John Fitzgerald (center)
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Position: | Center | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Date of birth: | April 16, 1948 | ||||||||
Place of birth: | Southbridge, Massachusetts | ||||||||
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Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Southbridge (MA) | ||||||||
College: | Boston College | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1970 / Round: 4 / Pick: 101 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
John Robert Fitzgerald (born April 16, 1948) is a former American football center in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys from 1971 to 1980, including four Super Bowls. He played college football at Boston College and was drafted in the fourth round of the 1970 NFL Draft.
Early years
Fitzgerald played as a 300 lb fullback for Southbridge High School. He received a scholarship from Boston College and became a two-way tackle, playing both offense and defense during his three-year varsity career.
He was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982.
Professional career
Fitzgerald was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 1970 NFL Draft. The team tried him first as a defensive lineman, before converting him to center during the 1972 training camp.
At the time, he was taller than the prototype center and took over the starting position from Dave Manders in 1973.[1] He never appeared in a Pro Bowl, but became a central part of a strong Offensive line in Dallas for most of the decade.[2]
Fitzgerald named the Offensive line as the "Four Irishmen and a Scott", referring to himself, Pat Donovan, Jim Cooper, Tom Rafferty and Herb Scott.
He took great pride in his ability to snap from the Shotgun formation, which was re-introduced to the NFL by Tom Landry.[3]
Fitzgerald helped the Cowboys to 2 Super Bowl Championships and playoff appearances every season except one. He played in 138 games over 10 NFL seasons. On August 31, 1981, he was placed on the injured reserve list.[4] On January 11, 1982, he announced his retirement due to injuries and was eventually replaced by Tom Rafferty.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125866/index.htm Archived December 8, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- NFL player using deprecated currentteam parameter
- NFL player with pastcoaching parameter
- NFL player with pastexecutive parameter
- Infobox NFL player articles with potential unconverted footnotes
- Living people
- 1948 births
- People from Southbridge, Massachusetts
- American football centers
- Boston College Eagles football players
- Dallas Cowboys players
- Super Bowl champions
- Players of American football from Massachusetts