Bob Lilly biography
Bob Lilly, in full Robert Lewis Lilly, (born July 26, 1939, Olney, Texas, U.S.), American gridiron soccer participant who is taken into account one of many biggest defensive linemen in National Football League (NFL) historical past. As the anchor of the Dallas Cowboys’ “Doomsday Defense,” he helped the group win its first Super Bowl title (1972).
Lilly was raised in rural Texas and moved together with his household to Oregon shortly earlier than his senior 12 months of highschool. He was named all-state in each soccer and basketball in his one 12 months within the Pacific Northwest, and he earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Christian University (TCU). He was a consensus All-American in his senior season at TCU, and he grew to become the primary faculty draft selection in Cowboys historical past when the group chosen him with the thirteenth total choose of the 1961 draft.
Originally a defensive finish, Lilly moved to defensive sort out throughout his third season, and he flourished as an inside lineman. He was named All-Pro in every season from 1964 to 1969 because the Cowboys—a winless growth group within the 12 months earlier than Lilly’s arrival—developed into some of the formidable groups within the NFL. Lilly and the Cowboys performed in six league or convention (after the NFL merged with the American Football League in 1970) championship video games within the eight-year interval from 1966 via 1973. He helped the Cowboys attain their first Super Bowl (a loss to the Baltimore Colts) in 1971 and a second berth within the sport the next 12 months, when Lilly and the Doomsday Defense held the Miami Dolphins to only a discipline aim in Dallas’s 24–3 win. Lilly retired in 1975.
The sturdy Lilly missed only one sport over the course of his 14-year NFL profession, a outstanding achievement for somebody who performed two of soccer’s most grueling positions. After his retirement from soccer, he launched into a profitable profession as a photographer. Lilly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.