In his nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, running back Walt Garrison scored three touchdowns in a game just once. He did it against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Though used as the No. 2 running back behind the likes of Calvin Hill, Don Perkins and Duane Thomas during his NFL playing days, Garrison was an important member of the Cowboys’ offense.
As Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray noted, “He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t big. He was just dangerous.”
An effective receiver and rugged runner, Garrison played in two Super Bowls and helped the Cowboys win their first NFL championship. He also competed in rodeos, roping and wrestling steers. Garrison was 79 when he died on Oct. 11, 2023.
College cowboy
Garrison was born in Denton, Texas, and went to high school in Lewisville, a town 10 miles north of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. He started playing football in seventh grade and first competed in rodeos a year later, according to United Press International.
Though a standout high school fullback, Garrison got no interest from the Texas schools in the Southwest Conference, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported. “He was considered too slow for offense and too small for defense in the Lone Star State,” Jim Murray wrote.
Garrison accepted a scholarship offer to play football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big Eight Conference and major in veterinary medicine.
A linebacker for the freshman team, Garrison was moved to running back when he joined the varsity as a sophomore in 1963 and had a 48-yard touchdown run against Texas.
Garrison was the Big Eight rushing leader (730 yards) as a junior in 1964, finishing ahead of Oklahoma’s Jim Grisham (725) and Kansas’ Gale Sayers (633).
After Garrison rushed for 121 yards versus Nebraska his senior season, Cornhuskers head coach Bob Devaney called him “the best fullback I’ve ever seen in the Big Eight,” according to the Associated Press.
Garrison finished the 1965 season with 924 yards rushing and was second in the conference to Missouri’s Charlie Brown (937).
Big decisions
In 1966, Garrison was drafted in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and in the 17th round by the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. (The Cardinals bypassed Garrison in the fifth round and took Michigan receiver Jack Clancy, who signed with the AFL Miami Dolphins.)
Regarding the Chiefs, “They made me a real good offer and I gave a lot of thought to signing with them, but figured the NFL was the best place to play,” he told the Denton Record-Chronicle. “Its pension plan and other benefits give it the edge.”
The Cowboys sealed the deal with him when they included a horse trailer as part of his bonus, according to the Denton newspaper.
Garrison spent his first three NFL seasons (1966-68) as a backup to Don Perkins, a six-time Pro Bowl selection in his eight years with Dallas. Don Meredith was the Cowboys’ quarterback. Garrison told the Dallas Morning News, “Don used to say, ‘If you need three yards, give the ball to Walt and he’ll get you three yards. If you need 12 yards, give the ball to Walt and he’ll get you three.’ “
Garrison’s main contribution his first two seasons with Dallas was as a kick returner. As a rookie in 1966, he averaged 22.3 yards on 20 kick returns. He was the Cowboys’ leading kick returner (18.3-yard average) in 1967.
On June 30, 1967, after his rookie season, Garrison signed a two-year contract with the Cowboys in the morning and married Pamela Kay Phillips that night at Lovers Lane Methodist Church in Dallas, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.
Pamela was the daughter of B.F. Phillips, an independent oilman and “one of the nation’s most prominent quarter horse breeders,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Jim Murray called him “one of Texas’ richest men.”
According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Walt and Pamela “met at a horse sale at the Phillips Ranch in Frisco, Texas” and started dating in November 1966. “Pam has ridden in barrel races in rodeo,” the newspaper noted.
Put me in, coach
After Don Perkins retired, rookie Calvin Hill of Yale and Garrison became the Cowboys’ top rushers in 1969.
When the Cowboys played the San Francisco 49ers for the 1970 NFC championship, Garrison came out of the game because of a severely sprained ankle. He also had back spasms, a twisted right knee and a chipped collarbone, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Garrison talked head coach Tom Landry into letting him back in and caught a pass from Craig Morton for the winning touchdown. Landry told the Associated Press, “He came up to me and said he was OK, but I knew he was lying. No other player in football would have gone back into the game.” Game stats
Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Garrison as “tough as a worn saddle.” Jim Murray wrote, “He looks like 190 pounds of trouble just sitting there. He’s coiled.”
Two weeks later, before the Cowboys played in the Super Bowl for the first time, team trainer Larry Gardner told the Associated Press how he got Garrison prepared. “That guy has so much tape on him he’s almost a mummy,” Gardner said. “I wrap him with 36 yards of tape and sometimes I have to get out more during the game.”
With Calvin Hill sidelined because of a knee injury, Garrison was the Cowboys’ leading rusher (65 yards on 12 carries), but the Baltimore Colts prevailed in the Super Bowl, 16-13. Game stats
The next season, Garrison led the 1971 Cowboys in receptions (40), finishing ahead of the likes of Bob Hayes (35), Lance Alworth (34) and Mike Ditka (30). The Cowboys returned to the Super Bowl and won their first NFL title with a 24-3 triumph versus the Dolphins. The rushing leaders were Duane Thomas (95 yards) and Garrison (74). Game stats
Real deal
Garrison competed in professional rodeos after each NFL season. He rode broncos and bulls before the Cowboys asked him to stop, but he continued to rope steer and wrestle steer, United Press International reported.
“Ranching and rodeoing are the great life for me,” Garrison told the Denton Record-Chronicle.
Jim Murray wrote, “He was the genuine spurs-on-the-boots, chaps-on-the-Levis, hammered copper-on-the-belt buckle article, the cowboy on the Dallas Cowboys.”
Asked about his Super Bowl ring, Garrison told John Hall of the Los Angeles Times, “I only wear it when I’m traveling. People want to see it, but I take it off around the rodeo guys. They’re not too impressed.”
Garrison also became a promoter of moist snuff, cut tobacco placed in the mouth. The Los Angeles Times described him as “a tidy chewer. No big lump in the cheek, and he swallows the juice. No spitting.”
Big scorer
On Dec. 3, 1972, the Cowboys faced the Cardinals in a cold drizzle at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
In the second quarter, with Dallas ahead, 3-0, Craig Morton passed to Garrison on the right flat. Garrison got past strong safety Larry Wilson and then free safety Roger Werhli and went into the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown reception. “A great individual effort,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram declared.
Garrison had a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Then, with Dallas on the Cardinals’ 26-yard line and ahead, 17-6, in the fourth quarter, Morton again tossed to Garrison in the right flat. He ran untouched into the end zone for his third touchdown. Larry Wilson “just took a chance, went for the down-and-in and Walt outraced him to the goal,” Tom Landry told the Star-Telegram.
Garrison said to the Associated Press, “They were checking our tight end (Mike Ditka) and that left me open. They weren’t paying attention to me.”
The Cardinals fumbled seven times. Dallas recovered four of those, leading to scores each time, and won, 27-6. Game stats
Time to go
In June 1975, Garrison tore knee ligaments in a steer wrestling exhibition at Bozeman, Mont., and underwent surgery. Two months later, Garrison, 31, told the Cowboys he was done playing football.
“Nine years in the NFL. Just about six too many,” Garrison told John Hall of the Los Angeles Times.
Garrison scored 39 regular-season touchdowns _ 30 rushing and nine receiving _ for the Cowboys. He also had two more receiving touchdowns in playoff games. Video