Garrison was a backup player, he finished his sophomore season with 387 rushing yards, only twelve yards behind the team's leader George Thomas,[3] and the tenth highest total in theBig Eight Conference.[4]
As a junior in 1964, he led theBig Eight Conference in rushing with 730 yards, ahead ofJim Grisham andGale Sayers. He also had 5 rushingtouchdowns and 83 receiving yards.[5]
Garrison completed his senior season with 924 rushing yards, 107 receiving yards, and 5touchdowns. He ranked second in rushing yards in theBig Eight Conference, just 13 yards behindMissouri'sCharlie Brown.[6] He carried the ball 19 times for 121 rushing yards against undefeatedNebraska.[7] He rushed for 173 yards againstKansas, and he helped theCowboys to their first win overOklahoma in 20 years.[8] His post-season highlights included appearances in theEast–West Shrine Game in San Francisco,[9] theSenior Bowl[10] (voted the Outstanding Back of the North team),[citation needed] the CoachesAll-America Game in Atlanta and theCollege All-Star Game against theGreen Bay Packers in August 1966.
In 1993, he was inducted into theOklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.[11] In 2000, he was inducted into the Oklahoma State Athletics Hall of Honor.[2]
Garrison was selected by theDallas Cowboys in the fifth round (79th overall) of the1966 NFL draft. He was selected by theKansas City Chiefs in the 17th round (151st overall) of the1966 AFL draft. In his first 2 seasons, he was mainly used as a kickoff returner.
In1968, he tallied 45 carries for 271 yards and 5 touchdowns as a backup player. In1969, he took over atfullback after the retirement ofDon Perkins, posting a career-high 818 rushing yards, while scoring 2touchdowns and forming one of the league's best running back duos withCalvin Hill.
In1970, with the arrival of rookieDuane Thomas, he tallied 126 carries for 507 yards and 3 touchdowns. His style of play and perceived ability to play hurt brought him recognition in Cowboys lore, which included playing theNFC Championship Game against theSan Francisco 49ers with a cracked collarbone and a serious ankle injury, but still managing to record 17 carries for 71 yards, 3 receptions for 51 yards and one touchdown.[12] It was reported in the media, that the trainers needed36 yards of tape to get him ready to play inSuper Bowl V.
During Dallas' championship season of1971, he showed his pass-catching skills, leading the team with 40 receptions. That year, the Cowboys rode their threerunning backs all the way to aSuper Bowl VI victory.[13]
In1972, Garrison was featured on the cover ofSports Illustrated for its profootball preview issue; the photo was fromSuper Bowl VI in January.[14] During the season, he suffered a 16-stitch cut in one of his fingers while doing his favorite hobby (whittling). He was named to thePro Bowl, after registering 784 yards and 7touchdowns, even though he was a part of a three-headed rushing attack. He played in thePro Bowl a few days after suffering a gash in his face whilesteer wrestling.
In1973, he suffered pinched nerves in his neck during training camp and had headaches so severe that he could not sleep.Robert Newhouse was promoted as the starting fullback, performing well enough that it was the sixth game of the season before Garrison could get his starting position back. He still had 105 carries for 440 yards (second on the team) and was third in receiving with 26 receptions. He missed the season finale with a cracked collarbone, but was back in the lineup the next week in the playoffs.
A "real"cowboy, he spent time on the professionalrodeo circuit during thefootball off-seasons. His signing bonus with the Cowboys in 1966 included a horse trailer. Along with Larry Mahan, two time world bull riding champion, Walt was one of only two cowboys to ever complete a ride on the famous rodeo bull namedOscar. In June 1975, Garrison made an appearance at theCollege National Rodeo Finals inBozeman, Montana; a knee injury he sustained in an exhibitionsteer wrestling accident ended his pro football career.[15] He retired in August1975, and was replaced in the starting lineup with Newhouse.[16]
Garrison played in the NFL for nine seasons (missing only 7 games), all of them with the Cowboys. He finished his career with 3,886 yards rushing and 1,794 yards receiving. Garrison retired as the third leading rusher and fourth-leading receiver in team history.
One of the more humorous sports quotes was attributed to Cowboy quarterbackDon Meredith speaking about Garrison's dependability, "If it was third down, and you needed four yards, if you'd get the ball to Walt Garrison, he'd get you five. And if it was third down and you needed twenty yards, if you'd get the ball to Walt Garrison, by God, he'd get you five."
Garrison was named to the Dallas Cowboys' 25th anniversary team and was also inducted into theTexas Cowboy Hall of Fame and theTexas Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.[17][18]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Super Bowl champion | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Y/G | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | FR | ||
| 1966 | DAL | 14 | 0 | 16 | 62 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 17 | 0 | – | – |
| 1967 | DAL | 13 | 1 | 24 | 146 | 6.1 | 11.2 | 26 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 14 | 0 | – | – |
| 1968 | DAL | 14 | 0 | 45 | 271 | 6.0 | 19.4 | 22 | 5 | 7 | 111 | 15.9 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1969 | DAL | 13 | 13 | 176 | 818 | 4.6 | 62.9 | 21 | 2 | 13 | 131 | 10.1 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 1970 | DAL | 11 | 10 | 126 | 507 | 4.0 | 46.1 | 18 | 3 | 21 | 205 | 9.8 | 36 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 1971 | DAL | 13 | 11 | 127 | 429 | 3.4 | 33.0 | 34 | 1 | 40 | 396 | 9.9 | 36 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 1972 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 167 | 784 | 4.7 | 56.0 | 41 | 7 | 37 | 390 | 10.5 | 26 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| 1973 | DAL | 13 | 8 | 105 | 440 | 4.2 | 33.8 | 33 | 6 | 26 | 273 | 10.5 | 53 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 1974 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 113 | 429 | 3.8 | 30.6 | 18 | 5 | 34 | 253 | 7.4 | 30 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Career | 119 | 71 | 899 | 3,886 | 4.3 | 32.7 | 41 | 30 | 182 | 1,794 | 9.9 | 53 | 9 | 26 | 6 | |
Garrison was a long-time spokesman forSkoal smokeless tobacco, and was the television spokesman for Bill Utter Ford near Denton, Texas. In 1988, he published his biographyOnce a Cowboy with writer John Tullius.[19] The title is a reference not only to his rodeo cowboy career, but also to his career with theDallas Cowboys, and his college career with theOklahoma State Cowboys.
Garrison served military duty in New Jersey andFort Lewis. He established the Walt Garrison Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and later resided inArgyle, Texas.
Walt Garrison died inWeatherford, Texas, on October 11, 2023, at the age of 79.[20]
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| National | |
