Former Cowboys lineman Tom Rafferty died Thursday, the team announced.
He was 70.
Rafferty had been hospitalized since May after suffering a stroke, and he died in Windsor, Colo., his daughter, Rachel Powers, confirmed.
Rafferty played on the Dallas offensive line for an impressive 14 seasons, protecting the likes of legendary quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman and clearing runways for running backs such as Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker.
the top players in the franchise’s history for starts and
games played. Getty Images
He became a Super Bowl champion in 1978 when the Cowboys took down the Broncos for Super Bowl XII in what was their second title in franchise history.
Rafferty started at right guard in the win.
At the same position, Rafferty also started in the team’s 35-31 loss to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIII.
After some injuries within the team, the 6-foot-3, 256-pound Rafferty was moved to center and went on to start at the position for nearly a decade.
“Three weeks turned into nine years,” Rafferty said of the position switch.
Born in Syracuse, Rafferty attended Penn State before being selected by the Cowboys in the fourth round of the 1976 NFL Draft.
From 1976 through his retirement in 1989, he would play in 203 career games, all for the Cowboys, and he started in all but 21 of them.
His 203 games played are sixth in team history, and the 182 starts come in at fourth — only behind Jason Witten, Ed Jones and Emmitt Smith.
Following his retirement from the NFL, Rafferty worked in sports equipment sales.