Dan Birdwell
No. 53 | |
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Position: | Defensive lineman |
Personal information | |
Born: | Big Spring, Texas, U.S. | October 14, 1940
Died: | February 14, 1978 Huntington Beach, California, U.S. | (aged 37)
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
Weight: | 250 lb (113 kg) |
Career information | |
College: | Houston |
NFL draft: | 1962 / Round: 5 / Pick: 66 |
AFL draft: | 1962 / Round: 6 / Pick: 41 |
Career history | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Career NFL statistics | |
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR |
Dan Birdwell (October 14, 1940 – February 14, 1978) was an American college and professional
1967 AFL Champion Raiders with their 13-1 win–loss record, which saw them win the 1967 AFL Championship, their first league championship in team history. They played for the AFL in the second AFL-NFL World Championship game, which they lost 33-14. In that season, the front four of Birdwell, Keating, Ike Lassiter, and Ben Davidson combined for impressive totals of 67 sacks and 666 yards lost; unofficially, Birdwell had 14.5 sacks, a career high that topped his ten from the previous season.[1]
An eccentric character as described by his teammates, Birdwell is credited with the following quote regarding the necessary mindset to play professional football: "You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two by four."[2]
Birdwell died of a massive heart attack at age 37 on February 14, 1978. It was reported that he had previously had been ill since with fever, aches and pains and other flu‐like symptoms days prior to his death.[3]
See also
References
- ^ "The Raiders are again the class of the West, but the - 09.16.68 - SI Vault". Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
- ^ https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/the-black-hole-plus/dan-birdwell-al-davis-joe-namath-oakland-los-angeles-las-vegas-raiders
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/16/archives/dan-birdwell.html