Fans today have gotten used to the Dallas Cowboys failing every year in the playoffs, and it has gotten to the point where they just don’t live up to their billing as “America’s Team” anymore.
It has been true during the Dak Prescott era, and it was also true when Tony Romo started under center about a decade ago.
While they haven’t won it all since the 1995 season, back in the day, the luster surrounding the Cowboys was real, and even when they didn’t win Super Bowls, they had the respect of the rest of the NFL.
That was how things were for them when Dom Smerek played for them from 1981 to 1987.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the defensive lineman had died on Saturday due to cancer at age 66, per ProFootballTalk.
Former Cowboys DL Don Smerek dies at 66. https://t.co/tqqn4lqZPt
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 20, 2024
While Smerek wasn’t quite the threat that his teammates Edward “Too Tall” Jones or Randy White were, he helped Dallas stay competitive during what was a transition period for them.
They had established their tradition and luster by winning two world championships in the 1970s, and when Smerek arrived in 1981 as an undrafted free agent, they still had Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett at running back and legendary head coach Tom Landry.
He spent his entire career with the Cowboys, and while he was never a consistent starter, White said he could always be depended on.
“He was a great teammate, a great person,” Hall of Fame defensive lineman Randy White told Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “He was just solid as a football player and I can always count on him. He would come in on third downs and rush the passer and the thing about Don as a football player, he was 100 percent.”
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