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Bob Lilly

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Bob Lilly
No. 74
Position:Defensive Tackle
Career information
College:Texas Christian
NFL draft:1961 / round: 1 / pick: 13
Career history
Career highlights and awards

Bob Lilly (born July 26, 1939) is a former American football player in the NFL and photographer. He is considered one of the greatest defensive linemen in NFL history.


College Football career

A two-time All-Southwest Conference pick and a consensus All-American while at TCU. 2006 inductee to the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame.Lilly was inducted into The College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

Professional Football career

As a first-round draft pick in the 1961 NFL Draft (and the Cowboys first ever draft pick), Lilly went on to be All-Pro seven times, and was selected to play in 11 Pro Bowl games.

Lilly began his career as a defensive end in 1961 but midway though the 1963(his third) season Cowboys coach Tom Landry moved him to defensive tackle. Lilly made the adjustment becoming the main man in Dallas's vaunted "Doomsday Defense." As a tackle, Lilly was a first-team All-NFL choice every year from 1964 through 1969, then again in 1971.On January 17th,1971 the Cowboys finally made the Super Bowl only to lose it on a field goal in the final 9 seconds. As a result, he tore off his helmet and threw it down the field 50-60 yards. This summarized his and the team's frustrations from 1966 of "not winning the Big Game), the championship game. However, in 1972 he and the rest of the Cowboys won the Super Bowl against Miami, 24-3. His 29-yard sack of Dolphin quarterback Bob Griese (an NFL Record) is one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl lore. This was the signature play of his hall-of-fame defensive tackle 14 year career.

Lilly's greatest assets were his furious pass-rushing skills and his ability to slice plays open with his agility and instincts. Lilly's agility and quickness helped him score four defensive touchdowns in his career. His first was returning an interception 17 yards in 1964 while the other three came on fumble recoveries. NFL Films did a 8 minute feature on Lilly. In it is stated that he was the "unblockable, unstoppable force of The Doomsday Defense", and this was not to discredit those unfortunate enough to stand in his way. Lilly was regularly double and triple teamed for the majority of his career because of his effectiveness as a defensive tackle.

Lilly was extremely durable during his career, making 196 consecutive regular-season games. The only game he would miss in his career was the 1973 championship game against Minnesota due to a leg injury. Lilly injured his hamstring in the 1973 game vs Denver. In the first play in a 1973 NFC Divisional playoff game vs The LA Rams he reinjured this same hamstring. The Cowboys won that game 27-16.

Affectionately known as "Mr. Cowboy," his name was the first inscribed in the "Ring of Honor" above Texas Stadium. The Cowboys had a Bob Lilly Day on November 23, 1975 to honor him and make Lilly the first inductee into The Ring of Honor.

Lilly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in in 1980, his first year of eligibility, with former teammate Herb Adderley, David "Deacon Jones and Jim Otto. The Sporting News named him a member of the All-Century NFL Team and "the greatest defensive tackle in NFL history". Lilly, Adderley and Jones were all drafted in 1961. Tom Landry said of Lilly: "As I've said before, another Lilly won't come along in my time. We're observing a man who will become a legend". This comment is from the 1972 Street and Smith's Pro Football Yearbook. He also said that "Nobody is better then Lilly".

In 1999, he was ranked number 10 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the highest-ranking defensive lineman and the highest-ranking Cowboy. The only 2 other defensive players ahead of him were Dick Butkus and Lawrence Taylor. Sports Illustrated named him one of the 10 most revolutionary defensive players. Lilly endorsed Coors Beer(as a Coors Distributer from the mid 1970s), Georgia Pacific, Chapstick, a 1973 Tegrin shampoo ad, Del Web Texas Limited Partnership and Black and Decker. When he began traveling with the Cowboys, Lilly regularly had his camera as his side. His interest in photography began when he was named to the Kodak All-America team in 1961 as a part of the honor was given a 35 mm camera and a year's supply of film by the company [1]. Before and after games, he spent an increasing amount of time studying and photographing old sports stadiums. Lilly co-authored the 1983 book "Reflections" with sportswriter Sam Blair featuring scores of his black and white photographs of teammates in candid poses. He was also a photographer for the Texas Air National Guard where he was a Airman 2nd Class. Lilly spent 2 weeks in 1967 as part of the Texas National Guard at the RheinMain West Germany airbase.



Notes

  • Bob Lilly was the first draft pick in Cowboys franchise history.
  • Lilly missed just one NFL game during his 14 year career
  • Has been at the induction of each ring of honor inductee
  • He was the first player who spent his entire career with the Cowboys to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
  • He starred in a number of television commercials for hardware stores and products.
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