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| No. 75 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1938-07-10)July 10, 1938 Abilene, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | March 9, 1980(1980-03-09) (aged 41) Raymondville, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | TCU | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1960: 2nd round, 23rd pick | ||||||||
| AFL draft: | 1960 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Donald Wayne Floyd (July 1, 1938 – March 9, 1980) was an American professionalfootball player who was adefensive end for theHouston Oilers of theAmerican Football League (AFL). He playedcollege football for theTCU Horned Frogs.
Born inAbilene, Texas, Floyd played hishigh school football inMidlothian, Texas, for theMidlothian Panthers. Midlothian named a stadium in his honor, but built a new one. Until 2018, Don Floyd stadium was used primarily as a practice field, which brought much criticism from Midlothian citizens. The road which runs next to the new Midlothian stadium is named in his honor. Also, in 2018, the field at MISD Multipurpose Stadium was named for him.
Floyd earnedAll America honors atTexas Christian University (TCU), played on offense and defense, and helped TCU to two conference championships and two bowl appearances.[1]
After being adraft choice of both theBaltimore Colts of theNational Football League (NFL) and theHouston Oilers of the AFL in 1960, Floyd signed with Houston in the fledgling AFL. He was selected as adefensive end on the American Football LeagueAll-League team in 1961 and 1962, and anAFL Eastern Division All-Star in 1963. In the early 1960s, Floyd was among the best, using a combination of strength and speed to establish a presence to be accounted for by the opposition on every play.
He played in fourAmerican Football League Championships, helping the Oilers win the league's first two titles in 1960 and 1961. Don Floyd is on the Oilers' All-Time Team.
On March 9, 1980, while traveling with a friend through Raymondville on his way to Houston, Floyd began to experience chest pain. Floyd's friend took him to Willacy County Hospital in Raymondville, where a nurse instructed the pair to drive to a hospital in Harlingen, 30 miles away. On the drive toward Harlingen, Floyd died of aheart attack. Surviving family members, including three former wives, sued the on-duty physician, the emergency room nurse and the hospital in Raymondville.[2]
Subsequent investigation determined that the nurse at Willacy County Hospital had been told to send all patients to the Harlingen hospital except in true life-and-death emergencies. The nursing board disciplinary hearing against the nurse and subsequent legal challenges to it (Lunsford v. Board of Nurse Examiners) established that nurses have anurse-patient relationship and aduty to act when a patient comes to an emergency room, even if the patient has never been seen by the hospital or one of its physicians.[3]