LEGEND LOST

NFL Star Who Helped Deliver Cowboys’ First Super Bowl Win Dies at 84

Lee Roy Jordan is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Cowboys’ ring of honor.

The Dallas Cowboys legend Lee Roy Jordan has died at 84, his longtime NFL team announced Saturday. A cause of death was not provided for the star linebacker, who was a standout player for the Cowboys when they defeated the Miami Dolphins in the 1971 season to win the team their first-ever Super Bowl. Jordan, who grew up in the rural Alabama town of Excel, was also a champion at the collegiate level. He was recruited by the legendary University of Alabama head coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and won a national championship with the Crimson Tide in 1961, his junior season. The Cowboys drafted him in the first round two years later, and he went on to play his entire career in Dallas. The five-time Pro Bowler retired from the NFL in 1976, before the Cowboys won their second Super Bowl in the 1977 season. He was the first former player inducted into the team’s ring of honor after owner Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989, ESPN reported. That came six years after he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.