Former Dallas Cowboys tight end Billy Truax, a player who played in the Cowboys’ victory Super Bowl VI, died Wednesday, January 7. He was 82 years old.
The Gulfport, Louisiana, native showed promise in football early on. He became a first team All-American at Louisiana State University.
Truax had lots of success as a college football player, and in 2020, he was inducted into the Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. Truax is also in the Holy Cross School Hall of Fame and the LSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
“Billy Truax is arguably, the finest all-around tight end ever to come out of New Orleans. He was All-Prep at Holy Cross, and named All-Southeastern Conference at LSU,” We Are HC notes. “He was a second-round NFL draft choice by both the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and the AFL’s Houston Oilers.”
Former Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Champion Billy Truax
From college, Truax immediately went into the NFL. In the 1964 NFL draft, he was selected the Cleveland Browns, but he didn’t appear in his rookie season due to injury.
From there, Truax was traded to the Los Angeles Rams and stayed with the team from 1964 to 70. His NFL career really heated up in 1967, when he was crowned a starter. That season, he clocked 37 passes for 487 yards and four touchdown passes, according to NFL research. The Los Angeles Rams ended their regular season with an 11-1 record and went to the postseason, but they lost to the Green Bay Packers, who won the championship that year.
Truax marked another career-high in 1969, catching five touchdown passes for the Rams and equaling his career high with 37 catches for 431 yards.
After playing with the Rams, the team traded him to the Dallas Cowboys in May 1971. Once there, Truax showed even more promise, closing out his first season with 15 receptions for 232 yards and one touchdown. In that season, Truax and the Cowboys also went to the Super Bowl and won. They beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 for the championship.
What the Super Bowl Meant to Billy Truax
“Super Bowl VI meant even more to me because it was in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans in front of friends and family,” Truax said in an interview with the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee. “I had played every game that season with the injury and I wasn’t going to miss the Super Bowl in my New Orleans.”
Truax was a strong contributor Dallas Cowboys for three seasons and then signed with the New York Giants ahead of the 1974 season. But, he was cut by New York before taking the field with them that season.
“A consummate tight end, but LSU’s offense in his era was geared towards the run and, consequently, his talents as a pass receiver were never exploited,” the Historical Marker Database notes. “It was mostly his superb blocking that earned him All-American status in 1963. He played 10 seasons in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys, winning a Super Bowl ring with the Cowboys in 1971.”
Truax retired in 1973. During his career, he clocked 199 passes for 2,458 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Cowboys Hall of Famer, Super Bowl Champion, Dies