John Fitzgerald, who held down the center position for the Dallas Cowboys through one of the most successful decades in franchise history, has died at age 77.
Fitzgerald passed away Monday, April 14, 2026, according to a Cowboys announcement made Tuesday morning. His 78th birthday would have arrived just two days later. Neither the team nor Fitzgerald’s family released information about what caused his death.
During his 12 seasons with Dallas from 1970 to 1981, Fitzgerald accomplished something almost unheard of in professional football: He never experienced a losing season. The two-time Super Bowl champion anchored one of the most dominant offensive lines the NFL has ever seen.
A native of Southbridge, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald came from humble beginnings in the small Worcester County city. At Southbridge High School, he demonstrated his athleticism as both a fullback and a shot putter, foreshadowing the physical strength that would become his professional trademark.
Boston College awarded Fitzgerald a scholarship, where he lined up at offensive guard and defensive tackle over three varsity seasons as a two-way player. His college career earned him a place in Boston College’s Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982, right after he hung up his cleats.
Dallas made Fitzgerald the 101st overall selection in the fourth round of the 1970 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound rookie spent his first year on the taxi squad while the Cowboys experimented with him on defense before eventually moving him to the offensive line.
As a backup guard, Fitzgerald contributed to the Cowboys’ Super Bowl VI championship run that culminated in a 24-3 thrashing of the Miami Dolphins in January 1972. The team converted him to center for the 1972 season, and by 1973 he had seized the starting role and maintained his grip on it for the remainder of his career.
Between 1973 and 1980, Dallas ranked among the NFL’s top 10 offenses in total yards every year, with Fitzgerald snapping the ball. Five of those seasons saw the Cowboys finish in the top three.
Perhaps Fitzgerald’s greatest impact came in 1975 when head coach Tom Landry brought back the shotgun formation, which had largely disappeared from NFL playbooks. Fitzgerald’s precision in delivering long snaps to quarterback Roger Staubach without mistakes made the revival possible.
The shotgun paid immediate dividends. Dallas made three Super Bowl appearances in the following four seasons and claimed the championship in January 1977 by crushing the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII.
Fitzgerald created one of pro football’s most memorable nicknames for the 1979-80 Cowboys offensive line: “Four Irishmen and a Scott.” The moniker described Fitzgerald at center, Pat Donovan at left tackle, Tom Rafferty at right guard, Jim Cooper at right tackle, and Herb Scott at left guard.
The group dominated opponents. Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett gave Herb Scott at left guard substantial credit for his own success. Donovan, drafted in the famous 1975 “Dirty Dozen” class, never sat out a single game across nine NFL seasons. Fitzgerald orchestrated everything from his position in the middle.
Pro Bowl voters never recognized Fitzgerald during his playing days, though teammates never doubted his importance to Dallas’s offensive machine. Many outstanding offensive linemen throughout NFL history have suffered similar oversight when individual accolades were distributed.
Fitzgerald’s statistics reflect exceptional reliability and winning. He played in 137 regular-season games with 109 starts and added 19 postseason appearances with 13 starts, a playoff total that ranks 19th in Cowboys history.
The Cowboys reached the playoffs 11 times during Fitzgerald’s dozen years with the team, competed in nine NFC Championship Games, played in five Super Bowls, and won two championships. Only 1974 saw Dallas miss the postseason while Fitzgerald wore the star.
On Aug. 31, 1981, the team placed Fitzgerald on injured reserve. He formally retired on Jan. 11, 1982. Tom Rafferty, his fellow “Four Irishmen” lineman, shifted to center and took over the position.
The Cowboys rank Fitzgerald among the franchise’s all-time great centers, a group that includes Dave Manders, Mark Stepnoski, Andre Gurode, and Travis Frederick.
After news of his death spread, fans flooded social media with remembrances and sympathy messages. Football historian Kevin Gallagher called Fitzgerald the “trigger man for the Cowboys’ bold 1975 reintroduction of the shotgun formation” — an innovation that transformed modern football and began with a Dallas center who never missed his target.
